Sandra Lamarque explains MSF operation in Port-au-Prince | WEBCLIP ENG VERTICAL

Testimony of Sandra Lamarque, head of the desk coordinating OCB's operations in Haiti

MSB188711

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Sandra Lamarque explains MSF operation in Port-au-Prince | WEBCLIP FR VERTICAL

Subt. French

Sandra Lamarque explains MSF operation in Port-au-Prince | WEBCLIP INT VERTICAL

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Adjusting operations in Port-au-Prince

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Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB188711

Date taken / Date Recorded 12/03/2024 6:45 PM

Country Haiti

Commissioning section MSF-BELGIUM

Photographer / videographer / producer Julien Dewarichet

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m49s

Maximum Size 1080px × 1920px 562.73 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist 1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:01,600
The context in Port-au-Prince

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has been very violent
for several years.

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And since 28 February,
last week,

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we've seen an explosion
of unprecedented violence.

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Various armed groups
or armed gangs,

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have formed an alliance,
and are attacking,

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in a fairly systematic
and organized way,

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various very strategic locations

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in the capital and its suburbs.

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In the wake of last week's events,

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and this explosion of casualties,

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we had to increase
very significantly

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our presence and
activity in the capital.

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So, the first structure
is in Tabarre, here, on the map.

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00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:42,800
It’s located in the east of the capital.

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This is a trauma hospital
that opened the day after

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the 2010 earthquake.

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It was a facility with
50 trauma beds

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and since last week
we've had to increase.

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00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,640
We've added 25 extra beds

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00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,120
and we receive on average
5 to 10 wounded a day.

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These are serious injuries
which require

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extensive and often
multiple operations.

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Most of them
are gunshot wounds.

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00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,160
We see a lot of children,
many women,

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a lot of old people.

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Completely on the other side,
here at Carrefour.

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Carrefour is
a town close to Port-au-Prince.

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And Carrefour is actually

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cut off from access to
Port-au-Prince since 2021,

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Carrefour and surrounding area.

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We're talking about hundreds
thousands of inhabitants.

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There is one road, the only road that
connects the capital Port-au-Prince

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There is one road, the only road that
connects the capital Port-au-Prince

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to Carrefour and the whole
southern half of the country.

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And what you can see,

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is that this road today,
looks like this, so it's empty.

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It's a no man's land.
The population has fled.

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The neighbourhoods have been looted
and today,

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this area is controlled by
armed groups.

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This neighbourhood is called Martissant.

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It’s a slum,
extremely vulnerable,

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00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,360
with a population that was estimated
at the time at 300,000 inhabitants.

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00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,920
So, very quickly, our wish
and our strategy,

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was to redeploy ourselves on either side
of the Martissant neighbourhood.

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Both east and west,

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to continue to support
this population, which is

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00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,560
very underprivileged
and now displaced as well.

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00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:22,680
And so, the first thing
we did,

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00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:24,600
was to deploy on the east side

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00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,080
at the Turgeau
emergency centre.

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Unfortunately, this centre had to close
its doors last December

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following a very violent incident

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in which our ambulance
was attacked

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and the patient
who was being transported inside

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of this ambulance
was shot in the street.

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But in the current situation,

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with this explosion of medical needs

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and the number of victims,

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we decided to reopen the centre.

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And it has opened today 6 March.

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On the other side of Martissant,

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south or west side,
in Carrefour,

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it was more complicated
for us to redeploy.

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00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,320
Initially,
from November 2011,

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00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,400
we supported a public hospital
which is here in black,

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called Raoul Pierre-Louis,

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and we were supporting
the emergency department.

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But unfortunately we had, again,
two very serious incidents.

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And following that,
we decided to completely

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stop our activities there.

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But we still wanted to continue
to support the people of Carrefour.

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So we decided to open
our own trauma centre

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00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,600
at Carrefour and it's the one
in green on the map.

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The structure we've identified,
it's the one you can see here.

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The structure we've identified,
it's the one you can see here.

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It was a textile factory
that had to close down

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because of the security
and economic situation.

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We worked for almost a year

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to transform these warehouses
into a hospital facility with

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an operating theatre,
an intensive care unit,

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hospital beds,
an emergency service,

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00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:56,840
sterilization, et cetera.

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It's been a big logistical challenge.

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This is both the worst
and the best time

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for us to open this centre.

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This is the worst time
because it's extremely difficult

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in terms of safety.

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It's very difficult to
to get supplies.

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And on the other hand, it's
a good time to open this centre,

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because the care we offer
Is obviously

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because the care we offer
is obviously

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more useful than ever.

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more useful than ever.

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Today,
people face a dilemma

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which is absolutely unbearable,

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between
“I'm staying at home

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taking the risk
my condition gets worse,

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arriving too late at the hospital

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and dying.”

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“Or I leave home
to go to hospital,

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because I understand that I have
a life-threatening emergency.

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But in doing so, I take the risk
of getting shot

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and being hurt or even dying.”