FIRST HAND ACCOUNT/Daniela Bercovitch

Daniela Bercovitch is deputy coordinator of the Viva Rio projects in Haiti. She has been based in Port-au-Prince for over two years where she manages the NGOs social development projects. In the last photo she sent to Rio from Haiti, she was surrounded by seedlings that were being prepared for planting, part of the Green Bel Air project, that provided incentive for locals to make their environment green and also asked that the Bel Air area be classified as a green, safe zone. Bel Air was on its way for peace.

When the January 12th earthquake struck, it hit, as noted by the international press, rich and poor alike, visitors and locals. Among them was Daniela a brave woman who had worked previously as an assistant in an forensic anthropology project in Bosnia, she also knew Haiti well, having visited the country as a UN and OAS human rights observer from 1993 to 1996. “Many of my colleagues and friends died in the earthquake,” she said.

Bercovitch lives in the middle class neighborhood of Petion Ville, with her two young daughters, her ex-husband and father of her daughters lives in Peru, and her partner was on a trip to Miami when the quake hit. She gave Comunidad Segura an exclusive and first hand account of her experience of those endless seconds that changed the history of Haiti: 

35 seconds

That day we had received a team of Canadian dentists in Kay Nou, the Viva Rio headquarters in Bel Air, in downtown Port-au-Prince. We were very excited Rosiane and I with the possibilities that were opening up before us: 500 patients in one week, for children and adults, including surgeries and cosmetic repairs. They visited Kay Nou and loved it. We were going to look into financial support together and they would be back in June, before the schools close for vacations.

I had an awful flu, I was coughing and sneezing non stop and decided to drop by to pick up blood tests results from labwork done the day before. At the clinic test results showed signs of an infection, probably a sinus infection. I waited two hours for the doctor, but he didn’t turn up. I decided to leave my phone number and lab results with the secretary instead and went home to rest and sign the over 600 receipts of janitors’ paychecks, they work with the RVC (Community Violence Reduction) that belongs to the MINUSTAH.

On my way up Canapé Vert towards Petion Ville, I saw my dear longtime friend Andrea Loi driving down the other lane. She was certainly on her way to a meeting with Annabi and Da Costa, respectively the number one and number 2 UN officials in Haiti, and a Chinese delegation at the Christopher building the UN headquarters, that was to collapse in a few hours, killing all participants. Andrea and her lovely blond curls, was talking at her cel phone and smiling. I know she was very happy that day.

At home I was signing receipts and having soup, the doctor calls me telling me I have to go back the next day for an x-ray and medication. I had only signed about 50 receipts and it was time to pick up the girls at school, the bell rings at 4:15. As they came into the car they asked me to go out for a pizza and some ice cream at the Fior di Latte restaurant. “Nope, mommy is not feeling well, and Maite has to study”. At home I had a warm bath, dressed into my pjs, socks (it’s winter in Haiti and my house is at the top of  the mountains), I lied down and chatted with Maite while Sofia took her bath helped out by Kedna our dear and sweet nanny.

the first miracle

Just before 5pm I felt everything shake and thought it was Maite or my head that was dizzy with the congestion. But seconds later Maite had jumped from the bed and asked me Mommy what is this? I had been through a light tremor in Lima and realized this was a strong earthquake. We got up, I pulled Maite underneath the door frame and screamed for sofia. Kedna came out of the bathroom with Sofia naked and wet in her lap, she was crying and shouting out desperately: Mommy, who is doing this? Make it stop! Make it stop!

Panic. The feeling we had was that we were surfing in a dinghy in sea quake, or that we were being held by a giant who was shaking his hand. It is indescribable. The ground swung in every direction; strongly… we had to hold on tightly on the door frame not to fall. The girls screamed. Kedna went pale and it made me despair even more. I said out loud over and over again, calm down, it will stop! It will stop!

They said it was 35 seconds long, but they seemed endless.

Everything was on the ground. The lamps had fallen, one of them shattered a glass of water. Pieces of glass everywhere. Everything on the floor, all the bathroom and kitchen things, drawers pulled out and closet doors flung open. The house had been turned inside out, but there wasn’t a single crack… I went down to the first floor with the girls trying to think what would be the best place to be in case there was another one. I called my partner Piero who had traveled to Miami on Sunday and told him naively that we had had some tremors. He told me it was a grade 7 quake, and told me to stay with the children outside. I dressed myself, got my bag ready with my passports in it. I told Maite to stay the way she was and get her shoes on. Kedna dressed Sofia and helped her into her shoes.

