Miragoane - Haiti Observer Blog

Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes lies in the Miragoâne Arrondissement, in the Nippes Department of Haiti with a population of 29,815 people according to a census taken in 2009. It is the most southwestern region of Haiti. The Government of Haiti's Project for Participatory Development is active as part of the Pan America Foundation. Its nearby cities are Pétion Ville, Croix Des Bouquets, and Santiago de los Caballeros and it also lies next to the Caribbean Sea shoreline. Their proximity to the sea offers a great resource to the people.

The Caribbean Shore offers rural fishing to the people of the village of Petite-Riviere-de-Nippes. This underprivileged village is about 56 miles from the capital city. The city of Petite- Riviere-de-Nippes is comprised of four components; Fond des Lianes, Cholette, Silègue and Bezin. Agriculture is the main industry even though some farmers do some fishing on smaller scales such as for personal use or to supplement their farming. They grow bananas, citrus fruits, rice, sugar cane, and cotton. Mining is also a secondary industry due to the availability of bauxite. Bauxite is clay like rock used in the creation of aluminum.

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Tourism has been on a substantial descent over the last 20 years. But one series of events, the Fête champêtre, continues to give hope to a struggling industry as tourists, local, from the Diaspora, and international, flock Haiti to witness the countryside festival.

One of the main avenues for entertainment to the 18th century elite, a Fête champêtre (a country feast or pastoral festival) was a type of garden party much loved at court. With pretensions to simplicity, the Fête champêtre was patronized by the well dressed, entertained by musicians hidden in the trees, as they enjoyed the beauty of landscaped park.

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Miragoane rests on the northern coast of the western peninsula of Haiti. As part of the Nippes Department and its capital, it is a main port of second-hand imports from Miami. At the port, merchants purchase imports and vend them at Miragoâne street stalls.

The history of Miragoane port, among the largest natural ports of the globe, was as a gathering place for the Spanish when the island was called Hispaniola. Eventually the French chased them out.

Miragoâne, ringed by mountains, is protected by Ile Gonave, which lies above it on an inlet of the Caribbean Sea. During its early history, gold was discovered and mined there.

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In the southern section of Haiti lies the cityship of Fonds-des-Nègres, which straddles both Miragoâne and Nippe Departments. The city, founded in 2003, was born of the capital city of Miragoâne. Three other communes make up Miragoâne: Bouzi, Pemerle, and Cocoyers-Duchene.

Roads in Fonds-des-Nègres are in very bad shape, many of them dirt roads. At this time, however, road-work projects are proceeding, the roads now being built and repaired to bring them up-to-date with current safety codes. In areas where heavy rains block passage of traffic because of spontaneous lakes created by the deluges, bridges are going up as well.

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The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred on January 2010 killed thousands of Haitians and destroyed thousands of homes and infrastructures. The Emergency Operations Centre just created in Miragoane will improve disaster response in this Caribbean island. With the help of foreign donors, the island country is slowly gaining momentum and getting back at its feet.

Caribbean countries including Haiti have been prone to several natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions due to an oceanic tectonic plate called the Caribbean Plate. These inevitable catastrophes may not be avoided, but their effects could be more properly dealt with to lessen the number of casualties. That is why disaster response facilities have recently been launched in Miragoane, a coastal town in the Nippes Department, in order to improve the country and its citizens' preparedness when it comes to any kind of calamity. The town's Emergency Operations Centre is a project of both the Haitian government and the United States government which will compise of a disaster relief house and a fire station in hopes that it will assist local governments and the localities in preparing and dealing collectively with unforeseeable disasters and emergencies.

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