Moontown

Former Jamaica Prime Minister, PJ Patterson

“As small economies, our resources may be limited, but not our willingness to assist,” Patterson told the one-day conference, hosted by the government of Canada to pave the way for a larger donor co-ordination conference on Haiti’s reconstruction which should take place later this year.

He noted that CARICOM has already provided more than 400 response personnel, including military and medical, as well as search and rescue teams.

Tonnes of emergency supplies to Haiti have been routed through CARICOM’s operational focal point, Jamaica, and the Jamaican Government continues to offer its port facilities, land and sea, as a staging area for international assistance into Haiti, he told the meeting.

He also noted that CARICOM supports the notion that Haiti should play a vital role in its own redevelopment.

“Unless there is ownership by those directly affected, the best laid plans will come to nought. In addition to the involvement from the outset of the Haitian authorities, that of civil society and of the people of Haiti is also of overarching importance,” he added.

Patterson suggested that a single, multi-donor reconstruction fund for Haiti should be established, as has been advocated by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning.

“The establishment of such a fund would have a second and critical consequence. It would do away with the impediment presented by the dizzying number of accounting modalities required by individual donors,” he said.

He also suggested the involvement of the Haitian Diaspora, as well as the urgent reinforcement of the public functions of the state, including the public service, to ensure that the progress made in the provision of public goods and basic services is sustainable.

Patterson was making his presentation to the Preparatory Conference, which was called to establish a clear and common vision, within the international community, for the early recovery and longer-term reconstruction of Haiti. It is seen as the first step to reaching that goal.

It also provided an opportunity for the donor community, the Haitian Government and the United Nations to review progress to date in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Haiti, and to strengthen the international community’s commitment to co-ordinate relief and recovery efforts.

The conference involved the Group of Friends of Haiti, major donors and regional and multilateral partners. A second technical conference is likely to be hosted at the United Nations in New York in March.

A major earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, knocking down buildings and power lines and causing death and injury to hundreds of thousands of Haitians. (Caribnet)

A statistical study by a specialist group at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California showed that those hurt in the January 12 quake will likely “include an extraordinarily high number of children, more than 110,000, nearly half of the estimated total.”

The study was conducted by Jeffrey Upperman and Robert Neches PhD, who have developed a software tool to help medical service providers plan their responses in the case of disasters and accidents involving children.

Using existing data, the Pediatric Emergency Decision Support System (PEDSS) uses statistical methods to estimate how many of the victims of a disaster may be children and what care they might need.

“Such needs in Haiti are particularly intense, because fully 35 percent of the population is under 15, meaning the estimated total number of injuries (250,000) contains far more children than it would in other areas,” the researchers said in a statement.

They stressed that injured children had different medical needs, such as thinner hypodermic needles, the correct doses of children’s drugs, and pediatric specialists.

The software works with seven age groups, and applying its program to the population of Haiti it predicted that half of the injured, about 44 percent or 111,000, could be under the age of 18.

It estimated that about 1,000 children aged between six to eight had suffered crush injuries, and calculated how many doses of specific drugs to treat such injuries would be needed. (Caribnet)

This represents the full amount due to the country based on its catastrophe insurance policy for earthquakes for the 2009/10 policy year, and which forms part of the country’s disaster risk management strategy. This value represents approximately 20 times the premium of US$385,500.

Less than 24 hours after the earthquake occurred, CCRIF determined that the full payout would be effected and the funds were transferred to the Haitian Government today, following the required 14-day waiting period during which the specific calculations were verified.

The payout determination was made based on the strength and location of the earthquake as outlined in Haiti’s policy. CCRIF’s design as a parametric insurance facility means that payouts can be calculated and made very quickly because loss adjusters do not have to be relied on to estimate damage after the event, which can take months or even years.

US$8 million is a small amount compared with the needs of the country at this time. However, according to Dr Simon Young, CEO of Caribbean Risk Managers, CCRIF’s Facility Supervisor, “These funds have been paid directly to the Government and can be used in a way that the Haitian Government deems to be of prime importance at this time.”