Then came the second one, it was strong too, 5 degrees. We were outside the house and saw waves in the swimming pool. Blessed house… Sofia was stuck close to me and was shaking too. I don’t remember any more how long it took before the third one struck. I was told later there were three in all. Maite went in the house and got everything she could, paper, colored pencils, a lap top. Chocolate went in after her. The lighter tremors continued, reminding us and frightening us. To go to the bathroom I had to leave Sofia in Kedna’s arms. We all were asking ourselves, how much longer would it last, was it over?

Piero and I spoke to each other a few more times and then … nothing. Communications were out. I tried calling my work mates, friends, but no calls went through. Night fell. Joscelin, the young housekeeper arrived, crying, and bringing terrible news. His school had collapsed and he had been able to jump from a balcony on the second floor, leaving his classmates under the rubble, probably dead. The fancy Caribbean supermarket had collapsed. I asked him not to approach the girls at first, because Sofia was still shaking. He settled down a little away, crying in a corner, in shock. These were my first impressions coming from outside. Nothing worked, internet, TV, radio, phones. Later when our housekeeper Madame Ariette’ son arrived, he said their home was razed to the ground and that the situation was catastrophic. It took us some time to calm her down. Shaking, shaking, shaking. We were all outside, quiet and waiting, feeling. Suddenly the phone rang, it was Rubem, (my boss and executive director of the NGO I work for, Viva Rio) Where are you?, etc. People at Kay Pacot, the Viva Rio house were well, and had skype, but no phone connection. Rubem told me he intended to come to Haiti and asked me to try and go to Kay Nou in the morning to see how things were going.

Sofia fell asleep in the chair and at 10:00 and we had the feeling that the ground was ground again, and we all went in the house. The girls went to bed with me in my room and fell asleep rather quickly. I watched over their slumber, one leg stretched out on the bed, the other with a foot on the ground. To feel it. Midnight, again, a strong shake up. I went out on the veranda and saw Joscelin’s silhouette outside, he was quiet, his big eyes wide open. Joscelin? I asked… de nouveau, n’est-ce-pas? Oui madame. At this point Madame Ariette arrives with a blanket. I put the smaller mattresses outside and carried Sofia out and called Maite who followed me into the backyard. We lied down, Sofia with her little eyes open, calm, feeling. Starry sky. Is this a good sign? Turned towards the pool, the blue reflection of the water looked like it had been printed on the wall. At two in the morning the phone rang. A sign of life from overseas. A man’s voice, his accent from São Paulo, asking for André. It made me angry and I asked him if he knew it was two in the morning and that everything could have come to an end outside? I am sorry, we would like to interview you. I told him what I knew, close to nothing. Joscelin’s school collapsed. The Caribbean supermarket collapsed. Telephones do not work, actually they do, but only for interviewers from São Paulo… and when I hung up, the night drew itself out, with those blue intermittent reflections on the walls.

When day broke, I got up and tried to find a voice over the phone. Nothing. No television. No internet. Another call from São Paulo, for an interview. I said ok, so long as you call my mother and tell her we are fine. I refused an offer to talk to her live, and the call is disconnected.

the second miracle

Later the phone rings again: It is Melanie, and she is desperate, she is asking me first about me and then announces that her house had collapsed that she, Bob, and Bimba, their baby, had spent the night in a soccer field. Melanie is the coordinator of the musicians and community leaders, and her partner Bob Montinard is the coordinator of Community Security at the Viva Rio Bel Air project. Bob had a broken leg and Melanie a broken head. Come to pick us up, please. I spent some time trying to calm down Sofia who was crying and asking me not to go: everything is already over, now it’s time to help our friends. I asked Joscelin to come with me. I did not know what to expect outside. During our drive down, the first images, hundreds of people walking the streets aimlessly, buildings in Petion Ville, and among them the one that houses the Brazilian embassy, completely cracked, split, on the verge of collapsing. People and more people, throngs, walking. Further down the first signs of collapsed buildings and below canapé vert, the tragedy. The red roof of Melanie’s house that used to stand on top of the hill. It was reduced to a red roof splattered on the ground. There was nothing underneath it. We asked where the soccer field was. Joscelin left the car to find them along with a friend we had picked up on the way. I stayed in the car and received a call from Fachini, an environmentalist who works with the biodigestor. Walter calmed me down telling me that all our colleagues were well, that they had access to skype and that they were thinking of coming to Kay Nou, the Viva Rio headquarters in Port-au-Prince. They had heard that there were over 5000 people inside. 

