Laurent Viot is Merlin’s Emergency Team Leader for Haiti and is now coordinating our work on the ground. In this day-by-day diary, he gives his personal account about the first week of our response.
Wednesday 13 January
I was preparing for a normal day at work, heading for snowed-in central London on the tube when I received the alert call. A massive earthquake had devastated Port-au-Prince. I spent years visiting Haiti to support local organisations’ emergency planning – a tough job given the then low field capacity and dire poverty situation. I knew the national emergency coordination body was a small, under-equipped office of just two staff. The intensity of this disaster and the low capacity in country immediately led me to fear the worst: the death toll would be high and the emergency response difficult and potentially unsafe. The minute I arrived in the office, we set to work to assemble the first assessment team.
Thursday 14 January
With the team assembled, we were on our way – Micaela (medical doctor in charge of this assessment) and myself (team coordinator), joined by Richard (an experienced surgeon), Andrew (logistician) and Alex (from our US office). We have never worked together before but I know we’ll be fine – we are all joining with the same spirit and all members are very experienced. Our journey to Haiti is set to be a long one – via Miami and Dominican Republic. We leave at midday and won’t arrive until evening the following day.
Friday 15 January
Wake up in Miami after a night at the hotel. Now heading for the Dominican Republic and our first contact with other response teams before clambering on to the plane, which is packed with rescue and response personnel and equipment; some dressed in full gear, others more casual and reflective. Some rescue teams from Spain and Mexico are in the plane – we wonder if they will find anyone alive. We know that three million survived the earthquake and already estimates say 100,000 died. It feels like we’re finally getting closer, but still we’re only landing in the Dominican Republic.
Saturday 16 January
Now in the Dominican Republic and waiting for our next and last connection – it all feels so close, yet so far. The clock is ticking and air traffic control is filtering flights, including humanitarian charters, due to low airport capacity in Port-au-Prince. Humanitarian teams and equipment all ready and waiting to go. Everyone is on standby except Hilary Clinton who is expected tomorrow. The good news is that Richard, Alex and Andrew will be catching up with us today so we all go in as one.
Saturday Afternoon
Finally we have clearance to leave for Haiti. All equipment and a full team ready. Spirits are high - we just all want to get on with the job. We keep hearing about people’s frustrations back home: why aid isn’t getting through, why it’s taking so long. I can’t tell you just how much we share that but we’re running as quickly as we can. Flying over Haiti, the landscape looks surprisingly untouched. It’s only when we land, do we realise the extent of this catastrophe: there is chaos on the airstrip and parkways. Civilians, journalists and military everywhere. Helicopters and planes crossing strips in apparent disorder. Today the US military started evacuating its civilians. As Richard put it: we are walking against the flow. We secure a lift from another agency at the airport and head for the UN Logistics base, which is in full swing. Some confusion in streets but no hostility, lots of people asking for medicines and medical referral.
Sunday 17 January
We wake in tents after setting up our small camp in the UN compound. We get together and start planning for the day, putting the strategy we came up with in London into practice. We all know exactly what needs to be done and waste little time doing it.
Alex and Richard set off with a local surgeon to assess the possibility of setting up a Merlin medical base in a nearby town. The rest of the team takes care of the medical and logistical assessment and agency coordination in order to ensure a smooth arrival for the 4,800 kgs of medical equipment set to arrive tomorrow.
We find a facility that is perfect for a Merlin operation (great medical infrastructure, safe and plenty of space) and set to work setting up immediately. The team reunites around 3:30 pm to get organised for the rest of the day.
Richard and Alex head off for further assessments and come across a severely ill woman, with a broken pelvis and internal complications who was dumped on the steps outside a hotel. After a quick check up by Richard, it was clear that the woman was in a critical condition and urgently needed to be taken to a hospital. We arranged to get her to one nearby, where she was admitted and given the necessary attention. While heading back to the compound by car, they approach a bridge, only for it to suddenly collapse right in front of them. A minute earlier and they would have been driving over it as it fell – a lucky escape that highlights the precarious situation here.
It’s now night time and we’re all exhausted but happy to finally be here and doing what we do best. We plan for the next day when more staff and equipment will arrive. This goes on so late that we miss dinner. Head torch and food packs again tonight.
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