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Miracle escape for Haitian soccer bosses
By: Francis Joseph (who visited Haiti on Sunday) (Trinidad Guarian)
Earthquake kills 32 football administrators
Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner arrives in Haiti on a private jet. He's seen carrying a case of water.
Dr Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, still walks around with a daze. He has every reason to be as he was one of two persons who miraculously escaped the 7.0 earthquake which rocked his country’s Capital Port-au-Prince on January 12.
The other person who escaped was Nancy Lescouflair, president of the Haitian Women’s Association, and wife of that country’s Minister of Sport. Thirty-two other football officials were buried alive when the Federation’s five storey-building collapsed.
While he maintained his sombre mood three weeks later, Jean-Bart’s life changed on Sunday when he received Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, and a delegation in Port-au-Prince.
Warner, who is also president of Concacaf, went into Haiti to see what Fifa can do for the footballers and administrators in that country. He was met at the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport by Jean-Bart and other Haiti officials and taken on a tour of the ravaged city.
Jean-Bart told the T&T Guardian, “I remember that day, we were meeting at our headquarters to elect persons to the various football committees. I was sitting in the chairman’s seat when I decided to go for a walk. The building started to shake and I decided to run out of there. The building just collapsed before my eyes and all my colleagues were inside.” Jean-Bart continued, “The way the building collapsed, I feared the worst. I became worried because this was about five in the afternoon and darkness was approaching. When we found no survivors by the next morning, I feared that they had all died.”
Jean-Bart suffered injuries to his right hand. Despite his physical and mental condition, he plans travelling to Fifa headquarters in Zurich this week. He said coaches and other officials died, but all the Haitian footballers were accounted for. Nancy Lescouflair is thanking her lucky stars. She was inside the building, attending the same meeting when the earthquake struck. “Within seconds, I would say, everything around me fell apart. I could not see my colleagues, but I found a way out and I was saved. I am so sorry for the rest of my colleagues, they never made it.”
Warner was interviewed on radio which operated on the pavement as the building housing the radio and television stations, was deemed unsafe. He told reporters that with the assistance of Fifa, the Haitian Football Federation headquarters would be rebuilt. He said he would assist in the payment of salaries for the staff; house the staff to allow for administrative duties to continue; and assist in the cost of housing both the Under-17 and Under-19 women’s teams in neighbouring Santo Domingo; Warner said he intends asking Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members to open their homes to Haitian footballers, housing them for six months to one year so they can catch themselves.
He would ask FIFA to construct massive screens in public spaces to allow to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa to be viewed; ask FIFA to waive the cost of television rights to allow the Haitian people to see the World Cup free of charge; send food containers with rice, oil, flour, and clothing by this week .
Warner, who left last night for Zurich, intends submitting a report to Fifa. “I have not seen everything, but I have seen enough,” the Fifa vice-president added. “I am moved, I have too many friends in Haiti, especially your president, I came here to see the damage and to see what I can do for you. I promise to take up this matter with Fifa and especially Sepp Blatter.” Within hours on his return, Warner rushed off a letter to Blatter.
LETTER TO SEPP BLATTER
“My dear President, I have just returned from a fact-finding mission in Haiti that was, for me, the most traumatic (and expensive). I am not only very tired but I am equally sickened by the destruction that I saw. I toured the city of Port au Prince, spoke with all the football survivors (through an interpreter) and also to the Haitian people on the only radio and TV station in the country which radio and TV station is being run from the street.
President Dr Yves Jean Bart is injured but alive (all 32 persons who were attending the meeting chaired by him are dead and buried in a mass grave) and he says he expects to be in Zurich on February 7 for a meeting. He runs everything from his Blackberry which is the only piece of functioning equipment he has for communication. Later today, I will be sending you a full report on my visit, and especially on the promises I made on behalf of the FIFA, CONCACAF and CFU. On leaving Haiti, the football family were heard saying ‘Hope for Haiti has arrived through football’ and eventually that is the message I will like us to leave with all the people of Haiti especially the football family.”
