of the haitian bridge alliance. i appreciate both of your time. lynn, i ll start with you. what are you hearing from haitians right now? what are the efforts looking like to reach those who are affected by this earthquake? thank you so much, alicia. what we are seeing is a mix of concerns and cries for help especially in the rural areas are efforts are unable to reach those people. as a matter of fact, today i received a video from a very far area where they re literally asking for support asking for food, asking for water, and asking for shelter because the majority of the people have lost everything they had. as you mentioned, 1.2 million people are impacted by this, and a lot of the rural areas are still unable to get the help that they need. earlier this year the
having an administration in place that can help to coordinate very basic things like the aid at usaid, the u.n., and other people are providing. the aid that interdiaspora have been trying to funnel through. it s just not adequate. and so, we have seen the direct organizations that have a history on the ground be at the forefront of this. and those are the people that are being trusted and with the money and aid that is flowing there because people simply don t trust either the haitian government or some of the larger organizations that were involved in the 2010 earthquake response. i i want to make sure i bring you in on this point, which is that homeland security secretary, alejandro mayorkas, went to miami thursday. spoke with local leaders about cuba on haiti. he said the biden administration not extending tps for haitians on the basis of the earthquake. you also had congresswoman saying congress will fight for the tps extension. your sense of how this is going to play out?
days since the government was actually able to provide us an update on the death toll. so, just as an example of how inefficient or ill equipped it s been so far, that s just one, very simple example. we know that there are a lot more people who are affected than the official death toll is telling us. and right now, people are crying out for help not just for food and and the physical aid that they need but, also, to help take care of them mentally and emotionally, as well. given everything the country has gone through. do you have a sense of what would need to happen in order for these aid efforts to flow directly to the people who need the most? do you have a sense of what is standing in the way? so, the most challenging aspect is that many of well, i ll take a quick step back. haiti lacked infrastructure, to begin with, in terms of roads and the ability of traffic to move across the country. and so, what little roads that,
assassination of the president, how is the country managing under its current leadership? alicia, sadly the country is not managing very well is what we ve been hearing from a number of people who are on the ground. for one,one, the haitian govern, as you said, has not been able to actually provide the aid that s necessary or help to coordinate the efforts that so many people abroad here in the u.s. and elsewhere have been trying to get to haiti. we ve heard of different attempts to try to organize a relief effort. but from what we re seeing, for the most part, the organizations that have um a history on the ground with the different towns that are affected. they re the ones right now who are at the forefront of this effort. one of the key um pieces that we re still baffled about is even why the death toll is is three days it s been three
thank you, alicia. i was one of the people who met with secretary mayorkas in miami a couple of days ago. and what we have asked him is specifically to provide humanitarian for haitians who are still at the u.s.-mexico border to make sure we provide protection for people um of haitian nationals who are in need right now. it is unacceptable as the u.s. continues to say they are friends with haiti, friends of haitians, yet refuse to provide the much needed protection that our people need. so what i have said specifically to secretary mayorkas and juan gonzales in the head of usaid is that it is time for the u.s. to really put their money where their mouth is. and be a true friend to haiti. be able to provide for those