Water, latrines and medical care: Harper sees aid basics in Jacmel

Prime Minister Stephen Harper paid a quick visit to Jacmel in southern Haiti Tuesday, visiting a medical clinic and a water purification site.

When the clinic at the southern city's port was opened by Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team in the aftermath of last month's earthquake, doctors and nurses were treating broken bones and contusions. Today they are seeing the kinds of patients who would wander into any treatment centre in a developing country - disease, dehydration and depression.

Mr. Harper, who did not take questions and permitted only a small pool of reporters to get close, chatted with the medical staff then moved on to a spot where troops are building latrines.

Sanitation is essential to disease control in disaster zones and many of the toilets were lost in the quake.

The Prime Minister then travelled to a spot on the Grand Jacmel river where he sipped water from a Canadian run purification unit.

Update: Mr. Harper's Haitian tour continued Tuesday in Leogane, a city that appears to be even more devastated than Port-au-Prince.

Photographers were permitted to stay with Mr. Harper. But most reporters were taken on a tour of a Canadian field hospital while Mr. Harper, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and viewed the rubble of a school that was being taken down and removed by Canadian engineers.

Then, while Mr. Harper and Mr. Bellerive were taken to the hospital, reporters were taken to a school.

The stop in Leogane ended with a speech by the PM in which he praised the quick reaction by Canadian troops.

There are about 700 members of Canada's military currently in Leogane.

"In just a few minutes, an earthquake of overwhelming destructiveness threw down vast numbers of buildings, and caused unimaginable distress, injury and death," Mr. Harper said.

"When the call came, Canada was among the first to respond. Fast, and in force!"

Project Jacmel: Visit the main project page with stories, video, maps, photo galleries and more.

(Photo: Ariel Marinkovich/AFP/Getty Images)