MANCHIONEAL, Portland – Sixty-two Haitians arrived in two boats in this east Portland district early yesterday morning, triggering speculation, held since the January 12 earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince, that Jamaica would experience an influx of refugees.

Fishermen and the Port Antonio Marine Police reported that they saw the first boatload of Haitians at about 3:00 am off the Manchioneal coast. The group, consisting of 24 men, six women and five children, was taken to the Manchioneal courthouse where they were processed by the police and fed by members of the Manchioneal community.

Five hours later, the Marine Police reported seeing another boat with Haitians off the Manchioneal coast. However, due to choppy seas they had to beach their 20-foot boat — named Ebenezer #4 Anzdeno — at Winnifred Beach.

This group consisted of 24 men, two women and one child.

“It was about three o’clock in the morning and it was dark as we were going fishing and we saw the boat in the sea so we called out to them,” said fisherman Errol Richards. “We threw a rope out to them to help them and we then called the police and they came, so we took them in. One of them spoke a little English.”

Denroy Palmer, who lives in Manchioneal and who spearheaded a community effort to refresh the Haitians, said: “We should respond to crisis and that is what we are doing until the other authorities come in. We have been doing this over the time they have been coming. We gave them a change of clothes and something hot to drink so they can be refreshed.”

The January 12 magnitude-7 earthquake killed over 200,000 people, injured tens of thousands and left millions homeless. It also destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, triggering a worldwide relief effort.

Jamaica was one of the first countries to respond to Haiti’s need for assistance, sending medical and military personnel, as well as tonnes of relief supplies. Jamaicans have also donated millions of dollars to the relief effort, and speculation was rife here in the days immediately after the earthquake that Haitians fleeing the devastation would end up on Jamaican shores.

That concern included a security component as approximately 3,000 convicts had escaped when the quake destroyed Port-au-Prince’s main prison.

Yesterday, the Jamaican police said they were fully prepared to monitor the movement of the Haitians, as they would be housed in a section of Port Antonio prepared for that purpose.

“We have been travelling on the sea seven days. We left Wednesday,” said one of the Haitians.

When asked if they were heading for the United States he said: “Wherever.”

They were taken to the Fair Prospect Health Centre where they were processed and then moved to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Port Antonio.

“As soon as they arrived we made sure that they were screened and given the necessary humanitarian treatment and they will be accommodated at the Port Antonio Seventh-Day Adventist Church for about two weeks the most,” said Denise Lewis, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management’s parish disaster co-ordinator.

– Additional reporting by Kimmo Matthews