Will We Forget Haiti? - ABC News

Will We Forget Haiti? - ABC News:

"People often are eager to help initially, but soon forget tragedies."

Global Voices Online » Global Voices in Haiti: On Reconstruction

Global Voices Online » Global Voices in Haiti: On Reconstruction:

"Then there's the critical matter of shelter for those who have lost their homes. Those who can manage it are already beginning to repair and rebuild for themselves. Those who can't have been evacuated to the country side or are living in increasingly fetid improvised tent cities — or rather “sheet cities”, as I heard someone remark, as genuine tents are few and far between"

USGS Release: USGS Issues Assessment of Aftershock Hazards in Haiti (1/21/2010 5:49:20 PM)

USGS Release: USGS Issues Assessment of Aftershock Hazards in Haiti (1/21/2010 5:49:20 PM):

"The aftershock sequence of a magnitude-7 earthquake will continue for months if not years in the affected area. The frequency of events will diminish with time, but damaging earthquakes will remain possible in the coming months....Based on this activity and the statistics of aftershock sequences, our estimate for aftershock activity during a 30-day period beginning January 21, 2010, is as follows:

* The probability of one or more earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater is less that 3 percent."

Image by Podknox via Flickr

Wow, this is for a 30 day period!


What does it mean?

"Any aftershock above magnitude 5.0 will be widely felt and has the potential to cause additional damage, particularly to vulnerable, already damaged structures. Anyone living in Haiti or involved in relief work there must maintain situational awareness with regard to their personal earthquake safety. They should always be aware of what action they are going to take if the ground starts to shake. Open spaces are generally safe but running through falling debris to get to an open space may be dangerous. Only qualified engineers can determine if a damaged building is safe for reoccupation. Until engineering assistance arrives, a general rule to follow is: If it does not look safe, it probably is not safe. Entry into or reoccupation of obviously damaged structures should be avoided. "

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Out of Faith and Compassion: Diary of a Haiti Volunteer - The Haiti Earthquake - TIME

Out of Faith and Compassion: Diary of a Haiti Volunteer - The Haiti Earthquake - TIME:

"Lonnie Vargas is a production manager for Time Inc. Almost instinctively, he and a group of 11 people, including a restaurant manager, a school principal, an accountant, a flight attendant and a truck driver figured out how to get down to the island nation. All were members of the Old Bridge, New Jersey branch of Calvary Chapel, a non-denominational church that is spread around the world. They arrived a few days after the quake struck with 20 duffel bags full of medical supplies — and the name of only one contact, who lived in the Dominican Republic's side of the island. While a few people on the team had helped after 9/11 and Katrina, most had never done anything like this before. Following are excerpts from a diary Vargas kept of the work they did and the obstacles they overcame. — By Deirdre Van Dyk"

READ THE WHOLE THING. (yeah emphasis intentional.

For instance, if you don't read the whole thing you will miss things like this that just keep reocurring in story after story from volunteers:

"I was really taken aback to discover that people like Cody and Maria were the only ones actually putting resources into the hands of the Haitians. Not the Haitian government, the US, Canada, Columbia, or French (all of whom I saw in the country) and especially not the UN.

Have I mentioned you should read the entire thing? Do it. Looking forward to the book.

Amputations become the defining injury of the earthquake in Haiti - St. Petersburg Times

Amputations become the defining injury of the earthquake in Haiti - St. Petersburg Times:

"This is the signature injury of the catastrophe. In medical tents and operating rooms across the disaster zone, surgeons saw without ceasing. They work in conditions their forebears from battlefields of 150 years ago would find familiar. Without power, sometimes with instruments sterilized in vodka, they struggle to keep pace with the implacable advance of gangrenous rot that has turned treatable injuries into life threatening ones. The wails of the wounded testify to the physical and psychological scars that these amputations will leave on the whole society.

'There is no place in Haiti for people like me,' says Joaz Nancie, 27. 'Without my leg, I am a freak. Cripples are rejected here.'"

It is for this reason that we are teaming with Villa Volunteers and CYC to run a crutches drive. If you have a pair of crutches that is not being used? or a walker that is no longer needed? We'd love to help it get to Haiti.


We have several contacts in Haiti who have repeatedly said they need crutches more than anything right now, so please help.

Great class or club project!!

