If Cameroon Were Haiti

By Hinsley Njila and Innocent Chia

The horrors of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti’s capital last week, six miles below the surface of the earth, will be etched in many a mind for the rest of eternity. Its infamy also guarantees that we will never find out the exact number of people who’ve died as a result. Moreover, the world will never know the identities of these brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters. While it’s obvious that such a tragedy couldn’t be avoided, there are lessons in this calamity for Cameroon and other poor nations to be better prepared to potentially save thousands of lives if the un-likable happens.

Overly Centralized government

Haiti, like Cameroon has a highly centralized government. All of Haiti’s tax offices, ministries & leadership were located in its capital city of Port-au-Prince before the earthquake hit last week. You don’t have to be a genius to see that that’s a recipe for disaster in itself. Port-au-Prince we know also houses the country’s only seaport & airport, which are both responsible for over 60% of the country’s non-aid revenues according to the World Bank. The government’s inability to decentralize services and develop local leaders has directly cost the Haitian people hundreds of lives (their most valuable resource), millions of dollars in property damages & revenues, and bankrupt the country of any capability to respond to the needs of it’s own people. But this may well be the bright spot for years to come.

For anyone who needed to be reminded of the dangers of a country having a completely centralized government, Haiti has served up a textbook example of what could go wrong with such a strategy. Since that disastrous earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, I know from watching CNN that the president is at the airport possibly watching TV like most of us and doing nothing which is expected of this leader I’m afraid, but where are the ministers, people’s representatives, local leadership of areas outside the capital like Cap-Haitien, Petit Port-a-Piment, Les Cayes, Petit Goave and others, student leaders etc to fill the void? Leaders are expected to lead especially in times of such tragedy and uncertainty. My opinion is that either Haiti’s great leaders all died in this disaster or worse still the government was too central and blind to develop any. We may never find out.

Worldwide cheap calling cards

One of the lessons of September 11, 2001 for governments around the world was to decentralize governments, functions, and develop leadership that could take over and run contingency plans in the case of such a catastrophe. Obviously the point of my article is that the Haitian government missed this lesson, and such lack of leadership may well be what will guarantee that more lives are lost needlessly in the months to come, prevents the country from making up the revenue shortfall, and guarantee that Haiti never recovers from this disaster. I can only hope that the government of Cameroon will fair better, although I have a feeling it may be wishful thinking.

Antiquated public Health system

According to the World Bank’s world development indicators (WDI), in 2008 Haiti had 0.25 physicians for every 1000 people and in 1998 the country had 0.11 nurses and midwives for every 1000 people. There was also virtually no community health workers reported in Haiti before 2004. In addition to these, by 2007 Haiti had just 1.3 hospital beds for every 1000 people. All these statistics point to a country whose leaders - even though they were aware of Haiti’s vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters - did absolutely nothing to have a disaster preparedness plan. Whatever happened to developing first responders, composed of firefighters, police, healthcare workers, volunteer emergency responders etc?

In the aftermath of the quake, there was no response from the police, public health and so on. Bodies have been left to rot on the street and civilians with no training have been digging through concrete with their bare hands to free their fellow citizens trapped in piles of debris.

I wonder what will happen to control diseases that may happen as a result of exposed bodies lying on the streets for days un-end, or the millions of people bound to deal with psychological trauma.

Cameroon has almost identical statistics as Haiti. In a similar disaster, thousands of Cameroonians would be as helpless, compounded by the fact that Cameroonian is much further in distance to America and is less connected than Haiti to the countries that have stepped in to help.

Widespread Poverty

  The UN estimates that Haiti has 80% of its population well below poverty level, living on less than $1 a day. Buildings at Port-au-Prince, despite the risk, were built with little to no protection against tornadoes, earthquakes or any of the dangers that they’ve been warned multiple times about. Although the 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles was the costliest natural disaster at the time in terms of value to damaged property, only 79 people lost their lives.

Research done by many scientists over the years have shown that poor people suffer more during tragedies and end up even worse in the aftermath. 80% of Haiti’s citizens unfortunately do not have the facts on their side, and historical events in other countries indicate an even gloomier picture for Haiti’s immediate future.
Haiti, like Cameroon has a very high unemployment rate leading large numbers of citizens to be living well below poverty level. Besides the fact that this is a good indicator for how badly people will be affected by a natural disaster, it is also a great predictor for how the rescue and rebuilding efforts will go.

Any rational person must wonder whether the government of Haiti expects its citizens will be living in soccer stadiums for the unforeseeable future.

Unpaved roads and limited number of facilities

How does a country with more than 9 million people, and the size of Maryland have just 1 airport? In addition to just having only 1 airport, less than 8% of Haiti’s roads are paved. Of course you may say well, none of this would matter in an earthquake of such magnitude. I would say in response to that that you are wrong. With more Airports and paved roads around the country, international airport would probably get in the country a lot easier than it is right now. The FAA had to ground planes from landing into Port-au-Prince because of over-crowding, and roads are virtually impassable.

Lastly, why can’t Haiti work with the US geological Survey much more closely or develop its very own earthquake monitoring system. Surely this has to be a security priority for its people.

