EXCLUSIVE AUDIO INTERVIEW: Heroes Star Jimmy Jean-Louis Reports From Devastated Haiti - "People Are Desperate And Starving"
Jan. 19 2010, Published 9:10 a.m. ET
In his second heart wrenching interview with Breaking Celebrity News, Heroes star Jimmy Jean-Louis exclusively reports back Monday on the devastation of his beloved homeland of Haiti, as he combs through the rubble with rescuers and tries to get aid to those in the most desperate of need - which is no easy task in a country where so many people are literally crying out for help.
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It's now estimated as many as 200,000 people may have been killed and 1.5 million people were left homeless when the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti last Tuesday.
As Jean-Louis travels around the land, he continues to witness horrifying scenes of devastation: bodies buried under rubble, piles of dead bodies lining the streets, and burning bodies strewn by the road side. Many survivors, left starving, are scrabbling for food at any opportunity. Jean-Louis reports though that, thankfully, that there is a rescue mission underway, albeit desperately underfunded and understaffed.
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"It was a busy day, everyday here is busy," Jean-Louis reports to Breaking Celebrity News from Haiti's already impoverished capital Port-au-Prince. "I'm still visiting places near my house that collapsed, where we had maybe more than 20 or 50 people that died underneath a supermarket that collapsed. But also I went to visit another supermarket that had up to 10 people rescued and even this morning they rescued 2 more. And we're talking 6 or 7 days after the earthquake. It just sort of, you know you have a sense of the damage."
Jean-Louis says he feels helpless in the face of such adversity but hopes that he is able to use his celebrity to at least bring more awareness of the tragedy to the world, and that his local knowledge of the country can help bring aid to those in more remote locations that are in desperate need and could be passed over.
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"I went areas that nobody else would go," he says. " They are small areas where the international organization wouldn't know how to go there and why to go there. But in those areas they also need help. But it's true when they see me they are overjoyed. They are like, 'Oh my god, they are thinking about us'. I didn't have the goods to help anyone with me but you know what I've been taking is notes of the places that need help and the people that need help and what kind of help as well."
The actor says that there are a number of International aid organizations on the ground in Haiti, driving supplies over from Santa Domingo in neighboring Dominican Republic. But unfortunately their knowledge of the geography of the damaged areas is limited so that is where he hopes he can bring the most assistance and help do the most good.
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"The organization, Hollywood Unites for Haiti we're working with, as well as the Pan American Development Foundation and we are also working with The Organization of American States so with them we will be able to access people, bring shelter and bring foods because we have a base in Santa Domingo, where trucks full of all the goods will cross the border, so we can start supplying the people. And I was about to say for the people that are in need, but in reality, everybody is in need - everybody is in need. So it's just a question that some spots are not forgotten. And that is essentially what I am trying to do. I am trying to cover the very sensitive spots that I know not too many people speak about but at the same time they need it as much as the ones that everybody knows is a horrible slum."
Jean-Louis says that, understandably, the starving people are getting desperate and starting to loot, and as images of increasing violence between peacekeeping troops, the remaining police force and would be