He continued, ”CCRIF will play an active role in the rebuilding of Haiti by assisting in hazard modelling and developing better hazard maps, and will be working with authorities in Haiti to better plan for natural hazards as the people of Haiti are re-settled and the rebuilding process gets underway.”

Through its capacity building and collaborative relationships with regional organisations, CCRIF will continue to help countries to become more proactive in their disaster risk management strategies. In light of the Haitian earthquake, CCRIF will spend time meeting with other members to revisit their own earthquake coverage, as most Caribbean governments have placed greater emphasis on the hurricane component of their disaster portfolio.

For example, Haiti’s earthquake coverage was only 15% of its total policy. CCRIF has the capacity to provide substantially more coverage for both earthquake and hurricane events, and does so at a rate of premium that is minimised through pooling and the not-for-profit nature of CCRIF’s operations.

CCRIF also will work with its members to support the establishment of Country Risk Officers (CROs) as a fundamental part of the hazard risk management frameworks. These CROs will be responsible for managing their country’s risk portfolio and enabling the adoption of a holistic approach to risk management before catastrophic events occur, thereby reducing the country’s risk burden and its vulnerability.

CCRIF will continue to keep its members, clients and other stakeholders apprised of the Facility’s actions at this time, and will continue to monitor and contribute to the regional response.

CCRIF is a risk pooling facility, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean for Caribbean governments. It is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to Caribbean governments by quickly providing short term liquidity when a policy is triggered.

It is the world’s first and, to date, only regional fund utilising parametric insurance, giving Caribbean governments the unique opportunity to purchase earthquake and hurricane catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing.

CCRIF represents a paradigm shift in the way governments treat risk, with Caribbean governments leading the way in pre-disaster planning.

Sixteen governments are members of the fund: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In 2007, CCRIF paid out almost $1 million to the Dominican and St Lucian governments after the November 29, 2007 earthquake in the eastern Caribbean, and in 2008, CCRIF paid out $6.3 Million to the Turks & Caicos Islands after Hurricane Ike made a direct hit on Grand Turk. (Caribnet)

President Bharrat Jagdeo told a media conference here on Tuesday that he will be supportive of any move to get children injured and homeless out of the country into a safer place in the short term.

“We have heard that there may be a move to send kids to countries where they can receive care and we are very interested in that sort of thing. Maybe, if the region decides that that is a good approach and the Haitian people also determine that that is in their best interest, because, ultimately, their government would have to make that determination, our homes and hospitals would be open to those children,” he said.

On the issue of migration by Haitians, Jagdeo announced that those living in Guyana legally or illegally can bring their family to live with them, but in the long term he noted, Guyana will go with what the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) decides, “So we will work along with CARICOM to establish a framework for this.”

“I have seen The Bahamas, they have stopped their deportation of Haitians and, in Jamaica, they have announced that the Haitians who may go there will be placed separately and receive all attention and, later, be repatriated to Haiti. So there is yet no clarity about what a common framework for CARICOM will be but we are prepared to do our part,” he stated.

He said: ”Ultimately, in the long run, we can’t empty the country of all Haitians. We have to support the rebuilding of Haiti and ensure that all of the people there have a productive life. But, as I said before, I am prepared to work with CARICOM to establish a framework that will bring, at least in the short term, temporary relief to those people who may have needs outside of Haiti, including children.”

Regarding the CARCIOM move to lend support to Haiti in the area of health, Jagdeo said Guyana will work with the regional grouping in this regard to coordinate the response.

“We are yet awaiting, from CARICOM, the costing of this initiative but we will meet this Friday, in caucus in Suriname, that is the CARICOM Heads of Government and we hope, by that time, there will be greater clarity on costing as to how we will deliver on this health initiative which seems to be the area that CARICOM wants us to focus on,” he said.

Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, Minister Manickchand, and Director of the CDC, Chabilall Ramsarup inspecting the containers after the presentation ceremony.  (GINA photo)

Prior to the departure of the vessel, Chairperson of the National Committee for Haiti Relief, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand received over $10 million from several entities and kind-hearted Guyanese at a presentation ceremony held at the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Thomas Lands.