Even as we recognize the pile of difficulty and mourn with the wonderful people of Haiti, we hope that their plight will not be in vain. Tribulations have, throughout human history and endeavor, chiseled human endurance and evolution. If under-developing countries failed to get the lesson of Katrina and the Tsunami, leaders of Paul Biya’s ilk are at another fork in life where reminders are divinely served - prepare your people and countries for such eventualities!  Be servants of the people and help them to live better lives.

Let us know how prepared you and your people are to face a similar catastrophe.

Comments

[DT]

Thanks to the famous "Cameroon Fault Line", Cameroon, not just around the mt cameroon area, but from the Gulf of Guinea to Lake Chad is susceptible to a similar earthquake. In fact, the issue is not if such an earthquake will WHEN it will happen. Without any national building codes (just like Haiti) haphazard construction and no consideration of basic town planning rules (just like Haiti), when the "Big one" hits Cameroon it will be 10 times more devastating that what happened in Haiti. Is anyone prepararing or are we simply going to leave it all to chance and to God????

[DT]

More on the Cameroon fault line here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon_line

[Ntam]

If Cameroon were Haiti,then Cameroon would be located exactly where Haiti is located and the consequences of the earth quake would be the same as it is.Good article but wrong tittle.The correct tittle should have read "If It Happened In Cameroon"This would better portray the fact that it could be worse if it happened in Cameroon.

Ntam

[Angel]

Dear Mr Chia,
Thank you for writing this article. I have been thinking very loudly about this lately, and I really think that Cameroonians need to be fully sensitized. As everyone clearly saw, even the president and elite of Haiti were not spared. So for those of us who have dedicated our lives to corruption, circumventing common sense construction of all types of structures in Cameroon, and feeling very secure, beware! When the day of reckoning comes, no one will be invincible. History has always been accurate: even here in the U.S.A. where people are more interested in building the nation, when one person makes a silly mistake, fellow citizens pay. Remember the accident in the new Boston tunnel where one woman was crushed? Well, the engineers decided to use cheaper than recommended bolts. And if any body still believes in the cliche that you cannot push a fallen house down, I've got news for you - a fallen house can be crushed. If you doubt me, look at the story of Haiti. I think that we have to seriously consider how we can effect and nonviolently force change in Cameroon. Otherwise, we may be looking ourselves in the mirror as we look at the people in Haiti.

[Dr RM]

Bobe Chia,

Your piece par excellence is ground standing as always.

I couldn’t agree more with your assertions. Indeed, we need not only a change in how business is been conducted in this triangle called Cameroon but also a realignment in our thinking and actions.

As you rightly articulate “Be servants of the people and help them to live better lives.” - Things are been done haphazardly without any equity considerations. Incorporating equity concerns in development policies does not necessarily mean that the conditions of any one economic agent improves, but that it improves the overall socio-economic welfare across societal clusters and generations in Cameroon.

From your piece, I think this should be a wake-up call to our country- in choosing a politically and practically workable development policy framework, the incidence of the outcomes must be perceived to be fair and balanced in order to enjoy wide acceptability for the common populace. The current paradox operating in the system needs changing with effect else we will soon head towards a potential disaster.

[Bob Bristol]

I think the gov't of Cameroon is aware of the setbacks of the very centralised system that they are currently operating. In the late 90s, there was much talk about the implementation of a decentralize system but since that move was going to curb corruption (the bedrock of the regime) the move has been slept upon. Another issue is that a genuine decentralise system will give Southern Cameroonians a taste of the Federal system that most desperately yearn for. This will of course give them a sigh of relief from the oppression or marginalisation of La Republique.

[Julius Nyamkimah Fondong]

Innocent, your assertion that 'All these statistics point to a country whose leaders - even though they were aware of Haiti’s vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters - did absolutely nothing to have a disaster preparedness plan" is not entirely correct. Haiti has a functional Risk and Disaster Management Plan. As far back as 2001, Haiti's scientists had predicted ( and it's in the plan) that the country will be hit be a 7.6 quake. The problem's whenever it happens, international aid agencies tend to neglect existing local functional frameworks and do things in ways that are convenient for them. That also partially explains the slow delivery of aid to the population, close to 2 weeks after the earthquake struck.

[oyez]

Francophone countries are modelled after France. French government spends an obscene proportion of money making Paris pretty and centralizing power there. They all have their Paris, but unlike France being so poor and decrepit, the periphery really suffers.

Think back to the Kenya Airways crash near Douala, about the response that went way beneath incompetent. Think about the Lake Nyos disaster. Foreign aid to the victims was stolen by Cameroon government officials. These are small disasters compared to Haiti! Luckily USA is just a short distance away from Haiti. We are so far away from any nation competent to provide massive help.

Yaounde looks like Port-au-Prince, with rinky dinky cement block buildings and no road access precariously clinging to hillsides.

Thank you for the comparison.

[watesih]

Paul Biya pitched his palace on the Etoudi hilltop to be on the watchout for earthquakes,but his motorcade has run into floods around the yaounde downtown area many a time.Most of the people who live in Mvog'ada,Briqueterie.hang their mattrasses above their fireplaces when it is raining. Biya dares not decentralize power because petrole money will instead go into cleaning up the other shantytowns in Tiko and Kumba.We have already had an avant-gout of how disoriented a government can be during difficult times.What we just have to wait for is for the gates of hell to be opened when the big one strikes.