Yvonne Lumb tells of Haiti quake aftermath

Jan 19 2010 by Claire Hayes, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FIERCE after-shocks have rocked Haiti after the devastating earthquake, a Huddersfield woman revealed today.

Yvonne Lumb, 54, who works in the devastated Caribbean country for the United Nations, told last night how people feared more damage in the days to come.

And she revealed the problems of trying to get on with life, as a huge global rescue operation continues to deal with the tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands injured.

Yvonne, formerly of Almondbury, said: “At home I still have no TV or internet and the cellphone service is still down. I’ve seen no real TV coverage of the earthquake for the past four days, although I’ve heard from friends that it has been the centre of the world’s news.

“The number of after-shocks we have had since the big one is very unnerving, easier somehow to live with when in the UN Log Base where I work and in the company of all the colleagues and friends, but quite a different thing when at home alone in Morne Calvaire.

“My building is four storeys high and in two halves, each of which contains four apartments. I’m on the top floor and below me in one of the duplexes live two Haitian women, sisters, who are extremely nervous about being inside and have been doing most of their sleeping in the parking lot since the earthquake struck.

“As I left for work on Saturday morning around 7 am, my cat Kofi was extremely agitated, desperately trying to get out of the apartment and making low growling sounds that I’d never heard before. Around 11 am we experienced a very strong aftershock, which the BBC reported as measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale.”

She has revealed the trauma of seeing UN colleagues – including her best friend Ann Barnes – disappear and has still had no confirmation of their fate.

“The skies are still thronged with aircraft of all descriptions: here in the mountains in Morne Calvaire, what we hear and see are mainly helicopters buzzing overhead.