Haiti

Interview with Yolette Etienne, Program Coordinator at Malteser International

On August 14, 2021, another massive earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The MI team, which has been working with local partner organizations in Haiti since 2010, was on the ground to help in the crisis region in the very first days. Yolette Etienne has now lived and worked through both of Haiti’s most violent and damaging earthquakes in recent history. And still, “tragedy”, “misfortune” and “catastrophe”, are not words you will find in her lexicon. Driven by deeply personal experiences, she has channeled them into her work as a humanitarian expert, and now as MI Americas’ Country Coordinator in Haiti. Sara Villoresi, Communications Officer at MI Americas in New York spoke with her about humanitarian aid in Haiti and her personal experiences.

After the earthquake: "Buildings, roads, water and sewage systems - everything was gone.“

Toni Gärtner, Program Manager in the Malteser International emergency relief team, travelled in August to the crisis region with the purpose to support the Malteser team on site.

There he helped with assessing and identifying the acute needs of the affected and how to fulfill these needs in the best efficient manner.

He reports: " From above, looking out of the plane, I thought: Why are we even here, it is not looking too bad. But the moment we landed and the closer we got to the epicentre, the more massive the damage got. I would say that in some places up to 90 percent of the buildings were in complete destroyed."