Haiti is not prepared to suffer more earthquakes and runs out of woods

In January 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake that killed more than 222,000 people. Three months ago, in October 2018, the territory was struck, again, by another earthquake of similar size. New years after the first catastrophe, this country, the poorest of America, remains unprepared for earthquakes.

 

In addition to the natural disasters that regularly hail Haiti, the lack of energy efficiency resulting from poverty are leaving the country without too much forests. "Haiti is a country that is eternally under construction", as emphasized by one of the founders of the Catalan NGO, 'Endavant Haiti', Pau Chios. This organization helps the population to optimize the natural resources of the country to improve the health of the population and to protect the natural environment of the deforestation process that is suffering from this territory.

 

"The country is not ready either for earthquakes, hurricanes, or anything else. When these catastrophes go through Haiti there are always thousands of deaths. The houses are of wood or blocks of cement badly made ... ", adds Chios. This NGO operates in the town of 'Mont-Organizé' and goes ahead with its projects along with COPADIM, the local collaborator of the Catalan NGO. It is an agricultural cooperative of more than 600 people.

 

At the moment, Endavant Haiti develops two projects in this locality. The first is the 'construction of improved kitchens'. According to Chios, people from there cook very rudimentarily and spend a lot of firewood to fire in the rooms.

 

Without chimneys or without structure that protects the fire, many health problems, lungs, cataracts are generated ... In addition, a lot of firewood from the trees is wasted. "Haiti only has 2% of its forest mass", says Chios. The project consists of the creation of closed brick structures to be able to cook with wood, optimizing the fire, respecting its culture, but improving "drastically" its health, its economy and the natural environment.

 

This project was launched in early 2018 through this campaign to raise up to 10,000 euros with the idea of ​​installing a kitchen for each family of 'Mont-Organisé', a town that has about 20,000 inhabitants. The second project is to improve the productive capacity of the farmers of 'Mont-Organisé' and is to transform the cassava cassava, a kind of crunchy bread made with cassava flour. "Cassava is a tuber that is damaged very soon. If it is transformed, we make sure that they have food all year round, "says Chios.