22104: (Craig) NYT: Haitian and Dominican Communities Reach Out to Flooded Homelands (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>



Haitian and Dominican Communities Reach Out to Flooded Homelands
May 28, 2004
By JANON FISHER

For the past two days, Ricot Dupuy, the manager of the
radio station Soleil D'Haiti in Brooklyn, has been fielding
inquiries from concerned callers.

In Manhattan, the sidewalk outside the offices of Alianza
Dominicana in Washington Heights is all but blocked by
folding cots, bags of rice, canned goods and children's
toys. A shipping container sits by the curb, its doors open
and awaiting donations for the victims of the floods that
devastated towns along the Haitian-Dominican border earlier
this week.

The heavy rains, which swept away buildings, unearthed
graves and killed as many as 2,000 people in the remote
towns along the border, have brought together two of New
York's immigrant groups as they await word on the fate of
family and friends and mobilize relief efforts.

"It's really bad, one of the worst I've seen," said Mr.
Dupuy. "People want to know how many died."

Batey Relief Alliance, a group of 15 Haitian and Dominican
groups on the island, and Alianza Dominicana are working
together to raise money, collect medicine and organize
efforts to help the victims.

In Flatbush, Brooklyn, Haitians struggled to get
information on what was destroyed, who had died and who was
homeless. At L'Unique, a Haitian restaurant on Nostrand
Avenue, Joseph Halcine said that he had heard about the
destruction caused by the flooding, but that he did not
realize its extent until he saw it on television.

"I knew it had flooded, but when I saw it on TV it killed
me inside," Mr. Halcine said.

He said that he had not realized that the Haitian border
towns of Fond Verrettes and Mapou had been struck hard by
the floods. "I have a couple of friends that live near
there. I have to give them a call," said Mr. Halcine.

He said that even if it turned out he did not know any of
the victims of the flood, he would still be concerned.

"I'm still worried because we are all Haitian. We are all
brothers and sisters," he said.

Ulrick Galliard, the executive director of Batey, said that
the flood hit his country particularly hard because it came
so soon after the departure of the former president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the violence that followed.

"We had a political hurricane earlier this year. It's been
one calamity after another. The country really has suffered
a great deal," said Henry Frank, the executive director of
the Haitian Centers Council, an alliance of Haitian groups
throughout the United States.

Moises Perez, the executive director of Alianza Dominicana,
said that it had started accepting donations on Wednesday
and had already filled 200 boxes with donations for the
Dominican town of Jimani.

He encouraged people to donate food, money and medicine,
particularly multivitamins, eye wash and stomach medicine.
His group is hoping to send the supplies on an airline by
the beginning of next week.

Jos? Collado, 58, an unemployed cook who is a Dominican
native, stopped by Alianza's office in Washington Heights
yesterday to donate food, clothes and shoes.

"We are Dominican. Everybody is family," said Mr. Collado.
"As something happened over there and we help them,
something could happen over here and they could help us."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/nyregion/28flood.html?ex=1086719961&ei=1&en=d567145eac2b18d3
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company