Manickchand said that since they were informed that ports in Haiti were cleared up, no effort is being spared in ensuring that the much needed aid reach the devastated country as early as possible, so that Haitians can be comforted by the relief.

The Minister expressed appreciation on the Committee’s behalf, to all Guyanese for their continuing support in providing assistance for the people of Haiti.

Presentations were made by the Pomeroon Oil Mills of $500,000 in refined coconut oil, Regal Stationery, $300,000, Guyana Lottery Company, $1 million, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), $97,500, Cheddi Jagan Research Center, $6,000, Hand-in-Hand Insurance, $1 million, Stewartville Secondary School, $101,000, proceeds from the concert held at Theatre Guild, $220,000, Metro, 20 bags of clothes, Monar Educational Institute, $41, 000, and Ranger’s Sports Club, $20,000.

Additionally, proceeds from a telethon held in Berbice via the Little Rock Television Station (LRTVS) in conjunction with the Berbice Chamber of Commerce, saw a sum of $5, 175,000 being handed over to the Committee by LRTVS owner Pearl Christie, who spearheaded the effort.

Proceeds from the ‘Mothers of Guyana for Mothers of Haiti’ road march, which amounted to $1,131,189 and a notable amount of dry goods, footwear and clothes were also handed to the Committee.

Proceeds from a telethon led by Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn on January 23 in Linden are yet to be collected. This too, is expected to be a significant sum.

Another shipment of at least 10 containers is expected to leave for Haiti on Friday. (Caribnet)

Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo. AFP PHOTO

Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo during a media conference on Wednesday, expressed this sentiment and explained that there is need for more involvement in the situation in Haiti, but that there is need for the United States of America to work with the Caribbean Region in this regard.

“What we called for when I was very critical of this, is not less American involvement, but more American involvement, more money, more resources but that it should be done in a collaborative fashion, where the Government of Haiti leads the show and we all support them, and that too, our region too must find some place to get our support into Haiti,” the Head of State said.

Noting that the US is the only country that has the capability of dealing with the catastrophe with aircraft carriers, helicopters, troops and resources, President Jagdeo stated that there is need for understanding since the contribution of the Region is just as important.

“I just think that they need to understand the feelings of our people in the region and the dollar that we give although we are poor people, has the same importance, as money coming from the US, or their relief efforts. Why shouldn’t our people’s sincere, heartfelt efforts, also reach the Haitian people?” Jagdeo stated.

“I can understand why the Haitian Government has signed so many MoUs with the US but having done that, the US needs to understand that they need to work in partnership with our region too, not to shut people out and I think since then, the situation has improved tremendously because now we are working closely together co-coordinating, pooling together our efforts so I recognize the role of the US there,” Jagdeo said.

Haiti was struck by an earthquake at around 17:00 h on Tuesday, January 12, a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale, centered approximately 15 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital damaging most of the city. (Caribnet)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) — Haiti appealed to foreign governments and charities on Wednesday to do more to help earthquake victims as rescuers pulled a teenage girl out of the rubble 15 days after her Port-au-Prince home collapsed around her.

The girl, named Darline and believed to be 16, was severely dehydrated and had a leg injury, French and Haitian rescuers said. “I don’t know how she happened to resist that long. It’s a miracle,” said rescue worker J.P. Malaganne.

The girl was one of more than 130 people rescued alive since the January 12 quake devastated Haiti’s coastal capital, killed as many as 200,000 and threw the country into chaos.

Haitian President Rene Preval speaks to the press in Port-au-Prince. Desperate Haitians still faced a battle for survival as more than two weeks after a deadly quake aid supplies were barely trickling in and pillagers ran rife in the ruins. AFP PHOTO

President Rene Preval said Haiti would indefinitely postpone February 28 parliamentary elections and he would not seek to stay in office after his term expires in February 2011.

That means his government will have just over one year to rebuild the impoverished Caribbean nation before handing off the task to new leadership.

Aid groups and troops from around the world have struggled to distribute food, water and medical care to an estimated 3 million Haitians injured or left homeless in the magnitude-7.0 earthquake.

“I am not in a position to criticize anybody, not in the least people who have come here to help me,” Preval told a news conference. “What I am staying is, what everybody is saying is, that we need a better coordination.”

