Haiti earthquake: The forgotten villages cut off from help

Before the earthquake hit it had two churches – Catholic and Baptist – a medical centre, a school and a voodoo community centre.

A tarmac road runs through the village, and off that tight paths cross banana trees, meandering by cinder block houses.

The town we arrive in is unrecognisable.

The drive up to Marceline is marked by landslides, and huge fissures in the road. The driver at times slows the car to a stop so he can negotiate the cracks.

The town of Les Cayes was badly affected by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on 14 August. Perhaps one in six buildings collapsed.

Here it’s hard to find a house that is standing.

Kelly Phildor was a 15-year-old boy who was preparing for a new school term.

He was cheeky and full of life. His nickname was Kelly Forever, and he had scrawled that moniker on to his shirt.

“I didn’t realise his life would be so short,” his mother, Marie Rose, says.

Marie Rose
image captionMarie Rose says she has her son’s shirt wrapped around her waist “to give me strength”

Kelly had woken up early, and had left his home on Saturday morning. But his phone needed charging so he decided to return.

When the quake hit, a wall made of chunks of heavy cement and rock fell on top of him. It broke both of his legs and his skull. He didn’t stand a chance.

“I don’t know what to do. I have his shirt wrapped around my waist to give me strength,” Marie Rose says.

The level of destruction here is hard to comprehend. Both churches were obliterated.

In the voodoo community centre, people were getting ready for a dance in the chapel. They were waiting for the priestess to start proceedings when the quake struck.

The building caved in on itself.

A neighbour tells us that they managed pull out the body of the priestess, but there could be more than 25 people still under the rubble.

What everyone asks is why there is no help – no medicine, no search and rescue teams, no food and water – nothing.

Margaret Maurice and her eight children managed to survive their house collapsing with only minor injuries.

However, they are now left to fend for themselves, squatting on the rubble of their former homes.

“Do I have to scream to get the government’s attention,” she says, “or are we being left to die?”

She says she has little food and water, and the few aid trucks she’s seen have passed them by.

The government, aid agencies and the international community have all promised help.

But those promises mean little to people here.

The medical centre – a place where people could perhaps have sorted supplies – was also flattened.

Destroyed voodoo community centre in Les Cayes, Haiti
image captionThe voodoo community centre was obliterated by the powerful quake

Here in the mountains it can get cold and wet at night. Some people have flimsy tarpaulins, and some don’t even have that.

Occasionally there are short jolts, aftershocks, that add to the stress.

People here aren’t thinking about their long-term future – they’re focused on surviving.

But with all the village’s infrastructure utterly destroyed it’s hard to see how Marceline will recover.

Haiti is currently in political turmoil. The former president was assassinated last month. The country simply isn’t able to give villages like Marceline the assistance they need.

Everyone here has multiple friends and family members lost to this earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 Haitians.

But now, there are worries that more could die – not from the earthquake – but because basic supplies that were needed, never came.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday has killed almost 2,000 people and left thousands more injured.

Firefighters remove debris in search of survivors in Les Cayes, Haiti on 17 August 2021image sourceGetty Images

The south-west of the country appears to have suffered the worst of the damage, especially around the city of Les Cayes.

Rescuers in the city have used building machinery to clear the widespread debris, but the search for survivors has been difficult.

A bulldozer clears the rubble of a collapsed building in Brefet, a neighborhood of Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021image sourceGetty Images
Haitian firefighters search for survivors, under the rubble of a destroyed hotel, in Les Cayesimage sourceReuters

Rescue efforts have been hampered by heavy rains brought this week by Tropical Storm Grace.

People watch an excavator removing rubble from the site of a collapsed hotel in Les Cayes, Haiti, on 16 August 2021image sourceReuters
People drive in a motorcycle past a damaged home in Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021image sourceReuters
Haitian firefighters search for survivors under the rubble of a destroyed building in Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021image sourceReuters

Tens of thousands of people left homeless by the quake had to decide whether to brave the storm under flimsy tarpaulins, or risk returning to potentially dangerous buildings damaged by the tremor.

The UN says about 500,000 children now have limited or no access to shelter, safe water and food.

People gather after spending the night outside after facing the severe inclement weather of Tropical Storm Grace near Les Cayes, Haiti on 17 August 2021image sourceAFP
People watch the clearing of a building that collapsed during the earthquake in Brefet, a neighborhood in Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021image sourceAFP
An injured woman is treated at a hospital in Les Cayes on 15 August 2021image sourceAFP

Haitians stood in line to receive a bag of food as part of the humanitarian aid provided by FAES (Fund for Economic and Social Assistance), seen below.

A woman argues with a military guard as Haitians stand in line to receive a bag of food as part of the humanitarian aid provided by FAES (Fund for Economic and Social Assistance) on 16 August 2021 in Les Cayes, Haitiimage sourceGetty Images

The US Coast Guard were also seen carrying medical supplies to the Ofatma Hospital in Les Cayes.

US Coast Guard carry medical supplies to the Ofatma Hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021image sourceAFP

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is in power until a fresh presidential election can be held, has declared a month-long state of emergency and urged the population to “show solidarity”.

Parts of a motorcycle are seen in the rubble of a destroyed hotel in Les Cayes, Haiti on 16 August 2021image sourceReuters
A bulldozer clears the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquake in Brefet, a neighborhood of Les Cayes, Haiti, on 17 August 2021
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