Earthquake worries Haitian Montrealers

Members of Montreal’s Haitian community, the largest in Canada, were expressing concern following a serious earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday.

The magnitude 7.0 quake was centred 22 kilometres west of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to preliminary reports from the U.S Geological Survey. Powerful aftershocks were also reported.

Photographs on the internet showed people fleeing crumbled buildings. A hospital outside Port-au-Prince and even the presidential palace are in ruins, according to news reports.

There are concerns thousands may be dead.

"The situation is catastrophic, everyone is in shock," said Jean-Ernest Pierre of Montreal community radio station CPAM.

Pierre said he was able to speak to a cousin living in Port-au-Prince for only a few moments before the line was cut.

Pierre said his cousin told him the ground seemed to shake for three to five minutes.

Tuesday evening the radio station was inundated with calls from concerned members of the community.

In the fall of 2008, members of Montreal’s Haitian community joined together to provide relief for the country after it was struck by hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike.

Pierre said it is too soon to say how the community will respond to this disaster.

'How can you sleep at all when you have your family … over there and you cannot reach them?' — Fabienne Colas, Haitian-born Montrealer

"For now we are trying to keep ourselves informed, but it isn’t easy," Pierre said.

Many people have been unable to reach their family members, including Haitian-born actress Fabienne Colas, whose father still lives in the Caribbean nation.

"My heart is kind of beating so hard now because anything can happen," said Colas, who is also president of the Montreal Black Film Festival.

"It is so sad for us and I think tonight the whole Haitian community here in Montreal and everywhere else will … maybe not sleep at all," Colas said.  "How can you sleep at all when you have your family … over there and you cannot reach them?"

Colas said she was able to reach her mother, who lives in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. She too felt the earth move, Colas said.

Government prepares aid

The Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince has been evacuated, but the government is prepared to provide consular assistance to Canadians in Haiti, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said during a quickly called news conference Tuesday night.

He encouraged Canadians in Haiti to call home to reassure their loved ones.

The Canadian government is looking at what forms of assistance it can provide, including the possibility of deploying the country’s Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, Cannon said.

'We will do everything that is humanly and financially possible to work with the community but also with governments to put in place whatever … [relief is] necessary for Port-au-Prince and Haiti,' —Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay

"There are … a large number of Canadians who are in Haiti," Cannon said. "We of course are monitoring the situation extremely closely and as we move forward we will make the necessary calls to make sure that Canada does step up as we have done in the past with Haiti."

Haiti is the second largest recipient of Canadian foreign aid, Cannon said.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest expressed his concern about the situation, saying the province was waiting to hear how it could help.

"Typically, Quebec is able to offer material resources as well as human resources," Charest said. "A good example of that is the more than 100 police officers who are currently in Haiti."

Montreal police Chief Yvan Delorme said officials are desperately trying to reach the city’s 42 officers who are spread out around the country — something that is proving difficult.

"The communication systems are down right now," Delorme said. "We can communicate with them with different tools like [internet phone service] Skype, like [the] Internet, … [by] satellite cellular [phone] —  but we have to find them."

For more than 20 years, Montreal police officers have provided training and support to the Haitian National Police.

This disaster will clearly change their job and make their presence there even more important, Delorme said.

Mayor Gérald Tremblay said the devastation in Port-au-Prince is especially saddening given the development work that has been done in the region thanks to a partnership with Montreal.

"We will do everything that is humanly and financially possible to work with the community but also with governments to put in place whatever … [relief is] necessary for Port-au-Prince and Haiti," Tremblay said.

Pierre-Richard Casimir, Haiti’s consul general in Montreal, said international aid will be needed. He said his country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, was still struggling to get back on its feet after the hurricanes in 2008.

"Thankfully, we were spared in 2009," Casimir said. "We said our thanks.

"Today we find ourselves with an equally bad catastrophe — I can’t find the words to qualify what is happening to us," Casimir said.

Canadians concerned about loved ones in Haiti are being asked to call the Department of Foreign Affair’s emergency operation centre at 1 (800) 387-3124, or inquire by email at [email protected].

Canadians requiring assistance in Haiti are being asked to contact embassy officials by calling (613) 996-8885.