Some food handouts have turned ugly, with UN peacekeepers using tear gas and warning shots to control jostling crowds. People housed in ragtag encampments around Port-au-Prince have complained that no food has reached them. Some have expressed anger at Preval for failing to play a more public role and sending few workers to remove garbage and feed the homeless.

“In my job, we have two ways of doing things,” Preval told Reuters in an interview. “In the way politicians traditionally do, you go to the hospitals, you cry with the victims. Or you can sit, and work, and find the right way to bring assistance to the people. I chose to do the second.”

Preval said he believes Haiti must decentralize.

“Long term, we need to create jobs in the provinces,” he told Reuters. “Because we run the risk of having overcrowded big cities, with anarchic construction and the risk that the same thing could happen again.”

He acknowledged the intense task ahead — 20,000 commercial buildings have collapsed or must be razed, as well as 225,000 residences. However, he said Haiti has begun to come back.

“On the 13th of January, we woke up without telephones, with thousands of dead on the streets, and today telephones are working, there are no more bodies in the streets. We have collected more than 150,000, but there are still bodies under the rubble and will see how we can get them,” he said.

“Gas stations are working normally, commercial activities have resumed. In 15 days, a lot of progress has been made.”

At the news conference, Preval said he was grateful for fund-raising around the world and tried to ease concerns that government corruption might siphon off aid.

“The Haitian government has not seen one cent of that money that has been raised for Haiti. I presume that that means the money is going to NGOs,” he said, referring to non-governmental aid groups.

Ministers have been fighting high prices linked to scarcity after the quake. Finance Minister Ronald Baudin said the price of rice has dropped. “And now that we are taking measures to make sure everything is available, I think prices will reflect the realities of the market,” he said.

Doctors in Haiti say the quake had created a litany of serious health problems, including perhaps tens of thousands of new amputees. With so many hospitals and clinics destroyed, there was little chance they would get the therapy they need, doctors said.

In Washington, the International Monetary Fund approved an additional $102 million in funding for Haiti and said it would disburse $114 million to the government by the end of the week to help with rebuilding after the earthquake.

The IMF also said 80 percent of Haiti’s textile capacity was capable of operating despite quake damage and textile exports were expected to resume as soon as seaport damage is repaired. Most textile facilities are outside Port-au-Prince.

Preval bristled at suggestions that the influx of foreign troops threatened Haitian sovereignty.

“We are talking about people suffering and you are talking about ideology,” he told a journalist who raised the issue at the news conference. (Caribnet)

In a congratulatory statement on newly elected leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad Bissessar, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (Fitun) said yesterday her victory signals a need by citizens to break free of ’traditional politics’.

Fitun head David Abdulah also said in yesterday’s news release that Persad-Bissesar’s entry should bring the management of real issues instead of the exchange of leaders-none of which made the population happy-that forms the political history of this country.

’Fitun wishes to congratulate Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar on her being elected to the position of political leader of the UNC,’ Abdulah said.

’We also congratulate the other candidates who were victorious in the UNC’s one-member, one-vote elections for that party’s central executive.There is no doubt that the UNC elections, while being an internal party process, have significant implications for the country as a whole.’

He added since the UNC is the only party that has used the ’one-member, one-vote’ system, it has opened up the issue of the nature of democracy within political parties.

’The fact that Mrs Persad-Bissessar is a woman and is only one of two elected, female UNC members of Parliament is also an important watershed in the struggle for gender equality,’ Abdulah said

’Thirdly and most crucially, Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s overwhelming defeat of Mr Basdeo Panday -the party’s founder and its political leader for its entire existence (including the UNC’s earlier incarnation of the United Labour Front of 1977-1986)-is a very definite manifestation that the rank and file of the UNC wanted to move away from the traditional politics that Mr Panday embodied.

’This traditional politics is one where the mobilisation of support by parties in order to win elections are along lines of race, religion, geography. The People’s National Movement (PNM) is the other half of this traditional politics.

’This politics has taken the country down a route of disaster, and the total rejection of Mr Panday and the victory of Mrs Persad-Bissessar is a signal that citizens want to break free of this.’