By: Francis Joseph (who visited Haiti on Sunday) (Trinidad Guarian)
Earthquake kills 32 football administrators
Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner arrives in Haiti on a private jet. He's seen carrying a case of water.
Dr Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, still walks around with a daze. He has every reason to be as he was one of two persons who miraculously escaped the 7.0 earthquake which rocked his country’s Capital Port-au-Prince on January 12.
The other person who escaped was Nancy Lescouflair, president of the Haitian Women’s Association, and wife of that country’s Minister of Sport. Thirty-two other football officials were buried alive when the Federation’s five storey-building collapsed.
While he maintained his sombre mood three weeks later, Jean-Bart’s life changed on Sunday when he received Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, and a delegation in Port-au-Prince.
Warner, who is also president of Concacaf, went into Haiti to see what Fifa can do for the footballers and administrators in that country. He was met at the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport by Jean-Bart and other Haiti officials and taken on a tour of the ravaged city.
Jean-Bart told the T&T Guardian, “I remember that day, we were meeting at our headquarters to elect persons to the various football committees. I was sitting in the chairman’s seat when I decided to go for a walk. The building started to shake and I decided to run out of there. The building just collapsed before my eyes and all my colleagues were inside.” Jean-Bart continued, “The way the building collapsed, I feared the worst. I became worried because this was about five in the afternoon and darkness was approaching. When we found no survivors by the next morning, I feared that they had all died.”
Jean-Bart suffered injuries to his right hand. Despite his physical and mental condition, he plans travelling to Fifa headquarters in Zurich this week. He said coaches and other officials died, but all the Haitian footballers were accounted for. Nancy Lescouflair is thanking her lucky stars. She was inside the building, attending the same meeting when the earthquake struck. “Within seconds, I would say, everything around me fell apart. I could not see my colleagues, but I found a way out and I was saved. I am so sorry for the rest of my colleagues, they never made it.”
Warner was interviewed on radio which operated on the pavement as the building housing the radio and television stations, was deemed unsafe. He told reporters that with the assistance of Fifa, the Haitian Football Federation headquarters would be rebuilt. He said he would assist in the payment of salaries for the staff; house the staff to allow for administrative duties to continue; and assist in the cost of housing both the Under-17 and Under-19 women’s teams in neighbouring Santo Domingo; Warner said he intends asking Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members to open their homes to Haitian footballers, housing them for six months to one year so they can catch themselves.
He would ask FIFA to construct massive screens in public spaces to allow to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa to be viewed; ask FIFA to waive the cost of television rights to allow the Haitian people to see the World Cup free of charge; send food containers with rice, oil, flour, and clothing by this week .
Warner, who left last night for Zurich, intends submitting a report to Fifa. “I have not seen everything, but I have seen enough,” the Fifa vice-president added. “I am moved, I have too many friends in Haiti, especially your president, I came here to see the damage and to see what I can do for you. I promise to take up this matter with Fifa and especially Sepp Blatter.” Within hours on his return, Warner rushed off a letter to Blatter.
LETTER TO SEPP BLATTER
“My dear President, I have just returned from a fact-finding mission in Haiti that was, for me, the most traumatic (and expensive). I am not only very tired but I am equally sickened by the destruction that I saw. I toured the city of Port au Prince, spoke with all the football survivors (through an interpreter) and also to the Haitian people on the only radio and TV station in the country which radio and TV station is being run from the street.
President Dr Yves Jean Bart is injured but alive (all 32 persons who were attending the meeting chaired by him are dead and buried in a mass grave) and he says he expects to be in Zurich on February 7 for a meeting. He runs everything from his Blackberry which is the only piece of functioning equipment he has for communication. Later today, I will be sending you a full report on my visit, and especially on the promises I made on behalf of the FIFA, CONCACAF and CFU. On leaving Haiti, the football family were heard saying ‘Hope for Haiti has arrived through football’ and eventually that is the message I will like us to leave with all the people of Haiti especially the football family.”
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