Environmental Cleanup Starts Amid Haiti Rubble

THE GIST:

• Experts are arriving in Haiti to deal with the enormous quantities of building waste.
• So far no large chemical or oil spills have been found.
• Sorting materials right away is a key step so that reusable bricks and timber don't become mixed with hazardous waste.

Just a week after Haiti's catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake, getting aid to victims remains a top priority, but experts are also now starting to assess how to coordinate the sorting and disposing of building rubble.

So far, no large industrial spills have been found. The biggest environmental issue, according to the United Nations Environment Program, is dealing with all of the building waste generated by the earthquake, which destroyed at least 40-50 percent of the buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and devastated other towns in the area.

"Waste management resulting from the earthquake and the devastation of buildings is the biggest environmental concern right now because dealing with this is a precondition for getting everything else done," said Muralee Thummarukudy of the Post Conflict and Disaster Management Branch of the United Nations Environment Program, who arrived in Haiti on Tuesday to coordinate environmental efforts.

"We have to clear debris from where houses, buildings and warehouses once stood so reconstruction activities can begin."

The sheer volume of waste is part of the problem, Thummarukudy said. "Thousands of buildings suddenly become debris and this overwhelms the capacity of waste management."

Much of the debris can be reused. Bricks, concrete blocks and timber will become part of new construction. Smaller pieces of concrete and rubble will be crushed and used to make roads.

"The amount of debris will be huge, because whole cities are in ruins. But the need for building material will be equally huge," Thummarukudy said. "You need temporary roads rapidly. You need to build almost the same amount of houses and buildings."

WATCH VIDEO: As relief workers struggle to help the Haitian earthquake victims, they face enormous challenges.

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Although no large chemical or oil spills have been found, experts will be on the lookout for other types of hazardous waste generated by the collapse. Asbestos is likely to be found in destroyed buildings. Markets may have had shelves of cleaning products, oil, paint or other materials that now create small hazardous waste spills.

Medical waste, including soiled bandages, syringes, and body parts, is another component of the waste that must be disposed of safely by incineration. "As far as I know there is not an incinerator operating," said Martin Bjerregaard, head of the UK-based non-governmental organization Disaster Waste Recovery. Bjerregaard also arrived in Haiti on Tuesday. "There will be a need to set up some sort of incinerator."

A key issue is separating the waste early before usable materials become mixed up with these possible hazards. "The challenge is to sort it, recycle and re-use the material in the beginning," Thummarukudy said. "Once it has been bulldozed and taken someplace, it is much more difficult to do that."

Part of the experts' work will be finding suitable locations for temporary or permanent waste and debris storage that are far enough from water supplies and possible landslide locations.

"We've seen so many times, it is just put on a truck and taken a mile away and dumped in a ravine or a river. What happened after the [2004 Indian Ocean] tsunami is that we had huge piles of waste getting tipped onto rice paddies and shrimp farms," Bjerregaard said. This prevented survivors from getting back to their livelihoods.

Much of the sorting and moving of the debris will employ local people as part of work for food or income programs. They will be trained in identifying and handling hazards like asbestos. 

Thummarukudy and Bjerregaard also responded to the 2008 magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which created similar challenges. The situation in Haiti is likely to be worse, Thummarukudy said.

"Only one part of China was impacted," he said. "China could deploy a lot more resources. The authorities could take materials out of the area to be handled and re-used. Haiti does not have that sort of strategic depth. It doesn't have the resources. There is no place for it to go unless it goes abroad. The assistance which will be needed from the international community will be, in my opinion, much more, not only in terms of money but in terms of training."

Haiti, as one of the world's poorest countries, faced serious environmental challenges even before the earthquake.

"Take deforestation for example," Thummarukudy noted. "What is likely to happen to a lot of slopes that have been destabilized and shaken when the next rainy season comes? The risk is increased of more extreme mudflows. So there may well be a second wave of problems when the rainy season comes. This is what we also found in China. We expect it to be a little worse in Haiti."

Haiti Earthquake: How You Can Help The Victims:


• The American Red Cross is accepting donations by phone. You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross's efforts, or call 1-800-Redcross or 1-800-257-7575. Visit their Web site to find out more.
• Interaction, the largest coalition of U.S.-based NGOs focused on the world’s poor, has set up a Haiti relief donation page, listing several participating organizations where you can donate.
• UNICEF is also accepting donations for the relief efforts in Haiti and the Caribbean region. Visit their Web site or call 1-800-4UNICEF to donate.