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Léogâne

Leyogàn
CountryFlag of Haiti.svg Haiti
DepartmentOuest
ArrondissementLéogâne

Léogâne (Haitian Creole: Leyogàn) is a seaside town in Ouest Department, Haïti. It is located in the eponymous arrondissement, the Léogâne Arrondissement. The port town is located about 29 km (18 miles) West of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The town was at the epicenter of the 12 January 2010 earthquake, and was catastrophically affected, with 80-90% of buildings damaged.[1][2] It also had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1770.[3]

History

Léogâne is the birthplace of the Taíno queen Anacaona (the town was originally called the Amerindian name Yaguana and the city's name is a corruption of that) as well as Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité, the wife of the Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758).

Charlemagne Péralte, the leader of the Haitian resistance to the U.S. occupation that had started in 1915, had been a military officer stationed in Léogâne. He resigned from the military, refusing to surrender to the U.S. troops without a fight. Afterwards he returned to his native town of Hinche and began leading the Cacos against the occupation forces.

Prior to the 12 January 2010 earthquake the city had a nursing school. There was also an old hospital, Sainte-Croix (Holy Cross), but it had closed two years previously.[4][5] The centerpiece of the city was the Sainte Rose de Lima School.[6]

2010 earthquake

Damage to Leogane on January 22
A LCU from the 22nd MEU delivers humanitarian aid and supplies to the beach at Léogâne.

Léogâne was at the epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude 12 January 2010 earthquake,[1] and a United Nations assessment team that investigated three main towns near Port-au-Prince found that Léogâne was "the worst affected area" with 80 to 90% of buildings damaged and no remaining government infrastructure.[2] Nearly every concrete structure was destroyed. The damage was also reported to be worse than the capital. The military estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 people had died from the earthquake in Léogâne. People have congregated in ad hoc squatter camps and relief has taken longer to reach Léogâne.[1]

In the wake of the temblor destroying municipal buildings, city hall was moved to a telecommunications building.[7] Among the facilities destroyed in the quake was the Sainte Rose de Lima School, considered the emotional heart of the city. The main commercial strip, the "Grand Rue" was also collapsed.[6] Saint Croix Hospital was also partially demolished.[8] The "court of the peace" building was destroyed in the temblor.[9]

British urban search and rescue teams with Rapid-UK along with the Icelandic search and rescue team were the first to reach the destroyed town on January 17, 2010.[10] The Canadian destroyer HMCS Athabaskan first reached the area on Tuesday, January 19. The Athabaskan's crew of 280 have been tasked to supply humanitarian aid to the city and assist in relief efforts.[11] A Japanese field hospital, Sri Lankan peacekeeper unit, and an Argentine White Helmets field hospital are already in the field treating survivors,[12] the Japanese and Argentinians had arrived on the 18th.[6] The Canadian Medical Assistance Team (CMAT) arrived on the 19th, and set to work performing surgeries.[13][14]

The missionaries of World Wide Village, set up outpatient clinics beside the Japanese Red Cross at the nursing school in Leogane within days after the earthquake. Volunteer medical personal together with teams of volunteer surgeons from World Wide Village and Notre Dame, thousands of patients have been seen and treated. World Wide Village brought in a Field Hospital which began full operation in Late February, 2010, the new, "Hospital St. Croix." World Wide Village and Notre Dame University continue to send teams to the nursing school/field hospital to meet ongoing health care needs in Leogane.[15]

The NGOs Heart to Heart International and Médecins Sans Frontières were providing medical aid at clinical sites in the area.[citation needed]

As Léogâne has no airport, the Canadians began using the small strip at Jacmel to avoid the bottleneck in Port au Prince, and had 250-300 personnel there the next day.[16] The Canadian 1 Field Hospital is being deployed to Léogâne.[17] The Cuban military set up a field hospital in the region.[18]

Canadian soldiers are providing security for food distribution points.[19] The Canadian medical facility is located near the Japanese field hospital, which is next to the nursing school, which has been turned into a hospital.[4] Canada has deployed the Van Doos, a Canadian infantry regiment, to help with recovery efforts.[20] Haitian Girl Guides and Boy Scouts are providing crowd control at some food distribution points.[7]

With no airport in Léogâne, any aid needing to be airlifted in needs to be carried by helicopter, or through use of small planes on makeshift landing strips. The highway, Route 9, at Léogâne, was cordoned off by UN Peacekeepers to use as such a landing strip.[21]