You can drop off crutches (in relatively good condition) at 231 Murphy Building (west side of SBU campus), at the Allegany Park and Shop, or at Villa Maria. Or call 716-375-2111 to arrange a pickup in the Olean/Allegany area.

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Video from Wyclef on Haiti

Task of rebuilding Haiti expected to be ambitious, arduous - CNN.com

Task of rebuilding Haiti expected to be ambitious, arduous - CNN.com:


The plans include reducing the size of Port au Prince, making parks and planting trees, and of course making safer buildings.

"...first stage of the reconstruction will be cleaning up the debris of the thousands of collapsed buildings. The United Nations has proposed a 'cash for debris' program, which will compensate citizens for collecting recyclable items like iron sheets and wood.

The preliminary plan must be finalized and approved by the Haitian Council of Ministers, which includes President Rene Preval. It is scheduled to go before the council the week of February 7."

Article from OTH on Bootdrive

From Olean Times Herald

"Mr. Richardson said eight to 10 firefighters volunteered to help with today’s collection.

“We worked with Bonaventure during Katrina and we also do boot drives to help the Muscular Dystrophy Association,” Mr. Richardson said. “We like having the students out there because they bring a lot of manpower and help.

“It’s also good for us, as a community, to work with Bonaventure,” he said. “It helps form a bond.”"

Coverage of Pat in the BV

From the BV. By Elizabeth Grady

"Immediately after the earthquake, I knew I wanted to do something to help the situation in Haiti," Mahar wrote in an e-mail from Denver.

While the hospital he works at, The Children's Hospital in Denver, did not initially plan to send a team to Haiti, a group of nurses and physicians independently decided to put a relief team together. "

Students raise $6,400 in two minutes for Haiti | food, minutes, students - News - The Orange County Register

Students raise $6,400 in two minutes for Haiti | food, minutes, students - News - The Orange County Register:

"Pacifica High School students Ayanna Diego, left, and Nick Mezin, right, run money from their classrooms to a collection table for victims of the Haiti earthquake. The students had a goal of raising 2,000 dollars in two minutes but raised 6,400 dollars instead."

Pacifica High School, LEAD ON!

YouTube - Haiti: Two Weeks After the Earthquake, Needs Are Changing

YouTube - Haiti: Two Weeks After the Earthquake, Needs Are Changing: "In some locations, the needs for amputations are decreasing while needs for post-operative care are rising. MSF teams are diversifying activities to include mental health care"

A response to an emailer who said we should not help

Editorial Time: This is in response to an email I received today from a professor at our university who felt that volunteers are not needed in Haiti.

While I can thank you for taking time out of your busy day to share you your insight, I must respectfully disagree on much of it.

Yes the UN is paying people. And yes the Haitian people desperately need jobs, but after those points I must largely disagree.

After almost every disaster to which have responded there has been some agency (FEMA, MEMA etc) paying locals to "help." For instance, in Galveston the rate was $18 an hour, in Enterprise $14 etc. In all of these cases this rate was well over the [predisaster] market clearing rate. But the problem is that the survivors are often too stressed to help, and do not have the time since they have family issues and injuries to care for on top of their normal day to day living.

So while I do agree that they need jobs, I respectfully disagree on the need for volunteers as well. The already weak system is overloaded. We would not be replacing, but working with Haitians thus speeding the process. Instead of living in a refugee camp or in crowded conditions with family, we will be speeding up the process.We will be getting them into homes sooner.

Also I suggest that you do not give the volunteers enough credit when you call them unskilled. While they are not professionals, some of them are quite skilled and will definitely help getting Haitians back into homes, or indeed in some cases into homes for the first time.

My largest disagreement however comes to the idea that the trips are "feel good" trips. This exact argument was made prior to the big-post Katrina trip by another SBU professor. Namely that it could be most cost effective to pay for people down there. He was wrong then, and I believe you will be proved wrong after our trip as well.

There are several problems with your interpretation. First, it is a static analysis. It assumes that the volunteers would donate the same amount regardless of whether they go or not. This is unlikely the case. As any psychology, marketing, and even behavioral finance study shows that once you let someone have "equity", that is take ownership, their behaviors change.

Let me put numbers to this. In our analysis of this particular trip, because no SBU endorsement has been forthcoming, we have assumed that no BonaResponds money will be allowed to be used to to help subsidize the cost ( in the past we have tried to pay about 20% of the cost for students since they are in the worst position to pay). So let's assume zero subsidy and a cost (a conservative figure) for airfare and food of $500. I would like to ask you how many people (let alone students with very limited incomes) will give that much to help? Which is to say we have expanded the pool of available funds (dynamic vs static analysis).

