Overview:
At least 12 people died after mudslides from heavy rains in two hilly neighborhoods in Cap-Haïtien. Eleven of them died in Laborie after several houses crumbled down while the other died in Rival. Rescuers are still searching for survivors.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. More information will be added as it becomes available.
UPDATE (5/3/2024; 10:30 a.m.) — As of May 3, the death toll resulting from a landslide due to heavy rainfall in Cap-Haïtien rose to at least 12, as reported by the northern Haiti city’s officials to Le Nouvelliste. A landslide in Laborie, a hilltop on the city’s outskirts, claimed the lives of 11 people. Additionally, one person died in Rival, another hillside neighborhood outside the downtown area.
CAP-HAITIEN — One child and two adults were found dead after a landslide in Laborie, a hilltop neighborhood, caused several houses to crumble early Thursday. Rescuers were still searching for at least eight reported missing as of Thursday afternoon, Cap-Haïtien Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor told The Haitian Times.
The dead have yet to be identified, Almonor said. But all around the town, friends, family and associates are already lamenting the deaths of the trio found and those still missing.
“We lived like brothers and sisters,” a 16-year-old survivor said of a friend still missing.
“[We] used to talk about our dreams, what we wanted to do when we get older,” the teen said. “I was with him yesterday, we were talking. Today I woke up, he didn’t.”
The houses collapsed when land at the bottom of the hill broke off around 6:00 a.m. from heavy rains, which began late Wednesday night. One uninhabited house slid onto three other structures below it. All four properties crumbled, sending debris tumbling off the hill.
To Cap-Haïtien city officials, the deadly landslide highlights why they recently began home demolitions in hazardous areas. Officials said they are more motivated to push residents out of homes in hazardous areas, especially during the rainy season.
“Those people lived here for more than 20 years and don’t even have papers [for their houses],” Almonor said about the owners of the collapsed homes. “Today an unfortunate incident happened to them.
“They always say ‘They’re poor, don’t disrupt poor people’s lives,’” Almonor added. “But today we’re crying. The solution is to destroy the remaining areas.”
Almonor has yet to share details on demolition plans. But for now rescuers will destroy a wall below the debris and a house next to it with an excavator to better search, he said.
Unsafe buildings deadly common
Scores of Cap-Haïtien residents live on hills around the city’s outskirts, putting themselves at risk of death during the rainy season. Some of the most renowned hilltop neighborhoods are Calvaire, Richardville and Des Charriers.
Over decades, residents have built homes in areas deemed unsafe or that have become hazardous over time, such as Laborie. Many of the homeowners are low-income residents who can only afford those locations because the land there costs less.
Recently, city officials began an effort to clear those hills. In January, Cap-Haïtien officials made several attempts to remove residents from another hilltop village, Des Charriers. Several residents were told to destroy their homes in 15 days or else, so that the city could build an irrigation canal to prevent flooding. However, the residents never destroyed the homes, and nor did the city.
Laborie is a neglected neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown Cap-Haïtien. It sits on a hill behind a gas station. The homes are near rocks and masses of soil. When it rains, water often flows into the houses.
“That was my brother, he’s gone now.”
The 16-year-old survivor of the rains, whom The Haitian Times is identifying with the pseudonym Jean because he is a minor, said he often states anxiously at the rocks.
Sitting on a retaining wall and watching rescuers dig out debris from where his home used to be, Jean occasionally looked at his bed, which was sticking out of the rubble.
Jean was lying in that bed when he heard the cracking sounds of things falling at about 6:00 a.m. He later pulled his pants from the rubble, though they were covered in mud. He also managed to pull out his cell phone, which is now cracked but functional.
He hopped off his bed, but tin metal sheets fell on his foot and almost on his head too if it was not for the corner of the wall. Jean freed himself from the metal sheets and ran to his mother, a vendor who had just left the house to go sell her food products at the supermarket.
“I got myself out,” Jean said. “I thank God for that.”
Throughout the day, hundreds of residents looked on as the rescuers dug through the rubble with shovels, some on top of houses.
Chedlin Pierre, whose close friend Jerry is among the missing, spoke about how Pierre often went to Jerry’s home, ate and even bathed there. Thursday afternoon, Pierre, 23, smoked a cigarette as he watched workers dig through a brown mass where Jerry might be submerged.
“I was just talking with him the day before yesterday,” Pierre said. “And now look, houses fell on top of the guy and he lost his life for nothing. That was my guy. We were cool. We worked in construction together. That was my brother, he’s gone now. That hurts a lot.”