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Arab nations bring relief to Haiti victims

The National
Posted on Monday February 1, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE // With a drip atatched to her wrist and clean bandages swaddling an infected leg, Nadia Torcheneau, one of the many victims of Haiti’s earthquake, benefits from stepped-up relief efforts from the Arab world.

The 32-year-old, who was crushed under shattered glass and breeze blocks during the disaster on January 12, receives treatment in a makeshift Qatari-run field hospital on the outskirts of this capital city’s crime-torn slum, Cité Soleil.

Although she gains from the significant numbers of Egyptian, Qatari and Jordanian rescuers, soldiers and doctors sent to this Caribbean nation, Ms Torcheneau would have difficulty locating these Arab donor countries on a map.

“Qatar, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. Maybe I saw something about it in a television show once, but I’m not sure,” said the injured kindergarten teacher. “But I really want to thank them. They deserve a thousand thanks.”

A 30-strong team left Doha only hours after the earthquake levelled much of Port-au-Prince, marking the Internal Security Force’s first mission outside the Muslim world since it was founded by the Gulf emirate in 2004.

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