The mood at Margot's Gallery on Wingate Street was worried but hopeful on Wednesday that the Haitian artists whose works owner Margot Lindau exhibits and sells — and their family members — were spared the worst in the earthquake that struck the Caribbean country on Tuesday night.
Haitian artist Joseph Cantave, who operated a studio on Hale Street in Haverhill for a few years and whose work is popular among many art enthusiasts in Greater Haverhill, was among those Lindau sought to reach by phone on Wednesday. As of mid-afternoon, she had had no luck.
(Please continue to visit www.hgazette.com for continued updates about Haverhill residents, friends and family members with connections to Haiti and for additional ways to help the stricken island nation. Full coverage of the story will also be provided in the Jan. 21 print edition of The Haverhill Gazette.)
Cantave no longer lives on the island nation, but has family there, Lindau said Wednesday morning.
Lindau's connections with the Haitian art community have given her an interest in the activities that take place on the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the Haitian capital Port au Prince on Tuesday, leveling buildings including the city hospital and Capitol building. An airport was damaged so extensively that there was difficulty landing planes in the area as relief efforts began.
In addition to the Haitian artists, Lindau has become friendly with those who provide health and other services to the Haitian people, who are among the poorest in the Western hemisphere.
Lindau will collect financial donations for Partners in Health, which will use the money to provide medical assistance to those injured in the quake. "(Partners) is a wonderful organization that has been working in Haiti for years and has made and continues to make a real difference there," Lindau said.
On Wednesday morning, Lindau received a request from Ophelia Dahl, executive director of Partners in Health, which has offices in Boston and in Haiti.
"A major earthquake centered just 10 miles from Port-au-Prince has devastated sections of the city and knocked out telephone communications throughout the country," Dahl said in an e-mail to Lindau and others who support the organization.
Dahl said Partners in Health staff in Haiti who are not in the area that was directly hit reported that they experienced a "strong shock but no major damage or injuries."
Dahl said the organization had yet to locate several staff members who were traveling in and around Port-au-Prince.
"In an urgent e-mail from Port-au-Prince, Louise Ivers, (Partners in Health) clinical director in Haiti, appealed for assistance from her colleagues in the Central Plateau: "Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS... Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us," according to Dahl's e-mail to Lindau. According to Dahl's e-mail, "The earthquake has destroyed much of the already fragile and overburdened infrastructure in the most densely populated part of the country. A massive and immediate international response is needed to provide food, water, shelter, and medical supplies for tens of thousands of people. "With our hospitals and our highly trained medical staff in place in Haiti, Partners In Health is already mobilizing resources and preparing plans to bring medical assistance and supplies to areas that have been hardest hit."
Lindau said purchases of Haitian art sold in her gallery are a way to help because a portion of the money goes to the artists.
For more information about Partners in Health, visit their Web site at www.act.pih.org.
Lindau can be reached at 978-373-0200.