’In this regard, we suggest that Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s focus on becoming the prime minister and removing the PNM cannot be an end in itself, but rather the means to an end,’ he said. (Trinidad Express)

Ria Taitt Political Editor

united: Newly elected UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNC chairman Jack Warner acknowledge applause as they arrive at Rienzi Complex , Couva, yesterday for their inauguration ceremony. -Photos: DAVE PERSAD

Kamla Persad-Bissessar began preparing for governance immediately upon her inauguration as Political Leader of the United National Congress, setting up a shadow cabinet aimed at making the Patrick Manning regime more accountable.

But the changing of the Opposition UNC guard was formalised in a joyful and triumphant way in the presence of hundreds of supporters at the party’s Rienzi Complex, Couva, headquarters yesterday.

People who voted for change came to see the tangible results and to celebrate what that exercise in democracy had produced. And so it was to tassa drumming and cheers that Persad-Bissessar and chairman Jack Warner entered the hall, with people hugging, kissing, touching these new leaders, this new Executive sans (without) Basdeo Panday.

Persad-Bissessar, in her inaugural address, captured the mood. ’This isn’t about me…This is about a nation regaining itself, righting itself, resuming the path of real progress, stability and peace,’ she said.

Noting that the UNC was unable to convince the population that it was a government in waiting, she announced that she planned to immediately establish a shadow cabinet that ’will have the responsibility for monitoring the day-to-day activities of the Government’.

’In effect we will become the national watchdogs on your behalf. We will not allow the Manning regime to get away with anything,’ she said to loud applause.

She also pledged to consult and to listen carefully to the people, ’to what is important to you’.

’I have always said my philosophy is to put God in front. And when we listen to the people, we are listening to God because the voice of the people is the voice of God,’ she said.

She paid glowing tribute to a movement, which she was not part, but had become the beneficiary of - the Movement for Change- which agitated for internal elections. ’And so we congratulate Mr Warner and the Movement for Change for challenging the status quo and helping to bring us to where we are today. Had it not been for their untiring and selfless dedication to the cause of democracy in our party, the voice of our membership may have remained silenced and our nation would have suffered the result,’ Persad-Bissessar said, not mentioning the name of Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj or his role in that movement.

There were nothing openly hostile to anyone in her address. Though, she did take some time to diplomatically dismiss the claims that the election process was compromised.

’Over the last 24 hours, developments have taken place where it has been alleged that thousands of membership cards…have been discovered at Rienzi Complex. I want to quote the chairman of the Membership Committee, Kelvin Ramnath, when he said ’a preliminary list was issued to all candidates and there was a period for objections and inclusions and omissions…I think the election went smoothly’.’

Persad-Bissessar thanked all those who worked on all the respective campaigns, saying: ’This is your party and nobody will ever change that.’

Persad-Bissessar pledged to ’at all times’ to defend the rights of the media to freedom of expression. ’You carry to great burden of responsibility…to report without fear or favour,’ she noted.

’For each word of encouragement, every hug, smile, prayer…each hour spent, for those within and without our party who embraced this victory and wished us well…I can only offer in return my heartfelt gratitude and pledge that your victory has only just started…’ Persad-Bissessar said, to a crescendo of cheers.

As she ended her address, the members of the new Executive, including the one successful candidate from the Panday team, Roodal Moonilal, held hands. As the crowd shouted ’Come on, Roody’, Moonilal, who appeared slightly uncomfortable at first, held Persad-Bissessar’s hand and joined in the raising of the hands in the air.

As the ceremony ended, Persad-Bissessar and Warner both went through the crowd, warmly greeting people. One elderly woman, looking on, said: ’Twenty-four years now I voting for Panday and it hurt me to have to vote for somebody else. But at least I know today I ain’t waste my vote. Is Kamla’s time now.’

Among those attending were Senators Wade Mark, Sharon Gopaul-McNicol, Jennifer Jones-Kernahan, Chaguanas Mayor Natasha Navas and Deputy Mayor Orlando Nagessar. With the exception of Harry Partap and Winston ’Gypsy’ Peters, all the other elected MPs were absent. (Trinidad Express)