TFHA01: EMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE EARTHQUAKE SITREP as of 1200,

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000048 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT HA PGOV AID EAID SUBJECT: TFHA01: EMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE EARTHQUAKE SITREP as of 1200, Day 4 REF: PORT AU PRINCE 40 EMBASSY OUTSIDE COMMUNICATIONS AND ASSETS LIMITED -------------- -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Aftershocks continue, but since 6:00am January 14, some Embassy personnel have been able to sporadically send and receive phone calls and text messages on mobile phones. All land lines are still down. Trilogy International, parent company of ComCel/Voila, Haiti's largest cellphone service provider, reported to PolOff that at midnight on January 13 phone service was restored to a level that was considered to be capable of supporting reliable commercial traffic. The Voila network is now operating at 70 percent capacity, with international in-bound and out-bound calling. ¶2. (SBU) Most remaining Embassy personnel, plus 112 AmCits spent the night of January 13 at the Embassy with limited food and water supply. The Management section is working with RSO to relocate the 85 American Embassy staff currently at Post to three neighborhoods where residences remain structurally stable. Less than half of Embassy residences are inhabitable, many requiring repairs to plumbing and generators, which is indicative of the severity of destruction in even the most affluent suburbs of Port-au-Prince. Almost the entire Motor Pool fleet is consumed with transporting evacuees to the airport. MORE HAITIAN-AMERICANS AMONG EVACUEES -------------- ¶3. (SBU) ConOffs report that while the first wave of AmCits seeking American Citizen Services (ACS) was comprised mostly of natural-born AmCits, including visiting business travelers and missionary groups; today, more Haitian-Americans and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) were seeking Embassy assistance. Most of these Haitian-Americans were visiting Haiti and have homes established in the U.S. We have not yet seen a large movement of resident Haitians deciding to leave for the U.S. GOH RESPONSE INCREMENTALLY INCREASING -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Ambassador met with Prime Minister Bellerive (as well as the Ministers of Interior and Commerce) at the airport at 10:00am on January 14. Prime Minister Bellerive was effusive in his thanks for the work the United States military is doing to get the airport up and running after the earthquake. He was very pleased to see the steady stream of assistance flights that are efficiently arriving, delivering assistance and taking off to free tarmac space for other assistance flights. The Ambassador asked that the GOH establish a mechanism of regular communication and coordination with donors, and Bellerive invited the Ambassador and/or his representatives to participate in a daily coordination meeting with other donors and GOH ministers at 08:00am. The Prime Minister also invited the Ambassador to a meeting of all donors at 3:00pm January 14 to discuss GOH priorities and coordination of donor efforts. ¶5. RSO reports that up until this point, they have had no official contact with the Haitian National Police (HNP) despite many attempts. RSO staff have visited the local commissariat and have been able to request spot support and security assistance for helo medevacs but have been unable to coordinate anything other than minimal time and location. RSO has just begun to allow the use of privately owned vehicles (POVs) with advance notification and approval of itineraries and routes, as many roads are still blocked. ¶6. (SBU) On January 13, only a handful of Haitian National Police (HNP) trucks with officers in plain clothes were on patrol, and on January 14, EmbOffs reported seeing for the first time HNP motorcycles out on the streets, HNP officers conducting traffic, more HNP vehicles patrolling throughout Port-au-Prince and the suburbs. ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE SERVICES, PORTS, BANKS -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Private ports may become available as temporary medical sites. Gregory Mevs of Terminal Varreaux informed Post that one berth at his port is functioning with roll-on and roll-off, and vessels up to about 3,500 tons are able to dock there. Petroleum products cannot be delivered without repairs. At least on the jetties of the National Port Authority (APN) is under water and no vessels can berth. Terminal Varreaux has a 10,000 sq feet warehouse available for a field hospital and an enclosed yard of 390,000 sq feet near the port. Thirteen buildings were damaged and or destroyed at SHODECOSA, a private industrial part located across the street from the port. The APN has been criticized historically for its poor operation, for having among the highest port fees in the world, and for trying to maintain a monopoly, having recently announced they would not allow anyone other than itself to run container operations at the port. ¶9. (SBU) The President of UNIBANK, the largest bank in Haiti, told a contact that he was hopeful they could get their bank servers back up and running and reopen for service on Monday. As far as the Embassy can determine, this would be the first port to re-open. ¶10. (SBU) The U.S. Coast Guard Liaison (CGLO),who spent the night of the earthquake organizing on-site triage for the injured in Carrefour, the epicenter of the earthquake, reports that afloat assets are undamaged, but maintenance depots and many other buildings were down. The clinic and barracks remain intact. There were no serious injuries or deaths among Coast Guard staff, contrary to reports that half the Coast Guard were killed. STREET ACTIVITY MINIMAL BUT RISING -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The main form of public transportation, converted pick-up trucks known as "tap taps," are operating at about only 10% of their normal rate. Embassy personnel have been unimpeded in moving throughout the city. Arterials are open but congested. Many secondary streets are still impassable. Trucks, loaded mostly with plantains, are bringing goods to some main street markets, which are slowly beginning to reappear. Very large numbers of people are still wandering the streets. Long lines and crowds are forming at gas stations, although many are closed. A gallon of gasoline now sells for 500 Haitian gourds (HTG),approximately USD 12.50, on the black market. Many damaged vehicles remain abandoned in the middle of the road, some with drivers and passengers still inside. An increasing number of bodies, many uncovered, line the streets and are beginning to decay. ¶12. (SBU) Scavenging from destroyed buildings is increasing, but looting (defined as forcibly breaking into secured buildings does not seem to be occurring. Looters dragged a USAID contractor from his vehicle at gunpoint on January 13 as he was leaving the Parliament, after spending hours digging out bodies, including two dead Senators, Michele Louis and Jacque Wilbert. Thieves shot his vehicle and pulled him out; he gave them his cash, then got back into his car, and left the scene. EmbOff also heard reports of scavenging on the night of January 13 at the Digicel building on John Brown Avenue. FIRST REPORTS OF DAMAGE OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL -------------- ¶13. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports significant damage in Petit Goave, a village 80 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake destroyed the catholic church, several schools, hotels, and many houses. Several dozens are presumed to be trapped under rubble, including the vice-mayor. MERTEN