Cuba Sends New Aid to Earthquake Survivors

PORT AU PRINCE.— Fifty Haitians in their fifth year of studies at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) arrived in Haiti this Tuesday to join the Cuban healthcare professionals in working day and night to provide care to the survivors in Port au Prince.

They have brought with them equipment to assemble a field hospital along with other materials to improve the working conditions in the areas with the largest concentrations of affected people: parks, sports fields, courtyards, open spaces and other localities.

Currently, the surgical capacity at these improvised emergency care centers is insufficient. Often, doctors have to cut off the necrotic limbs of many patients who arrive without having taken antibiotics on time.

The medical teams are doing their utmost to save as many lives as possible, despite the severe lack of resources and medicines. By sending supplies and implementing preventive and health restorative strategies, Cuba has been able to make a difference in preventing further damage in Port au Prince.

Meanwhile, other countries integrating the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) have also lent a helping hand to the Haitian victims.

Unfortunately, the drizzle of rain that fell on the city on Tuesday has increased the threat of an epidemic, with unburied bodies still scattered on the streets.

On the positive side, there has been some return to normality in the Port au Prince neighbourhood of Pentionville where small markets have reopened shop, and even a major commercial establishment, the Nuit a Nuit Market, has unexpectedly opened its doors —the only of its kind that has so far managed to do so. On the streets, the cars —mostly owned by wealthy people— have started to return, which means the main gas stations are have refuelled.

On the more chaotic side, some groups of people are removing only the rubble of collapsed stores to loot household goods, food and other products.