We agreed that we should first contact the Brabat, the Brazilian battalion before going in. Walter passed the phone to André D’Ávila, Ruben’s son, who gave me a list of the fallen buildings, the Perpetuel Secours church, an important symbol for Bel Air, the National Palace, the Cathedral, the penitentiary, the Montana, the Caribbean supermarket. The first to arrive at the car was Bimba in a neighbor’s lap, a little bit of green snot dripping from his nose, looking frightened. Just after him came Bob being carried in someone’s arms, and Melanie with a bloody rag tied around her head, crying. Let’s go home, any hospital would be totally overwhelmed with the number of victims. Driving up canapé vert towards home we went past Lula’s house, Bob’s son from a previous marriage. Melanie cries desperately, Lula… Lula… the house has been completely destroyed. Bob is silent in the back seat. By the wayside people are trying to pull something out of the mountain of rubble. People going up, coming down. And, surprisingly, a few smiles.

At home Maite and Sofia wait, they had taken showers, following my instructions for a possible outing. I offer towels and clothes so Melanie can take a bath. She looks at herself in the mirror for a second and crying, catches a glace of a disfigured face. Her main wound was a gash that went from her forehead to her nose, you could see the bone beneath. Bob, lying in bed, it was impossible for him to stand. Bimba restless in Madame’s arms. I struggle to find my bearings and look for gauze, some betadine, there is a little, a spoonful. When finally Melanie lies down on the bed, she feels so cold she is shaking, it is time to clean the wound. I start with little bits of gauze around the edges. Hair was completely plastered into the wound. Some points were already infected and clearly she needed suture. Kedna, we need a doctor urgently. We both left the house, knocking on neighbor’s doors. A dentist was in his own backyard, looking desolate. I explain my situation and he springs to action, makes calls, peroxide, gauze! His wife tells me the quake’s epicenter was in Port-au-Prince, but that it was felt as far as Washington D.C.

the third miracle

We return home followed by an entourage. The dentist looks at Melanie and says he needs to give her an urgent injection of antibiotics. I call a cousin who is a doctor. At this point, I had been able to talk to Piero again who lets me know that SOS international was going to come by and rescue us. Miracle, a doctor arrives with a stethoscope hanging from her neck that rivaled in length with the dark circles under her eyes. She had spent the night at the hospital dispensing first aid. They give a few orders, ask for thread for a suture from the dentist’s house. It is not ideal, but it is what we have. They lock themselves in the room. With an anesthetic injection they sew up and dress Melanie’s wound and fix Bob’s leg with two pieces of wood found in the backyard. Madame and Kedna take care of Bimba who cries desperately out of sight of his parents. Maite improvises a make-shift diaper for Bimba with some special dog toilet training material we had left over from our dog chocolate.  Things you find in Miami.

The doctor left us urgent prescriptions for antibiotics. I call Col. Alan, Brabat public relations officer, and explain we need help to get into Kay Nou and tell him about the antibiotics. He tells me Daniela, its chaos. We cannot do anything. We have 100 men out in the streets. The situation is chaotic and you must prepare yourself because there is another strong quake forecast for this afternoon.

The house shakes once more. We decide to go outside, all of us. Bob would not have time to run the way his leg is now. At this point my blackberry started working again. A portal to humanity! I was able to connect to MSN and get emails. I began writing everyone and saying that we were well. I exchanged message with Piero about evacuation. While Rubem organized help through the Norwegians.

The SOS International would come to pick us up… We also were in touch with the French embassy so that Melanie could be evacuated with her family. It was wonderful to be able to communicate with people. Madame prepared some pasta. Bob slept under sedation. Sofia had no appetite and kept telling me she did not want to sleep outside again. She did not want to sleep in Haiti. When would they come for us?

It was around six pm when communications went out again. We stayed outside chit chatting until it got dark, trying to stay calm. Mattresses outside. Me lay down early looking at the stars and feeling the earth was unstable.

