PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti.—Françoise Gruloos, the UNICEF representative in Haiti, doesn’t even remember what day it is. Since January 12, when the earth shook the lives of millions of people, this kind woman has not stopped. She lives in a tent, goes to bed after 11:00 p.m., and is on her feet again at 4:30 a.m. She says that she brought her office with her, and we don’t doubt that, as her cell phone rings regularly and she gives instructions.

Françoise was working in Haiti during the emergency situation produced by the coup d’état against Jean-Bertrand Aristide. She was also in Gonaives in 2004, after the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne, which resulted in the death of more than 1,330 Haitians. But, she says she has "never seen anything like what we are experiencing here, above all because it was a very strong quake that affected the capital of an impoverished country which already had very debilitated systems. I think that this is the greatest emergency that we can talk of, and now we have more fears in relation to the rainy season."

Thus begins our dialogue with the UNICEF representative here, whose first comment is that everywhere she goes to work she finds the Cubans helping and "It is very important for us to always be able to count on them."

Françoise explains that the situation of children in Haiti was very complicated long before the earthquake struck.

"Before the disaster there were close to 50,000 children without any family, and approximately 300,000 living in orphanages; these latter did have parents but on account of their poverty – not lack of love – they left them in those institutions to be cared for."

She adds that the earthquake happened at 4:52 p.m., at a time when families were dispersed – some working, others studying – and so many children were unaccompanied when the disaster took place. And now they are missing.

She acknowledged that there is trafficking of minors, particularly in the northern part of the country, which is "very worrying, we are talking about 2,500 children per year. However, now we know that figure has grown, but we don’t have exact details yet.

"There has been a lot of movement of children, and even though many people believe that they are doing something positive by taking children out of the country, saying that they are going to place them elsewhere, that they are going to take care of them, they forget that those children have fathers and mothers, and so now there are many parents looking for their children, who already may be abroad."

Obtaining figures on how many children have been affected by the earthquake is very difficult, says Françoise. With 42 institutions, UNICEF is leading a movement to protect childhood. "And we have been to 415 centers that are safeguarding children; food is reaching them and some very useful materials, but we are still lacking a lot. Some orphanages have been completely destroyed."

The UNICEF representative told us that those centers have a helpline via which parents can find their children. There is a database there and families can inquire about their children. "Many parents turn to us; there have been very emotional reunions, above all with children who have been on their own in hospitals with their parents desperately searching for them."

In relation to the situation of schools and the continuation of courses, Françoise informed us that 5,000 colleges were completely destroyed or cannot be used given their weak state. "There are schools in which up to 150 children died that day. When they collapsed they did so with everything inside and now, in order to restart the school year, books and all the materials have to be found. We are working with the Ministry of Education to begin giving classes in tents, to work on post-trauma."

"UNICEF already has 50,000 tents, school materials, backpacks, many things, but the problem now is to identify places where we can put up the tents. That’s very difficult, because the city is narrow, and when you go to the camps, around 332 in the city itself, they are also very narrow. In conjunction with the Ministry of Education, we are identifying places – we might have to empty some – even the private sector has offered space, there is a tremendous mobilization, solidarity within the country is huge."

She likewise commented that they have to support schools outside of the capital that are doubling and tripling their intake of children who have migrated from Port-au-Prince.

"The situation in Haiti is so grave that it’s difficult to even identify priorities. At the moment, we are in the survival phase. One of the first priorities is water. We are distributing water to 900,000 people, five liters per day. We have one million displaced persons; around half of them have remained in the capital, in the 332 camps. There are small camps, and others that are considerably large, like the golf course that is home to 45,000 people."