Family and friends of a Washougal man missing in Haiti learned this morning that recovery efforts at the Hotel Montana will continue until the remains of all missing Americans are accounted for.
Walt Ratterman was staying at the Port-au-Prince hotel, a popular resort for tourists, aid workers and diplomats, when the Jan. 12 earthquake struck.
According to the Washington Post:
“Crews from the U.S., Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada and Haiti have all combed the debris, which pancaked so dramatically that the roofline comes within inches of the ground.
U.S. Army Col. Norberto Cintron, who is in charge of the recovery effort, said it will continue until workers find and identify the remains of all who were lost there. He expects it to take six to eight weeks.
“My instructions are to try to find everyone that was in this building,” Cintron said. “We want to make sure we do this in a humane, dignified way, especially for the families.”
Ratterman was visiting Haiti to check on a solar-power project. He is co-founder of Sun Energy Power International, a Washougal-based non-profit agency that provides help with renewal energy systems in remote rural parts of the world.
He was last with his friend and colleague Herbert Kanzki of Green Energy Solutions in the Hotel Montana.
Ratterman’s family and friends have followed search efforts at the Hotel Montana here.