The Korean government announced it would deploy 250 peacekeepers to the region in February, composed mostly of engineers, with some medical troops, and marines for security.[22] The mission comprises 120 military engineers, 22 medics and a 1,200 tonne-freighter filled with supplies and equipment.[23] As of 18 February 2010, the Korean Peacekeepers had started work on building a hospital.[24] On 27 February 2010, 190 South Korean Peacekeepers left home for deployment in Leogane.[25] By 28 February 2010, 240 members of South Korean Peacekeepers (Task Force Danbi / Operation Danbi) had arrived.[26]

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization started a cash-for-work programme to clear irrigation canals in the Léogâne area.[27]

As of 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in their position on USS Bataan and Carrefour, Leogane and Petit-Goave, Grand-Goave.[28][29]

On 2 March 2010, the IFRC decongested a refugee camp, creating a second one out of the overflow.[30]

On 7 March 2010, it was announced that HMCS Athabaskan was to end its mission on 10 March.[31][32]

Organizations

Deep Springs International (sponsor of Gadyen Dlo) and the Children's Nutrition Program of Haiti[33] are based in Leogane.

Citations

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lisa Millar (17 January 2010). "Tens of thousands neglected at quake epicentre". ABC News. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lisa Millar (17 January 2010). "Haiti Disaster Like "No Other"". ABC News. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  3. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 17: bad argument #1 to 'old_pairs' (table expected, got nil).
  4. 4.0 4.1 Daphne Benoit (26 January 2010). "Out of the chaos, Haitian town gets new hospital". Sinchew. AFP. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  5. "Dans son malheur, la ville haïtienne de Léogâne a au moins gagné un hôpital" (in French). Romandie. AFP. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Scott Wilson (19 January 2010). "In Leogane, Haiti, rebuilding starts with scavenging". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Patrick Solomon (27 January 2010). "It's the Haitians who Will Rebuild Their Country". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  8. Chris Kenning (31 January 2010). "Louisville volunteers help produce drinking water for thousands of Haitians". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved 1 February 2010.[dead link]
  9. (French) Metropole Haiti, "Le système judiciaire paralysé trois semaines après le séisme", LLM, 5 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  10. "Haiti quake victims' bodies 'piled up by roads'". BBC News. 18 January 2010.
  11. "HMCS Athabaskan, Halifax to be in Haiti early Tuesday". The Chronicle Herald. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-19.[dead link]
  12. Stephen Maher (20 January 2010). "'We dead already'". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2010.[dead link]
  13. Alexander Panetta (26 January 2010). "Group of Canadian volunteers in Haiti struggles to save one life at a time". Canadian Press. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  14. Shari Balga (19 January 2010). "Canadian Medical Assistance Teams arrive in Leogane, Haiti" (Press release). Canadian Medical Assistance Teams. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  15. [1] (primary source)
  16. Gloria Galloway (20 January 2010). "Canada's big task in Haiti starts on small airstrip". The Globe and Mail.
  17. Sean Chase (22 January 2010). "Mobile hospital ready to deploy to Haiti". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  18. "Cuba to open fifth field hospital in Haiti". Caribbean Net News. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  19. Sheldon Alberts (25 January 2010). "Desperate rush on food distribution". National Post. Retrieved 26 January 2010.[dead link]
  20. "Des soldats de Valcartier prêtent main forte" (in French). LCN. Quebecor Media. 23 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  21. Shaila Dewan (4 February 2010). "Volunteers Fly Supplies Into Hard-to-Reach Areas". New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  22. Lee Min-yong (6 February 2010). "Korea set to send PKO to quake-torn Haiti in Feb". Joong Ang Daily. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  23. Hayney (9 February 2010). "Advance group of PKO heads to Haiti following parliamentary approval". Yonghap News. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  24. "Reconstruction Unit". The Dong-A Ilbo. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  25. "190 Korean Peacekeeping Troops Leave for Haiti". Arirang. 27 February 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  26. "Korean peacekeepers arrive in Haiti". Korea Herald. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  27. "FAO Clears Blocked Irrigation Canals in Earthquake-Hit Leogane". Nam News Network. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  28. "24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Leaving Haiti". NBC News. WITN. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  29. 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit Public Affairs (8 February 2010). "22nd MEU Moves Into Carrefour". Digital Video & Imagery Distribution System. Retrieved 10 February 2010. (primary source)
  30. Alex Wynter (3 March 2010). "IFRC 'decongests' Haiti camp". Reuters. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  31. Christina Spencer (7 March 2010). "Canadian troops preparing to leave Haiti". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  32. Jessica Leeder (8 March 2010). "Haiti will not be 'left behind,' MacKay says". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  33. http://www.cnphaiti.org

References

External material

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