“You are not alone” is written in Haitian Creole, English and Turkish on a wall near the tent city, made up of 156 tents. Kızılay has also provided the necessary equipment and food to ensure nutrition, shelter and sanitation for some 1,000 Haitians, the Anatolia news agency reported. Several weeks ago, Turkish Ministry of Health doctors conducted health screenings for quake victims residing in the tent camp. Medicine was given to everyone who needed it, and some people were hospitalized.Kızılay also provides counseling services to reduce the psychological trauma earthquake victims are experiencing. As part of this program, doctors help children by having them draw and speak with them about what they’ve experienced as a result of the quake. Aid agencies have also established areas where children can play sports, which doctors see as another way to return normalcy to the lives of all those affected. A number of people from the tent city have even taken up dance.
Visitors from among aid organizations and businessmen work to help families living here by distributing food. Upon hearing of an earthquake that struck eastern Turkey recently, a group of people residing in the tent city paid a visit to the Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) charitable association to express their solidarity with Turkey.
Work is reportedly under way to ensure people’s safety during likely heavy flooding in the capital as a result of torrential rain expected to arrive in April and May. Approximately 160,000 Haitians whose houses were destroyed by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in January live in tents. The quake has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people so far.
Gerald-Emile Brun, the owner of a private company specializing in reconstruction, met with Kimse Yok Mu representatives to discuss a “Turkish town” to be established in Haiti for earthquake victims they are going to build soon. The particular concern was how to make newly built shelters immune to heavy floods.
