VZCZCXRO9933
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #1576/01 3181211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131211Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9120
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001576 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/EX, WHA/CAR, 
STATE PASS USAID/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID PHUM HA
SUBJECT: HAITI SCHOOL COLLAPSE: NO SHORTAGE OF BLAME 
 
REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1572 
 
¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary:  Rescue teams have transitioned from rescue 
work to recovery of bodies buried in debris after the 
collapse November 7 of a primary and secondary school in Port 
au Prince.  As Haitian officials begin the blame game, 
prosecutors have already arrested the director of the school 
and questioned several other officials.  The tragedy 
highlights state negligence in the face of the dilapidated or 
inadequately built structures housing schoolchildren.  End 
summary. 
 
School Building Collapses 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Haiti's Office of Civil Protection (DPC) put the death 
toll as of November 11 at 89 persons, although the death toll 
is expected to be closer to 100 as the recovery of victims 
continues.  As of November 12, DPC stated that 73 bodies had 
been identified.  The victims were primarily children, who 
perished when the building housing College la Promesse 
Evangelique, a 3-story kindergarten through grade twelve 
school in the Nerettes neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, 
collapsed November 7 at 1000 local time.  The school was a 
multi-story structure built on the side of a steep ravine 
inside of a warren of narrow alleys and dense slum housing 
(reftel).  One hundred fifty persons were injured -- many 
severely -- and were taken to area hospitals where they were 
treated by Haitian physicians, and by physicians with Doctors 
without Borders/Belgium and DWB/France. 
 
¶4. (U) Doctors at Haiti's largest hospital, the State 
University Hospital of Haiti (Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat 
d'Haiti), quickly suspended a strike they have waged for over 
a month to protest salary arrears, working conditions, and 
inadequate supplies, equipment, and facilities.  Medical 
staff prepared emergency surgery facilities and medical 
residents provided updates via radio on the status of those 
treated and released.  By November 12, however, these doctors 
had resumed their strike. 
 
Swift Response, but Daunting 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) USAID/OFDA Representative reports (reftel) that 
search and rescue efforts reflect good coordination and 
collaboration among Haitian, U.S., French and MINUSTAH 
personnel.  Late November 11, news media reported that the 
search for survivors ended but that clearing the remaining 
rubble and recovering bodies will continue.  President Preval 
commended the Red Cross, the Haitian National Police and 
American and French search and rescue personnel for their 
efforts.  (Note: Members of the Fairfax County Urban Search 
and Rescue team arrived November 8 to work with the USAID 
Disaster Assistance Response Team already in Haiti; a team of 
French rescue firefighters from Martinique arrived the 
evening of November 7.  End note) The press announced 
November 12 that the government is setting up an 
inter-ministerial committee to aid victims of the disaster 
and their families. 
 
Placing Blame 
------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) President Rene Preval arrived at the scene of the 
catastrophe within hours and was joined by Prime Minister 
Michele Pierre-Louis, the Ministers of Education, Health and 
Youth.  Preval has since returned to the site two times.  In 
his first visit, the President blamed the school collapse on 
faulty building construction.  He added that continual 
political instability has contributed to a lack of respect 
for the law and created an environment where haphazard and 
unsafe construction is common.  "Anarchic" construction was 
also to blame, Preval said, for blocking the path of rescue 
vehicles heading to the school to assist victims.  He warned 
that many other cities, including Carrefour (near 
Port-au-Prince) and Gonaives (affected by floods) were of 
concern.  Former Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis also 
visited the site November 8. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Minister of Youth and Sports Evens Lescoufleur was 
designted the lead GOH official for the disaster and remained 
on-site through much of the rescue/recovery operations. 
Minister of Education Joel Desrosiers Jean Pierre visited the 
school site several times and promised to ''take charge'' of 
 
PORT AU PR 00001576  002 OF 002 
 
 
surviving students.  He also promised the MOE would create a 
commission charged with verifying the safety of buildings 
housing educational institutions.  He warned that the MOE was 
ready to temporarily close establishments that do not meet 
certain security criteria. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Senate President Kely Bastien angrily called for the 
arrest of the proprietor of the school, Pastor Fortin 
Augustin, and called for the formation of a special 
commission to investigate the tragedy.  Augustin, who 
allegedly personally supervised the construction, was 
arrested by police, questioned by a magistrate, and charged 
with involuntary manslaughter.  Press reported that Minister 
of Education Desrosiers will testify before the Senate 
November 12. 
 
¶9. (SBU) President of the Senate Commission on Education Yvon 
Buissereth denounced the country's negligence which caused 
the tragedy and announced that his Commission would convoke 
Ministers to testify and discuss actions necessary to avoid 
further catastrophes. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Mayor of Petion Ville Claire Lydie Parent arrived 
on the scene soon after the catastrophe, saying she 
prohibited further construction on the building during her 
first mayoral mandate 8 years ago when the building was only 
one-story high.  She said city engineers found the building 
was not structurally sound.  Parent vowed to stop haphazard 
construction in her jurisdiction.  Some reports questioned 
how the proprietor was instead able to build a second story 
and later a third story under the Mayor's current tenure.  It 
is not yet confirmed whether construction of the third story 
contributed to the building's collapse. (Comment:  Parent is 
considered ''tough'' on matters of urban planning.  She has 
followed through on promises to move open markets that 
blocked streets and created transportation bottlenecks, and 
ordered building owners to move walls and other obstructions 
that block sidewalks and create hazards for pedestrians and 
drivers. End comment) 
 
Legal Investigations Underway 
----------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Newly appointed Minister of Justice and Public 
Security Jean Joseph Exhume also visited the site as soon as 
he was installed in office November 10, and promised to 
investigate legal responsibility.  The Director of the 
school, Augustin Fortin, has been arrested and charged with 
involuntary manslaughter.  Prosecutors have questioned three 
officials of the Ministry of Education and Petion-Ville Mayor 
Parent. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Press commentary on the tragedy echoes the 
universal complaint against the Haitian state, that it fails 
to live up to the most elementary responsibility of insuring 
citizens' safety.  The ''La Promesse Evangelique'' (The 
Evangelical Promise) school is the tip of the iceberg of 
private schools -- and many other buildings -- throughout the 
country built with no regard for building codes, which exist 
but are rarely enforced.  Legal investigation and possibly 
prosecutions will continue, but the wave of political 
accusations is hardly likely to shock the Haitian state out 
of its congenital laxity toward the welfare of schoolchildren 
and other citizens. 
SANDERSON