It has been three days since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the small island nation of Haiti on Tuesday, and she hasn’t heard from them yet. Although her friends were in her home country, the Dominican Republic, at the time, they had friends and family back in Haiti.
“Today I hope to try and call them,” she said.
No substantial damage has been reported from the Dominican Republic, even though it and Haiti share the same island. The latter, though, was flattened. Gutierrez said she thinks this discrepancy in damage is due to the geographical differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. While the Dominican Republic has many mountains and lush foliage, Gutierrez said Haiti is comparatively flat and desolate.
Gutierrez said her biggest concern comes from her knowledge of Haiti before the earthquake. Before coming to USU, Gutierrez was a teacher in the Dominican Republic and would go with groups of high school students on class trips to Haiti. The experience was a sobering one for all of them, she said, with many students so affected by the poverty they saw that they gave the very shirt off their backs.
According to statistics from the CIA, 80 percent of Haitians are at or well below the poverty level. To compare, the same statistics list the poverty rate in the Dominican Republic at 42 percent and 12 percent in the U.S. Gutierrez said many of the houses were made of nothing but mud walls with dirt floors, and people were often so desperate for food that they ate cakes of mud mixed with butter. Dirt roads zigzag across the country, but street signs are nowhere to be found, she said, making getting lost a near certainty. The only pavement she ever saw in Haiti was a small strip outside the president’s palace. However, the building was leveled in the quake, as well as the President Rene Preval’s personal home, leaving even the leader of the impoverished nation homeless.
A place to live is last on the mind of the president, though, superseded by concerns of his people.
“I have plenty of time to look for a bed,” he said in an interview with CNN Wednesday, “but now I am working on how to rescue the people.
“Sleeping is not the problem.”
But while the president works to help his people, Gutierrez said she fears for his safety. If he were injured or killed, she said she fears the country would sink into further desperation.
Still, he has plenty of work to do. Although there are no solid numbers at this time, estimations of the body count range anywhere to several thousand to a half million. The wounded far outnumber that, and access to hospitals and supplies are scarce. Even before the disaster, Gutierrez said hospital quality in Haiti was low, and those who could afford it would come to the Dominican Republic for care. Those who couldn’t afford it and were forced to go to Haitian hospitals, she said, had little chance of getting well. Since the earthquake, despite aid from diverse organizations, the need for medical help and supplies exceeds the availability.
Tye Smith, sophomore in international studies, said he hopes to help increase availability to people in areas heavily affected by the quake.
“I’ve been trying to figure out what I could do, because I needed to do something,” he said.
Two of his aunts have adopted children from a Haitian orphanage. One of his aunts, Mandy McBride, and her adopted daughter are still in Haiti, Smith said, but were fortunately unhurt, except for a broken ankle.
The orphanage Foyer de Zion, located in Pétion-ville, a village about four miles south of Port-au-Prince and its sister orphanage, Ruuska Village, which also has a small clinic, nearby were damaged by the earthquake but to a lesser degree than many buildings in the area. Walls have crumbled, roofs have caved in and supplies have been damaged, but the orphanages are still opening their doors to those needing assistance, even as their own tenants are sleeping under the stars. Supplies, though, are dwindling.
Smith said he and his other aunt, Angie Rasmussen, are trying to raise money to purchase more supplies. He said if supplies were simply sent to the country, they would likely be distributed among the higher classes and not reach those who really needed them. If people give them to the orphanage, the donations would be given directly to the people who have sought refuge at the orphanage.
He said he understands students are strapped for cash, but he stressed that just a little bit from each person can add up to a huge difference for people who literally have nothing.
“In a country where people survive on fewer than 10 cents a day,” he said, “just a dollar from each student would be incredible.”
An account has been set up at Zions Bank in his aunt’s name, but the account can be accessed by looking up his name, as well. Smith said he has also been asking professors of larger classes to ask for donations. He said by donating to this fund, students can better know where and how their donation is helping. Just a dollar, he said, can buy a lot of rice or medical supplies.
“It’s a good way that Utah State can help out,” he said.
Smith and his aunt hopes to take the supplies in person to the orphanage as soon as the island is accessible, but, if not, will send them to the founder of the orphanage, Barbara Walker. More information about the orphanage can be found at reachouttohaiti.com.
Gutierrez, too, is anxious to help. She said she asked her children what they thought their family should do to help, and the children offered the entire contents of their piggy banks to send. She said she and her husband plan on sending whatever money they can spare.
She acknowledged that “every country has its own troubles,” but said she hoped the magnitude of the disaster would prompt nations to work together to rebuild Haiti.
“We just need to cooperate more,” she said.
Speaking about the earthquake and the damage to Haiti is an emotional subject for Gutierrez. She said although Haiti had so little before the earthquake and has even less now, it is a nation of promise. The people are smart, she said, often able to speak not only the official Creole and French, but Spanish and English as well, despite only about half the population being able to read.
“I think if they have the opportunity, they could become a very good country fast,” she said.
Giving them that opportunity, though, even amid this disaster, she said, is the important thing.
– lisa.m.christensen@aggiemail.usu.edu