Rotary District 7020 Haiti Earthquake Relief Overview - Jan. 22, 2010
D7020 Website - Haiti Updates
I wanted to share a synopsis of the District 7020 relief efforts as I
see it right now. As we move forward we will be redirecting our
efforts as the needs dictate, and everyone's input is important and
appreciated. Michael Terrelong can post this on the Blog and we
welcome your comments and recommendations as we consider and develop
our next steps.
When the earthquake struck the International Community undertook to
provide relief for the victims through the normal response
organizations such as, United Nations, USAID, US and other countries
military response teams, International Red Cross etc. I will call that
group, â?oThe Machine" for the purpose of this synopsis. Within days â?
othe machine" was arriving in Port au Prince (the front door) and
beginning the painful task of recue and relief coordination. The
magnitude of the destruction and the number of injured, buried and
dead was enormous and dealing with that was the primary focus. They
undertook to: Provide medical aid to the injured, dig from the rubble
and save the ones that could be saved while there was time and
opportunity. Remove and bury those that were not fortunate enough to
survive to prevent disease. While that immediate need was addresses, â?
othe machine" also
began to put in place a temporary infrastructure to provide basic life
necessities such as food, shelter, water and medical care.
While that was happening the Haitien People were doing the same, They
were trying to provide medical aid to the injured family members and
friends. They were trying where possible to dig from the rubble and
save those that could be saved while there was time and opportunity.
They were removing from the rubble their families and friends, and
many of them were evacuating Port au Prince to distant communities in
the country where they may have family or friends or was just safe,
and that may not have been as badly damaged from the earthquake. Many
of them took the sick and wounded to these communities for care as the
immediate medical response in the Port au Prince area was nowhere near
up to the challenge of the required capacity. The sick wounded and
scared began to move back to the country!
That's where District 7020's Rotary Relief initiative comes in. We had
17 Rotary Clubs in Haiti and in excess of approximately 350 Rotarians.
(last calculation, but its close). These Rotary clubs are spread
throughout the country of Haiti with 5 of them being located where
catastrophic destruction had taken place. Port au Prince, Delmas
Airport, Petion-Ville, Carrefour, Jacmel were most seriously affected.
There was damage in the other communities but not as catastrophic. The
daily reports I have submitted describes our Disaster Relief response
to Haiti. Our relief effort began with our first flight of medical
Supplies and support going in on Friday. We went in â?othe back door"
into the communities where we have Rotary Clubs and those that were
not on the radar yet of â?othe machine" but to where Haitians were
evacuating to. This has continued as you know every day since we
started. 57 flights as of yesterday and approximately 55,000 lbs of
medical supplies. The numbers of the sick and wounded numbers arriving
in these communities has been going up every day, and the challenges
they face has begun to change from immediate medical aid to shelter
and life sustenance needs.
The machine has now dealt with its initial priorities in Port au
Prince and the surrounding most affected areas and is now building the
infrastructure for a comprehensive relief and recovery effort and is
now and moving deeper into the country with its relief efforts.
Rotary must now re-evaluate what we should be doing next as far as our
relief effort is concerned. Some of the issues we must consider are:
The ballooning population growth in these small communities is
beginning to tax the basics of life, such as shelter, food, water,
education, not to mention the medical aid. What should Rotary be doing
about this? In the past this has been our community focus?
The health and strength of our Rotary Clubs is at risk. If we are
sick, wounded and tired it makes it very difficult for us to care for
others. How do we help sustain and support our Haitien Rotary Clubs
and Rotarians?
What role should we play as international aid begins to come into our
communities? Should we do as we have done in the past and find a
community need or should we specialize and pick one or two main focus
area that we should concentrate on?
How do we partner with other international organization, many of whom
are specialists in one area. Do we help coordinate that with them or
do we let them do that and find our own focus area?
How do we continue our fund raising and what do we do with the funds
we receive? How long should we plan the cycle of fund raising and
spending on this initiative? How much do we want to raise and spend
and on what?
Orphaned Children and misplaced families need to be supported by some
sort of infrastructure. Is that something we should be thinking
about.
The mental health of the suffering in this nation is being challenged,
What role do we have in that?
Construction quality and the need to rebuild. Should we be educating
people on proper construction practices and should we reconsider our
bricks and mortar rule in this instance?
These are just thoughts, and I welcome your comments and ideas. Many
of you have experiences that will help us make sound decisions. Please
share them.
Rotary Shares" Yes ! Yes ! Yes !,
I thought I would get that in! I am meeting with some of the Task
Force team on Sunday in Pignon to discuss the current status and our
efforts in the Northern Region, and we will be meeting with Claude
Surena and the Haiti Rotary Leadership on Wednesday next week in Port
au Prince. PRID Barry, DGE Diana White, and RIDE John Smarge will be
at the Wednesday meeting.It is most important that we listen to our
fellow Rotarians on the ground in Haiti and follow their advice
PDG Dick