Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic ambassador in Haiti said Tuesday that one  the positive points of the Haiti tragedy one year ago today is that it brought the two nations which share the island closer, and led to a greater understanding between their governments.

Interviewed by local newspaper Hoy, Rubén Silié said the quake also restored the confidence between Haiti and Dominican Republic which despite sharing the same island, didn’t have good relations, but left a “great” improvement in its wake. “There has been a great improvement; I believe that both governments have had an approach which has smoothed out their relations.”

The diplomat, interviewed by phone from his office in Port-au-Prince, said president Leonel Fernandez as well as his officials sensitized with Haiti’s crisis and were in permanent contact with their pars, and the tragedy advanced the confidence between the authorities of both countries.

Reconstruction

Silie said Dominican Republic doesn’t have an active participation in the reconstruction process because it passed on to the United Nations commission led by ex United States president Bill Clinton, and the countries who‘ve contributed at least 100 million dollars. He said the lack of funds has made Port-au-Prince’s reconstruction very slow.

The tremor

The Dominican Ambassador in Haiti said he was seated in his office when the ground shook, and scared, left to call his companions who went to look for other employees within the building. He said once the shaking passed the embassy employees went to a nearby hospital to help out and there could appreciate the number of dead, the magnitude of the damages, the injured trapped under debris and the dust cloud.

“We saw that it was very serious and saw that we couldn’t do anything, we returned to the embassy and began to call our authorities to look for to help.”

Silie added that they were able to contact minutes with Foreign Relations Ministry in Santo Domingo in the first few and managed to get the aid to arrive the following day.

Dominican firefighters the first foreign relief effort

Dominican Embassy Councilor Pastor Vazquez, on Wednesday noted that the Fire Department of the border town Jimani was the first foreign relief effort to reach the devastation, arriving just hours after the catastrophe.

Interviewed on Telesistema by phone from Port-au-Prince, Vazquez added that he has yet to see any substantial efforts for reconstruction by the international community. “There’s a lot of talk and spotlights, but little to see on the ground.”