Report from Reed Lindsay, Port-au-Prince via Skype:

I spent the first half of the day in the airport, full of airplanes and helicopters and dozens of journalists. One journalist who had worked in Iraq told me it was like another Green Zone. The military was taken over by the US military, which insists that planes are arriving as fast as possible, although countries such as Brazil, Russia and France have complained they haven’t been able to land planes, as well as is the case with NGOs. The airport was a zoo (even Geraldo was there. Outside, I saw an aid distribution for the first time. WFP was giving out high-energy biscuits. People are lined up for them by the hundreds, and the UN troops were keeping them in a line. I had seen this type of food distribution get out of hand before, and expected it to happen again, but it didn’t, at least while I was there, I think because the Haitians don’t care much for those biscuits. One 15-year old girl I talked to after she got the aid said she had expected real food (rice) and not something that won’t even fill her stomach.

I’m seeing now on internet, the first time I’ve connected in four days, that things did get out of hand in other parts of the city. I talked with families, mainly fathers and children as young as five, who were scavenging in rubble looking for anything they could sell: rebar, wood, anything they could scavenge for food and water. There are tent cities springing up everywhere. The first couple of days after the quake many people were sleeping on the ground, but now they are digging in, building makeshift refuges out of sticks, sheets and sheet metal. I heard the same thing over and over again: they need food, water and medical attention, while the US helicopters flew overhead. I didn’t go to many parts of the city today, but nobody I spoke with seemed to know where the helicopters were going. The entire time I spent at the airport I tried to track down who was coordinating the aid but nobody seemed to know, least of all the journalists. One of them responded: “Nobody is coordinating the aid.” The US may have total control over the airport but the distribution does not seem to be organized yet.

More than anything, my impression is there hardly is any distribution, at least relative to the need. Gasoline is extremely hard to come by, so are phone cards.

Many people in the tent city had houses that were not completely destroyed, but they don’t dare go back to them as many are cracked, or were damaged, and nobody knows how sound the structure.

WORDS FROM HAITI

HRF decided to try to bring you WORDS FROM HAITI sent to us directly or via our e-mail contacts. These words make up stories that are incomprehensible in their pain. In relating them, an intimate picture surfaces of a besieged country and its courageous people.

“Never in our history had we to bury our dead in mass graves, however broke we were.”
–David Josue

David Josue, a marvelous young man from Haiti whom Reed met while reporting in New Orleans, works for Cynthia McKinney, former congresswoman from Georgia shared this yesterday:

“My family suffered some fatalities and some of my friends lost everyone. He reports:The school Sainte Trinite in Jacmel collapsed and all students and faculty perished. L’Hopital St Michel collapsed as well. The city is in ruins. People from Carrefour estimated that there are more dead then people alive. There is a huge mass burial going on in Lamantin. Bodies are still under the rubbles including the teenage son of a friend. Nothing has been done yet in Carrefour, Gressier, Leogane and the surrounding neighborhood and cities. A lot of civil servants, elected officials are among the dead. We are all waiting to see the aid arrive to people in Carrefour and other places.”

Today, David writes: “My friend’s daughter is alive and trapped under the rubbles at the University of Port au Prince. He begs for help. And a response is received: We are working to get some help but it is too dark to do anything and we have no light.” …The cries don’t stop.

Honor and Respect Foundation sends our heartfelt thanks to all who have responded to our emails and shared your own pain as news unfolds about the devastation in Haiti. Your compassion and prayers and thoughts as well as your generous donations WILL make a difference to those now suffering. Haiti is no longer “not on the map”. We are grateful for your communications and grateful for your incredible generosity!

Thank you as well for sharing these emails and leading people to HRF’s website.

With profound gratitute,

Board Members of Honor and Respect Foundation