With most of Haiti submerged under water and a mounting death toll, Haitian community leaders in New York, Florida and across the Diaspora find themselves once again called upon to lead the relief effort to their impoverished and troubled homeland.
Throughout the week, meetings and conferences have been held as food, clothes and other items are being collected to send to Haiti, particularly Gonaives, the country's fourth largest city, which was most hit by the recent deluges.
The Haitian community listened anxiously as Hurricane Ike trudged toward areas still flooding up after Gustav, Hannah and Fay, with disasters declared in much of Artibonite Region and the Southern Haiti. So far, about 500 people are reported dead and thousands left homeless.
"The Consulate has a four-member committee, which are in touch with the whole community – regional organizations, churches Catholic and Protestant, Civil Society and United Nations – to collect goods and money to send to Haiti," said Consul General Félix Augustin in a telephone interview.
Throughout the week, organizations such as Haitian American United for Progress, officials from SEIU 1199, and church leaders joined forces with the Consulate to let people know where they can bring donated goods to be shipped to Haiti.
So far, a cargo plane has been chartered to take items to hurricane victims.
Tropical Storm Hanna struck Haiti on Sept 1, leaving an estimated 167 people dead. The week before, Hurricane Gustav slammed the island, killing 76. Fifteen other people died from the recent effects of Hurricane Fay.
In flooded Haiti, on Sunday, Ike made an already sinister death toll even more gruesome.
Hard-hit Gonaives, north of the capital, remained cut off by land. Red Cross trucks trying to reach Gonaives and Les Cayes on Haiti's southern coast had to turn back, one of many international aid efforts still struggling to leave the capital.
At least 61 people died as Ike's winds and rain swept Sunday. Officials also found three more bodies from a previous storm, raising Haiti's death toll from four tropical storms in less than a month to 321.
An ad hoc committee coordinated by Brooklyn Haitian Consortium for Haitian Empowerment is actually getting donations to acquire hygienic and first aid kits, water purification tablets and emergency ready alimentary kits.
The Ad Hoc Coordination Haiti Hurricane Relief, which includes members from Miami, Florida, Boston Massachusetts and Chicago Illinois that had come together to address this emergency, is committed to raised $35,000 needed to purchase the kits. The distribution to the affected populations will be done through Rotary International in Haiti and Haiti Disaster Coordination Team headed by Dr. Claude Surena.
"The immediate concern is to supply Rotary International with hygienic and first aid kits and water, which are more useful," said Harry Fouché, the Consortium chairman.
Haiti's coastal town of Cabaret was particularly hard hit – 21 victims were stacked in a mud-caked pile in a funeral home there, including two pregnant women, one with a dead girl still in her arms. Mayor Thomas Joseph Will said two more victims were found Monday.
Chay Pa Lou in Brooklyn, Congress to Fortify Haiti in Chicago, FATEH in Boston, NOAH in Washington and FONKOZE Haiti are part of the coordination.
Aid groups are appealing for donations to sustain a lengthy response, warning of a secondary disaster caused by waterborne illnesses and other problems in the weeks ahead.
In Spring Valley, an umbrella group formed with several Rockland organizations such as Konbit, The Rockland Immigration Coalition, the Ramapo Town Haitian Relief Task Force, the Haitian-American Cultural and Social Organization, St. Joseph's Church and IFG Productions is collecting essential items to send to flood victims and is in talks with the state to secure an Air Force C-5 cargo plane for the transport.
According to local newspaper in Spring Valley Ramapo, Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence reached out to the state for use of the cargo plane and said he has had three conversations with Gov. David Paterson's office.
The planes were mostly being used to support U.S. military efforts overseas, but officials seemed amenable to providing one for the delivery, he said. If an aircraft could be secured, it would be filled with palettes of rice, as well as food, clothing and medical supplies.
The umbrella group, which is called the Haitian Relief Task Force, will meet at 10 a.m. every Friday at Konbit for updates on its progress.
On Monday, nine people died in shelters in Gonaives desperate for relief supplies, even as a U.S. Navy ship dispatched amphibious boats to deliver food.
Two children were among the dead at the shelters, said Daniel Dupiton of region's civil protection department. It was not immediately clear what caused those deaths.
Thousands have taken refuge in schools, churches and homes on high ground, many with scant supplies or supervision.
Phone calls, emails, talk shows in major United States' cities mobilized in helping with the disaster relief, wanting to send food, water and money to Haiti, not without concerns that goods and money might not reach those who most need them.
In 2004, goods and food sent to Haiti after a Diaspora mobilization never reached the victims and stayed at the port many years after storm Jeanne devastated Gonaives.
"I want to assure that I'll make sure whatever is being sent will get to the people in need," said Consul Augustin.