Next morning, let’s be practical! Bimba cannot continue wearing dog’s diapers. I waited until it was 7 am and left with Joscelin to a little store I knew was open. I bought diapers, powder milk, biscuits and cans. An idiotic question: do you accept credit cards? I had little cash with me and was worried about the evacuation. Before returning home we went out to look for Bob’s mechanic so he could pick up Bob’s car that had been left behind in canapé vert, there was a risk it could be stolen.

Back home, with the mechanic, we decided that Melanie ought to go down with them to look for help. Her bandages needed to be changed and they did not look good. Hours later they returned bringing Bob’s car with them. She looked victorious, not only had she been able to get the keys, but she had been able to get their passports in the rubble.

Happy and no longer believing in the possibility of a super rescue, we decided to have lunch, grandly. I asked to take out the last cuts of meat from the refrigerator, and for rice and beans because ‘ninguém é de ferro’(no one is made of steel). Maite back and forth with a tray in her hands, brought us even beer. Since we are going nowhere, since no phone lines work, since Bimba has diapers and milk, let us eat. At this point Piero calls and says: Dani, no one will be able to go get you. The best thing you can do is drive down to the Argentinian base and try to be evacuated from there. We finished our meal, got stuff and diapers together and carried Bob to the car. Maite was sad because she did not want to leave Chocolate behind. Madame, Joscelin and Kedna were tense. I thought to myself, there is no other way, we have to try our luck.

the fourth miracle

I chose the road that seemed to be less affected from what little news we got. The Route des Fréres. I wanted to prevent the girls from seeing what I had seen the previous day. Even so, what we saw was chaos. Traffic was a nightmare, millions of pedestrians, cars crushed underneath buildings, dead bodies that would be thrown into collective burial pits and burned a few days later, stretched out on the side of the road. I tried to keep the girls’ attention on the most mundane aspects of the road. Do you know this fruit? It is delicious, there are lots of clouds in the sky today. Maite joking, as usual, trying to ward off her own nervousness. Melanie praying, Bimba asleep. I get a call from the girl’s father. There is a plane from the Peruvian Air Force waiting for you. Bring the girls to Lima.

An hour later we arrived at the Argentinian Military Base. Chaos. I try to follow Piero’s instructions looking for the SOS International people, but it is impossible to find them. They point us to a large hanger where volunteer Dominican doctors are tending to medical emergencies. To be evacuated it was necessary to first register and receive first aid. We parked the car and the girls and Bob stayed in the car. A Dominican doctor starts to treat Melanie’s wound, but the pain is unbearable. Inside the hanger, horrific scenes. People being amputated, body bags offering the contours of those who were not as lucky, children and adults crying. Melanie gets up and says: I will change the dressings today, but in France, and she walked out, looking for representatives of the French embassy. I asked the doctor to look at Bob’s leg. They immobilized it and recommended immediate surgery. Let’s go to Santo Domingo, said the doctor. As if it were that simple. I get a message from Piero saying he had spoken to my ex-husband: the Peruvian plane is waiting for you and the children on the runway. Run. It has to take off while there is still light.

I leave Bob with the girls and start running in search of a Peruvian official. All I could find were Chileans, Brazilians, Nepalese… I call desperately, trying my luck with Antonio a Peruvian friend who was on good terms with the army. I will get you Daniela, I am near the base. Finally a Chilean official gives me a ride to the Peruvian pavilion to talk to the Commander. I take the opportunity to ask about the UN official and his compatriot, Andrea Loi. His response is a cold look. There is no hope. She was at a meeting with Annabi, Da Costa, with the Chilean delegation. They all died.

Having arrived at the Peruvian pavilion there was another Peruvian citizen, who worked for the MINUSTAH, who is explaining to the commander that her house had collapsed and that she had been authorized to leave. I tell the commander that there was a Peruvian presidential plane and that my daughters and I are on the list of passengers to be evacuated. He puts a soldier in charge of the mission. We run to the car where I find the girls, alone, under strict instructions not to open the car to anyone. They are red they are so hot, and they look at me filled with indignation. We entered the car along with the other Peruvian woman and at the entrance to the military base, Antonio was waiting for us. When he hugged me, I fell apart. He was also close to Andrea. In his embrace I risked allowing myself the tears that had been held back since the first day. But I contained myself, because Maite does not like it, she does not like it when I dance, or when I cry.

*Daniela Bercovitch, deputy coordinator of Viva Rio in Haiti. She tells us that she later found out Lula, Bob Montinard´s child was found with a head wound and is safe with his father now.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi