Hi! My name's Geoff & I'll be sharing my experiences as a volunteer in Leogane, Haiti over the next couple of months. I arrived in Leogane yesterday afternoon -- I'm returning to a project run by Hands On Disaster Relief (HODR -- www.hodr.org), a relatively young USA-based non-governmental organization (NGO). I was first here from March 7 - 27, and will be here from yesterday (April 18) until June 17.
Leogane is located about 30 kilometers / 18 miles west of Port au Prince, Haiti's capital. Its pre-quake population was estimated to be about 180,000, including both urban and rural areas. Leogane was the epicenter of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, and it's regarded that 80-90% of Leogane's buildings were severely affected by the magnitude 7.0 quake.
Currently we've got about 90 volunteers here; the majority are from the U.S. & Canada, a several from Haiti, and others from South Africa, Australia, the U.K., Turkey, Mexico, and more. We're involved in several projects here in Leogane -- rubble removal, demolition, hospital facilitation, transitional & temporary shelter construction, school construction, and general infrastructure construction both for our own organization and other NGOs in the area.
In Haiti, there's no building code, nor much awareness of quake-proof construction or safety procedure. The January 12 earthquake is widely regarded as the worst disaster in recent history, according to collected data beginning in 1970. Damages are estimated at more than US$14 billion, while Haiti's pre-quake GDP was estimated at just shy of US$7 billion. The death toll is uncertain -- 200,000 or 300,000, maybe more. After a certain point, the numbers become somewhat meaningless -- the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere was devastated by a huge earthquake and several aftershocks.
There's a ton (thousands of tons?) of work still to be done in Leogane and in Haiti before the country returns to any semblance of pre-quake normality. It seems like this disaster has all but disappeared from the news cycle, so I'll do my best to keep you informed on what's actually going on here. I'll be focusing on the various ways in which people around town are using the available resources to improve their lives & also recounting the day-to-day life as a lowly rubble technician.
Thanks for reading & stay tuned!