Dominican and Haitian Presidents Meet and Agree to Plan to Mitigate Damaging Effects of the Earthquake

Dominican and Haitian Presidents Meet and Agree to Plan to Mitigate Damaging Effects of the Earthquake

Dominican President Leonel Fernández, Haitian President René Preval and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive met on Thursday and agreed to an “immediate response” plan that will help mitigate the damage caused by the earthquake that shook this small nation.

The meeting between the leaders took place at the MINUSTAH headquarters and was also attended by Brazil’s Defense Minister Wilson Jobin.

The agreement seeks to prioritize the reestablishment of telecommunications, to rescue and bury those who have died under the rubble of damaged buildings, re-establish electrical power and drinking water such as the joint plan between MINUSTAH and the Dominican military which is trained in maintaining order as the country braces to receive and distribute international aid, according to the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

President Fernández said that for the recovery of the communications systems they will coordinate their efforts with the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL in Spanish) and the Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Companies with the goal of reestablishing electrical power. Meanwhile, rescuers are using heavy equipment to dig through the debris in an effort to find survivors.

The Dominican President said that, as a preventative measure over the coming days, authorities intend to undertake a vaccination program through the Public Health Ministry with the idea of avoiding any outbreaks of epidemics.

The meeting between the leaders took place at the MINUSTAH headquarters and was also attended by Brazil’s Defense Minister Wilson Jobin.

President Preval thanked President  Fernández for the support he has shown especially the fact that the Dominican leader made an effort to travel to Haiti following the devastating earthquake, adding that Fernández’s visit was a clear demonstration of the great friendship on the part of the Dominican leader toward Haiti and the effort being made to help mitigate the devastation facing the country today.  

The Haitian leader noted that these gestures of friendship and solidarity show that both nations that comprise the Island of Hispaniola should work together for a better future for their citizens.

 “We stand by the Haitian people in their time of tragedy which we know they will overcome,” President Leonel Fernández said then embraced his Haitian counterpart, René Preval.

Other government officials present at the visit included the Minister of Public Works, Víctor Díaz Rúa; the Minister of Health, Bautista Rojas Gómez; the Director of the Office of Supervisor Engineers of Public Works, Félix Bautista; the directors of the Corporation of Aqueducts and Sewers of Santo Domingo (CAASD), Ramón Rivas and from Santiago (CORAASAN), Hamlet Otañez; the Director of the President’s Press Office Rafael Nuñez, and Mariano Germán, Director of the National Institute of Potable Water (INAPA) among others.