Support for NZ team to help Haiti

A medical team with equipment and supplies funded from Oamaru and its surrounding district could be operating in earthquake-devastated Haiti by the beginning of May, if $120,000 can be raised by then.

Yesterday, about 100 people at a public meeting threw their support behind Project HHH - Hearts and Hands for Haiti - which wants to send the team to assist Haitians recover from the earthquake.

The team would be headed by Robyn Couper, of Oamaru, who has worked in Haiti for 33 years.

Yesterday, the meeting was told that Miss Couper could return to Haiti by the end of March to prepare for the team, which could include surgical, orthopaedic staff, general practitioners and nurses, along with equipment and supplies.

Most personnel would be from New Zealand.

To do that, a steering committee has been set up, convened by Bruce Albiston, to raise the money needed - $120,000 a year.

Miss Couper envisages the first assistance will be medical, and hopes that could be followed by teams to assist in restoring the country's agricultural base, and then tradespeople, to help rebuild.

The medical team would be based at Cap Haitien, a town about the size of Oamaru but with about 1 million people in its catchment area.

That population would now be far more, as people fled the ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince.

Miss Couper spent her time in Cap Haitien and will use her contacts with church and community leaders to ensure the team is used where it is needed.

At the meeting yesterday, Miss Couper outlined her work in Haiti, the political situation, how the community worked and the effects of the earthquake.

All the country's infrastructure, centred in Port-au-Prince, had been destroyed.

"What was a poor infrastructure before is now non-existent," she said.

The team would go only if people with the right medical qualifications could be found.

Civil authorities in Cap Haitien, along with churches, had already offered their support for the team and given approval for it to do whatever it could.

Miss Couper said the aim was to provide assistance over a period of years.

Many disasters were "nine-day wonders" as far as the world providing aid, but Haiti needed help "further down the road".

"Our contribution may be little, but it will be very valuable," she said.

Fundraising activities are being planned by the steering committee.

Mr Albiston said donations in the thousands of dollars were already coming in.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz