British Red Cross

So we've arrived in Port au Prince after two very long journeys. It's taken us two days to get here, but even a year would not have been enough to prepare me for this.

The city is a mess of broken buildings, rubbish and make shift tents. There are camps everywhere - a couple strung up at the side of the road, next to a wall. Some in the middle of a roundabout. Some on a sports field. Basically any spare bit of ground has been colonised by bits of wood, cloth and tarp, housing whole families who have lost their homes in the quake. Many of the buildings are dilapidated and in some places it's hard to tell what was earthquake and what was already like that through years of poverty and lack of investment. You can see why Haiti holds the unenviable record as one of the poorest countries in the world. Surrounding the city are massive slums, including the now infamous Cite Soleil, where rows and rows of ramshackle buildings are crammed together - they're so densely packed you can only see a little of the way in. The roads are chaotic and often blocked, the airport is tiny and there are so many people, everywhere. I can tell instantly why aid agencies are saying that this disaster is one of the most challenging to respond to. There's so little infrastructure to begin with, it hasn't taken much to knock it completely out.

Yet, the Haitian people are remarkably resilient. We visited a camp this morning to assess sanitation needs and within minutes of arriving, several men came over and introduced themselves as the camp committee. They said it was their role to make sure things run smoothly, people treat the camp well, get access to water and that food is shared. They didn't know exactly how many people were in this camp - called Peace Camp, but one man guessed at about 1500 families. Although they had a tap for washing and had arranged for water trucks to bring drinking water, there were no toilets at the camp and people were having to 'do their business' in the open in one corner of the camp. Can you imagine? Going to the toilet is something we'd all rather do behind a closed door! This is also a real risk to public health and a lack of clean toilets is a sure fire way to spread diseases like diarrhoea (already a major killer of the under 5's in Haiti). So, as I've said before the role of the sanitation ERU may not be as glamorous as water or relief distributions, but we're equally vital when it comes to saving lives and stopping the spread of disease.

Arrived to set up camp with my team, and things are still pretty basic for the moment. Three hundred Red Cross / Red Crescent staff are crammed into a wood warehouse, with only two toilets, two showers (that only work for two hours a day), no cooking facilities and no electricity (except in one corner of the warehouse used as an 'office'). It's also roasting hot and oh yeah, they tell me there's rats! We're sleeping in tents and mosquito domes, crammed together on the stony ground of the warehouse courtyard. Some teams have been living like this for 10 days and they tell me they've got used to it, but I'm finding it hard to believe! If I don't shower soon, my team are going to evict me. We could do with that committee from Peace Camp to come and sort us out!...Seriously though, it's actually really inspiring to see so many people from so many countries all living rough and just getting on with it because they have a job to do and people to help. Between them and the resilient locals, I'm starting to feel like a bit of a wimp. Thankfully the wonderful Italians and Danish are setting up a fully functioning base camp with a camp kitchen, proper camp beds, laundry facilities and showers. I feel a mixture of relief that I won't have to live like this for a month and guilt that Haiti's permanent residents won't be moving to the same 'luxury' so soon.

Here are some photos of the city and the British Red Cross team in their new home...