After 12 days in hurricane-ravaged Haiti, three Alberta women and two search and rescue dogs arrived back in Edmonton Wednesday morning.
The volunteers with the Canadian Search & Disaster Dogs Association were deployed to the southern part of Haiti on Oct. 13, as recovery efforts continue in the Caribbean country after Hurricane Matthew tore through the region earlier this month.
“It was a very difficult mission,” Silvie Montier, the team leader, said. “Not so much in terms of the hard work, although there was hard work, but also mostly in terms of accessibility.”
READ MORE: Hurricane Matthew: Aid arrives in Haiti as country gauges full extent of destruction
Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti in early October, killing hundreds of people. Entire communities were flattened by the deadly storm.
Montier and her canine partner, Cken, along with Kari Fulton, and Teresa Thorpe and her canine partner, Belle, were tasked with search and recover operations. They also provided medical aid to survivors.
READ MORE: Hurricane Matthew: WHO to send 1 million cholera vaccinations to Haiti
Thorpe said the experience was an eye-opener. She described seeing a mother with her children huddled under a lean-to trying to escape the rain, as this was the only shelter the family had.
“There were people living in caves as opposed to home because that’s the only shelter they could get from the rain.”
Because much of the region is still in ruins, the women said accessibility was extremely difficult and they weren’t able to make it to some of the areas they were originally meant to search. They were originally scheduled to stay in Haiti for eight days but extended their stay because of the great need for assistance.
“There are so many people. They are getting help but it’s going to be a massive undertaking,” Thorpe said of the recovery efforts.
READ MORE: Hurricane Matthew: UN makes emergency appeal for $120 million in aid for Haiti
As tough as it was, the mission was also rewarding for the group.
“It was great to be giving medical aid and distributing food,” Thorpe said. “I know we went there with the dogs to search and recover anybody that was missing but just the smiles on the people’s faces when you gave them a bag of rice… It was fabulous.”
Canada has allocated $300,000 in disaster relief funds for Haiti.
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