The Foreign Service Journal, April 2010

A P R I L 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 37 T HE F RENCH C ONNECTION All three American embassies in Paris gathered on Feb. 12 to remember the victims of the Haitian earthquake and raise money for the Locally Employed Staff Emergency Relief Fund. With a substantial number of staff who are fromHaiti, have worked there or are currently volunteer- ing there, those of us at the American embassies feel par- ticularly close to our colleagues coping with the aftermath of this natural disaster. A silent auction of Haitian art and rum raised $2,200 for the relief fund. Embassy Paris’s public affairs section also organized a moving musical trib- ute to the victims. Andrew Young Political Counselor Embassy Paris K INGSTON AND H AITI As fate would have it, I was not originally assigned to be the duty officer for the week that began on Jan. 12. I had switched with another officer to accommodate leave plans. My week was already off to an unusual start because Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Julissa Reynoso was visiting Jamaica. As duty officer, I was asked to sit in for the week’s country team meeting. Due to several agency briefings for DAS Reynoso, the meeting ran past the normal 4 p.m. close of business. I re- turned to the consular section to retrieve my bags and shut off the lights. As I reached for the light switch, I felt the earth move. Was I worn out from the long day or the excitement of the official visit? Or did the entire building really just shake? I was uncertain, but headed for my car. As soon as I got home, I turned on the TV to hear CNN blare: “7.0-magnitude earthquake hits Haiti; tremors felt in Cuba and Jamaica.” I immediately thought, “If I could feel tremors all the way here, how frightening and devastating are things in Haiti?” A few minutes later, at 6:12 p.m., the duty phone rang. It was the consul general calling to inform me that there had been an earthquake in the region and I might be called upon as duty officer for follow-up. He also asked me to check on our colleague Régine René, who has close relatives and a significant other in Haiti. I immediately contacted local airports to see whether any flights had been affected, and inquired as to the sta- tus of any American citizens who may have been traveling between Kingston and Haiti. Next, I ventured to Régine’s apartment, where she was already on a conference call with the Operations Center. We both listened in on situation briefings. I helped her try to contact Haitian relatives until midnight, when phone lines began to resume functionality there. And I provided the chargé d’ affaires with contact numbers for Haitian embassy counterparts. The next two days were filled with news and stories about the hardships colleagues and friends were facing in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. Kingston quickly be- came involved in the evacuation planning, as well. That Saturday, Jan. 16, the chargé called an Emer- gency Action Committee meeting, which I attended in my capacity as duty officer. We were informed that Sec. Clinton would come to Jamaica that evening on a C-130 military aircraft that also carried 53 American evacuees. The Secretary would disembark the military plane and board the State Department jet, carrying approximately half of the evacuees back to the States with her. Foreign Service personnel, eligible family members and locally employed staff all joined forces as we formed teams and set up shifts for work ranging from answering correspondence to logistical planning for evacuee overnight lodging, health care and onward travel. Staff set up a press conference and prepped for the Secretary’s arrival. As duty officer, I had only slept about two hours the night before, fielding calls from the Operations Center, the U.S. military, Jamaica air traffic control, interested pi- lots and aspiring volunteers. But I felt no fatigue. I thought only of the hungry and scared children we would be greeting in a few hours as they left the only home most of them knew; the displaced adults who lost family and friends, who were leaving Haiti for a destination many had never traveled to; and Régine, who would be departing the next day for temporary duty in Haiti, where she would do her best to assist relatives and loved ones who had lost everything. Sec. Clinton arrived that evening. Evacuees were ac- counted for, their documentation and eligibility for on- ward travel reviewed, and some departed with her. The remaining evacuees were shuttled by embassy-provided vehicles to a nearby Hilton, where consular officers staffed an all-night command center in the hotel’s conference F O C U S