Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Permanent Mission to the International Maritime Organization

For the Future of Haiti




Kids residing Leogane enjoy drinking water spurting out from a underground well that was discovered by Danbi Unit of Korea on Dec. 5. [Provided by the unit]

As a member of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Danbi Unit of Korea succeeded in developing a deep tubular well on Dec. 5 in a region of Leogane, where the unit is based for reconstruction mission.

After discovering that Leogane has little water supply facilities for residents, the unit began to look for the deep well since Nov. 25. The unit finally found a spot where a clean water is gushed out from underground ten days after. The unit estimated that residents can use an average of 500 tons of water a day from the well. That amount of water can benefit some 650 people everyday, the unit said.

Local residents of Leogane have used waters from either streams and a river for drinking, laundry and bath since there was no water purification facilities. The unit found out such waters from streams and a river could degrade a quality of residents’ lives by getting them epidemic diseases such as cholera. The unit highly expects that the discovery of the well could sharply reduce the outbreak of diseases.

Along with the development of the well, the unit carried out site clearance operation on school grounds in Leogane from Nov. 14 to Dec. 1. Some 10 heavy equipment, including bulldozers and excavators, and about 20 unit troops have been mobilized in the operation. Through the operation, school grounds full of weeds and pebbles have transformed to new grounds where local children can play as much as they like.

So far, the unit have successfully fulfilled some 300 duties assigned by a headquarters of MINUSTAH. Other than development of the deep well and school ground clearance operation, the unit has also dredged the river bottom in the region and restored damaged roads as reconstruction activities to provide support better lives of local residents.