INTERVIEW
Mr. HE, XIANXIN – MINUSTAH

SHUIBAO LIU WMO

Mr. Xianxin HE used to be a UNOG staff member. He was transferred to UN Headquarters in New York in April 2007 and joined MINUSTAH in September 2008. He was in Haiti when the earthquake happened. The following is an extract from his interview.

Was your family with you in Haiti?
No. It’s a non-family duty station.

How big was the UN mission? What were your functions?
MINUSTAH was a fairly big mission, with 7,031 troops; 2,034 police; 488 international civilian personnel; 1,212 local civilian staff and 214 United Nations Volunteers. My main task was to help the Haitian National Police to set up a procurement system in light of the Haitian rules and international standards.

What were you doing when the earthquake took place and what was your first reaction?
I was working in the office. I thought it must have been a nuclear bomb falling down on Port-au-Prince. The earth was shaking and this was like the end of the world.

Did your office collapse?
No. My office was situated in Log Base and was built with simple metal and isolation. I was extremely lucky prior to October 2009, my office was in Villa Privee, i.e. the MINUSTAH Police HQ, one of the two MINUSTAH HQs that completely collapsed.

Were the UN offices in the same building?
No. There were three headquarters in Port-au-Prince: the MINUSTAH HQ situated in Christopher Hotel which collapsed; the MINUSTAH Police HQ, situated in Villa Privee, which also collapsed and the Logistic Base, situated near the airport. Offices situated in Log Base were largely intact because it was a simple structure.

Did you try to contact your family immediately after the earthquake?
Was the communication link good? Within around 7 hours after the earthquake, the UN landline and Skype were functioning very well. So, I immediately informed my family. After that, the UN landline was working but internet was not available for 2-3 days following the earthquake. There was no mobile phone service immediately after the earthquake. Even today, it is difficult to contact my colleagues through mobile phones.

How many of your close friends and colleagues died and did you contact their families?
At least 4 colleagues whom I knew were confirmed dead in the earthquake, but as you know many colleagues are still missing. This was really heart-broken. So far, I have not contacted their families. This is a very difficult and sad moment to talk. But I intend to visit the family of the colleague who was working in my section and died in the earthquake, after the completion of my mission.

Was it the first time that you experienced an earthquake?
No. This was the second time! The first earthquake I experienced took place in my home town when I was 9 years old. In a city with a population of around one million, about 260,000 people died and 240,000 were injured. That was the second largest fatality in China’s history.

When did you leave Haiti? Are you going back, and when?
I left on the fourth day after the earthquake; I was evacuated by the UN on an airplane to Santo Domingo. The communication was very difficult with the mission. I’ve been trying to contact my division to ascertain when and how I will go back to the mission.

Aren’t you afraid? How about your family? Do they support your return to Haiti?
I am not afraid of going back to the mission, but I do worry about the lodging situation as it is difficult to find a suitable place to sleep after the earthquake. The sanitary conditions are also not very clear. As to my family, to be honest with you, they are against my return to Haiti.

What’s your advice to those who are going there?
The situation may not be as bad as you think, but you need to talk to the colleagues already there and enquire about the possible difficulties you may face. One piece of advice is that they should take the security training before departure. Anyway, I wish those who are going there good luck!

So you consider the security training necessary, why?
It is not only “necessary” but it is indispensable! I was attacked at least twice in the mission area and the training helped me to get out of the dangerous situations more easily.

My last question, do you have the chance of getting the UN Special Magazine at the Mission?
No. We wish we had.