DART helps Haitians prepare highway for rainy season

Published On Thu Feb 25 2010

By Captain Mark Peebles

Haitian journalists interview local supervisors and CIMIC specialists from the Disaster Assistance Response Team about a Canadian “cash-for-work” program that employs local people to clear the drainage ditches on Route 204 between Jacmel and Léogâne.

Haitian journalists interview local supervisors and CIMIC specialists from the Disaster Assistance Response Team about a Canadian “cash-for-work” program that employs local people to clear the drainage ditches on Route 204 between Jacmel and Léogâne.

Labourers from the Jacmel area clear a drainage ditch on Route 204 to ensure the road and nearby fields are not flooded during the rainy season, which begins soon. The ditch project is part of a “cash for work” initiative organized by the Civil- Military Cooperation (CIMIC) of the DART.

Labourers from the Jacmel area clear a drainage ditch on Route 204 to ensure the road and nearby fields are not flooded during the rainy season, which begins soon. The ditch project is part of a “cash for work” initiative organized by the Civil- Military Cooperation (CIMIC) of the DART.

CIMIC team leader Capt Martin Lépine of Beauport, Quebec, speaks with labour crew supervisor Paul Luckner of Jacmel while Mr. Luckner’s crew gets on with the job of clearing the drainage ditches on Route 204 from Jacmel to Léogâne.

CIMIC team leader Capt Martin Lépine of Beauport, Quebec, speaks with labour crew supervisor Paul Luckner of Jacmel while Mr. Luckner’s crew gets on with the job of clearing the drainage ditches on Route 204 from Jacmel to Léogâne.

JACMEL, HAITI - Recovering from a devastating earthquake in January that toppled buildings, wrecked roads and shattered the lives of thousands, Haitians are facing another potential disaster when the rains come in April.

But they’re doing something about it — with some help from the Canadian Forces.

The Civil Military Co-operation (CIMIC) section of the Disaster Assistance Response Team is working with local government and contractors to repair Route 204 and prepare it for the rainy season. It’s one of a number of “Cash-for-Work” projects that are using Canadian taxpayer dollars to help Haitians rebuild their country.

Route 204 is a key transport artery connecting Jacmel to Léogâne on the north side of the peninsula, through a mountain range called the Chaine de Selles. The highway was severely damaged in the earthquake of 12 January, and impassable for many days afterward.

The DART engineers cleared the road surface of boulders and rubble, but the drainage ditches lining the highway were still clogged with dirt and debris from the quake. Without clear ditches to contain and direct the flow of water from the torrential rains, the road would soon be washed out.

Over the past week, when discussions turned from relief to reconstruction, the Mayor of Jacmel and representatives of outlying districts along the highway all informed the DART that the ditches are a major concern.

“If the highway was left like that when the rains came in April, the water would go all over the road and destroy it,” said CIMIC specialist Warrant Officer Martin Higgins.

To head off this problem, the DART initiated a cash-for-work program with local contractors, using Government of Canada funds to pay local people to work on reconstruction projects identified by the community. The projects are developed in conjunction with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and in coordination with the United Nations and other aid organizations in the area.

The DART called for tenders and awarded the Route 204 contract to a consortium of Haitian contractors — with stipulations regarding wages, age and gender of workers, and where the contractors could recruit their workers.

Now, 150 Haitian men and women go to work on the highway each day, digging debris out of the ditches with shovels and picks and heaving it onto the surface of the road, where truck crews can pick it up. The labourers earn 180 gourdes (US $6) a day — not quite Canadian minimum wage, but two to three times what they would get elsewhere in Haiti for similar work. The project is due to be finished on 17 March 2010, and will cost Cdn $57,000.

Paul Luckner is one of the job-site supervisors recruited from Jacmel. He knows how important the ditches are to the highway — two of his relatives were injured when their vehicle skidded off Route 204 and crashed in rainy season.

“I am really proud and happy,” he said. “The reason is that now we know that when family comes it will be safer for them to come.”

Another worker at the site, Rose-Carmel Bellevue, added that, as well as making the highway safer, the cleared ditches will save the nearby crops when the rains come. She explained that, if the ditches didn’t control the rainwater, the water would just wash over and flood the fields, ruining crops before harvest.

The ditch project on Route 204 is one of several cash-for-work projects initiated by the DART in conjunction with CIDA during the transition of Canadian relief efforts from emergency response to reconstruction. Another project in the mountains north of Jacmel has Haitians repairing and widening a mountain trail between the remote village of Cochon Gras and the local market hub of Marbial that was destroyed in the quake.

WO Higgins believes the locals are the key.

“They live there. It’s their voice that we want to hear. The work that’s done is what they need,” he said. “The people who need the money can earn it, and Haitians are working for Haiti. That’s why they’re successful.”

WO Higgins says that there are more projects in the works as the DART prepares to hand over aid efforts to civilian agencies — Canadian, local and international.