Additionally, just to let you know, BonaResponds is not funded by the university. We do not even get money from SGA. So any donation you make to SBU would not be going to pay for any of our trips. Indeed Sr. Margaret is so careful about this that a few years ago when demand for a trip was so high that we needed additional transportation and had gone over our proposed budget, I asked for $1500 of Univ funding, we were turned down.....

I have always maintained when a trip does not make economic sense, we should not do it. After each trip we document how much value we add to the process. I am very confident that at the end of the trip we will again have positive value added. I might add that as a finance professor I am heartened that others are considering the economics of the trip as well as the economics of how others donate their time and money. It is an encouraging sign.

But before we give over importance to the economics, we can not ignore the non pecuniary benefits. I can give you many many many names of those we have helped and I will bet with almost no exception, economics will be the last thing they talk about. They will tell you they had lost hope, they had given up, they felt no one cared. It is the one absolute I have experienced after every trip we have done from Biloxi to Buffalo, Gowanda to Greenville, Newton County (MO) to New Orleans.

Volunteers being there is important. It shows the Haitians that people care. Our going gives them hope.

As much as the work that our volunteers perform, merely being there gives the survivors a shot in the arm. It was that way after every disaster we have been to. The people say they were ready to give up, that the world had forgotten them. I kid you not that was even stated in Buffalo only 2 days after the storm. We change that. It is the most important thing we do. More than building. More than taking down. More than cleaning up. We will give confidence and hope. Confidence and hope that would be lost forever if we wait. I do not want to turn this into a mushy soap box, but I would be very surprised that our going would not safe lives.

That said, I should remind you that we will likely be going just as US citizens. And that under no circumstance is anyone "sending us". We are being called to go. I invite you to come with us and see for yourself the difference a volunteer can make.

Sincerely,

Jim

The Next Big Thing: help us feed 280,000 in Haiti?

For our next "Big thing" we want to feed 280,000 people in Haiti.

Stop and think about that. It is over a quarter of a million people or it is 70,000 (roughly the size of a crowd at Wilson Stadium for a Bills game) for four meals.

To feed that many people we need your help in several ways.

First monetarily. We need to raise $60,000 above and beyond what Friday's bootdrive raises. That is more than we have ever raised before. We can not do it alone. Just can not. Impossible alone, but do-able with your help.

Secondly, we will need volunteers to help put the meals together and to pack them for shipment. The tentative date for this is March 27th as part of our International Service Day.

We are going to model our program after one that sent the the same number to the slums in Kenya earlier this year from volunteers in Minnesota.

Their estimates are that we will need to raise $60,000 and need to get about 400-600 volunteers. I have no doubt we can do it. NONE. Indeed, I am tempted to say let's play two and serve a half million, but money is too tight to say that, YET ;)

Think of this as a chance to literally keep people alive. 280,000 meals. For people who have lost everything, this will be enormous. Indeed, it may be live saving.

Ok, now some details. We have not cleared this with anyone at SBU and the rules have been made very well known that they have to clear everything we do that involved money, so for now we will be running it through the Rangers (formerly Randy's Rangers) or Villa Maria or maybe even starting a new 501-3c. (yeah don't ask)

That said, whoever "we" are, we'd love your help. Your school, your church, your team, your work place. We will need MUCH help in raising this much money. Want to get involved? Email us at BonaResponds@SBU.edu.

Hands On Disaster Response

Hands On Disaster Response:

"We are focused on specific areas of need we could address with our volunteers, and finding an area where we could be productive and secure.

The damage is massive; entire areas of homes destroyed. There will not be an opportunity for general volunteers, for us or any other organization, for weeks to come."

American Academy of Pediatrics Disaster Preparations Text

Talk about a treasure of information.! From Eric (who was with Pat in Haiti last week THANKS!

"The American Academy of Pediatrics had prepared a course and textbook on disaster preparation for pediatrics. In light of the disaster in Haiti, they have made the book available online by PDF. In the next phase there will be many infectious and diarrheal illnesses. The book has a good summary of diagnoses and treatment of these diseases. Please feel free to forward to any groups that are headed down or in Haiti. It is available in PDF format."

http://www.aap.org/disasters/peds.cfm

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