VZCZCXRO2643
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0503/01 1461051
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261051Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9950
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 2311
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 0380
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2468
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0400
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 1417
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCOWCV/CGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000503 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/CCA, S/CRS/, INR/IAA, S/P 
SOUTHCOME ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAVER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID HA
SUBJECT: HAITIAN PRESIDENT TOURS FLOODED AREAS 
 
PORT AU PR 00000503  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Even before the official June 1 start date of the 
2009 hurricane season, heavy rains have already caused 11 deaths and 
some damage across the country.  Haiti?s Civil Protection Department 
has declared an orange alert across the country.  President Preval 
is attempting to get ahead of the issue politically by making three 
trips in the last two weeks to the Gonaives area, the area most 
devastated during the 2008 hurricane season, to check on disaster 
preparedness.  He criticized the international community over the 
pace of operations and asked the Haitian construction authority to 
take more responsibility.  Preval pointed to the existence of 
shantytowns in vulnerable areas as a contributing factor in the most 
recent deaths and damage.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Rainy Season Underway, Hurricane Season Approaching 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (U) June 1 marks the beginning of the official ?hurricane season? 
in the Caribbean.  Already in Haiti, however, the rainy season has 
begun in earnest, with heavy rains hitting the Artibonite (Gonaives, 
St. Marc) and south (Les Cayes, Leogane), the Central Plateau, and 
the Nippe Departments ? in addition to heavy rains during the past 
two weeks in Port-au-Prince.  Media reports include accounts of 
flooding, storm damage and eleven deaths over the past two weeks. 
Alta Jean-Baptiste, Director of the Department of Civil Protection 
(DPC), attributed the deaths and damage to a tropical depression 
that has dumped rain across Haiti, causing the evacuation of an 
estimated 500 persons and the loss of over 300 homes.  DPC declared 
an orange alert over the entire country. 
 
----------------------- 
President Preval Reacts 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Following his May 18 visit to Archaie to mark Flag Day May 
18, the normally reclusive President Preval went a little further up 
the coast on May 21 to the coastal towns of St. Marc and Gonaives. 
The visit came after two quick Presidential visits to Gonaives the 
weekend of March 9 and 12.  Both towns are prone to flooding after 
heavy rains due to their location downstream from the large 
Artibonite Valley watershed and the mountains that surround it. 
Preval visited storm affected neighborhoods and checked on progress 
being made to shore up river banks and prevent a recurrence of last 
year?s devastating loss of life and property.  (Note: The people of 
Gonaives were the largest and most visible victims of last year?s 
flooding, but similar scenes played out in many other locations in 
Haiti.  End note.)  Preval criticized the disaster preparedness work 
of the international community and said that Haiti?s National 
Equipment Center (CNE ? the national agency responsible for 
procurement and management of heavy equipment) should assume more 
control over disaster preparedness projects.  (Note:  The GOH 
purchased for the CNE dozens of new earthmovers purchased using the 
USD 197 million emergency fund established in October 2008.  The 
Parliament has repeatedly called for an accounting of disbursement 
of these funds; the GoH has promised to provide a report in June. 
End note.) 
 
¶4. (U) Preval also promised additional support to TECINA, the 
contractor that is rehabilitating irrigation canals in the 
Artibonite Valley, the most important Haitian agricultural area with 
the vast majority of domestic rice production.  In his statement to 
the press, Preval provided details on the work being done to dredge 
the bed of the La Quinta River.  He said that the river flow is 
greater now than it was in 2004, when the last studies were done, 
and that therefore more capacity needed to be created than 
originally planned.  Preval also promised that work on bridges 
spanning the two rivers that converge on Gonaives, the La Quinta and 
the Mapou Rivers, would be completed but did not provide dates. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Anarchic Construction Partly to Blame 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) During these visits, Preval repeatedly raised the issue of 
?anarchic construction,? implying that the many shantytowns 
(?bidonvilles?) have contributed to both the flooding and the 
elevated death/damage statistics.  In Port-au-Prince, local 
authorities in two different locations (Delmas and Petionville) have 
 
PORT AU PR 00000503  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
begun to remove people from areas deemed prone to flooding and 
mudslides.  Shantytowns in Port-au-Prince are concentrated in two 
locations: high up on steep hillsides surrounding the city and down 
low in ravines where flood waters accumulate during and after heavy 
rainfall.   (Comment: Preval has suggested that populations in areas 
prone to flooding or mudslides should move, but the GOH has done 
little to provide alternate lodging.  End comment.) 
 
----------------------- 
Comment:  USAID Efforts 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) The President?s comments belie the considerable international 
donor effort, including by the USG, to respond to the flooding in 
Gonaive last year.  While some activities are under late-stage 
planning, others are underway.  USAID-funded CHH has begun clearing 
a major drainage canal in Gonaives that runs alongside the national 
highway.  CHF is also building an upland draining system near the La 
Quinte River which will protect a few small communities.  CHF began 
reviewing contractor bids for rehabilitating the Haute Plaine 
irrigation system serving an estimated 500 hectares on May 19. 
USAID partner IOM is completing irrigation canal work off the La 
Quinte River in the community of Des Barrieres.  USAID has heard 
that Preval has instructed CNE to work 24 hours a day on the La 
Quinte riverbed.  In light of this Presidential instruction, USAID 
is revisiting option for use of the aforementioned funds.  In any 
case, USAID is working with DPC and the sectoral technical 
committees to strengthen institutional capacity to prepare for the 
upcoming hurricane season.  USAID is also working with UNDP to 
pre-position non-food items and map-rehabilitate and upgrade 
facilities to be used for shelter. 
 
¶7. (U) Comment continued:  Just as the first heavy rains presage 
Haiti?s hurricane season, Preval is trying to get ahead politically 
of the natural disaster issue by visiting and inspecting the sites 
of the worst damage in 2008, and criticizing international and 
national aid actors.  Despite the GoH expenditure of nearly USD 200 
million in emergency funds since October 2008, the state of disaster 
preparedness in Haiti, based on recent flooding incidents in a wide 
geographic spread of locations, does not look good.  Haiti has a 
disaster alert system with various color-coded levels (currently 
yellow and orange nationwide due to continuing heavy rains) but 
little means of helping the population with practical responses to 
the alerts. 
 
SANDERSON