ClimateVoice

Getting aid to Haiti quake survivors

By Pete Garratt
January 15, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Forgive me for not blogging earlier but it’s been hard to get a moment to gather my thoughts since Tuesday night, when my phone went as I was just on my way to bed.

I received a text alerting me to the Haiti quake – which was 7.0 on the Richter scale. From my knowledge of the country I knew that an earthquake of that magnitude located in the capital Port au Prince would have a major impact. Immediately I was on the phone to colleagues, planning out initial response activity.

An early start the next morning. First off, we released £200,000 from our Disaster Fund to support the relief efforts of Red Cross staff and volunteers in Haiti who were helping survivors before the dust had even settled. Then colleagues from my team (disaster management) got together with others from fundraising and communication to launch the Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Because we already had pre-positioned relief items in our regional warehouse in Panama – such as kitchen sets, hygiene kits, blankets and shelter kits – we were able to contribute these goods for 3,000 families straight away. And we have now released over £1.64 million to support the relief efforts in Haiti.

Although I knew it was going to be bad, I still wasn’t quite prepared for the full extent of the horror that has unfolded over the last few days. The infrastructure of the affected area has been completely decimated and getting any information is extremely difficult. But quite early on we heard reports about the Red Cross building being damaged and my thoughts naturally turned to our colleagues. Although I’ve since heard that all the international Red Cross staff are accounted for, sadly a number of local staff have been killed.

The Red Cross is a global family and hearing this news is hard, along with seeing the terrible images on the news of all who are suffering I’ve been moved and motivated even more to do all I can to help.

Haiti is a French speaking nation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – who co-ordinate all Red Cross National Societies from around the world at times of natural disasters – quickly deployed a number of emergency response units (ERU) from countries that speak French.

However, I’ve just found out that even more assistance is needed and I’ve been asked to deploy our logistics ERU. We’re now working on getting that team on a plane first thing tomorrow. They will be going to the Dominican Republic – which is Haiti’s neighbour – to facilitate delivery of relief that needs to go by road, as the airport is overloaded.

As well as co-ordinating our response, I’ve given a number of media interviews. It’s important at times like this to get the message out and communicate to the public what we are doing and how urgently we need to raise money to continue helping survivors.

You may have seen some reports that aid isn’t getting through. It’s true that the challenge we’re now facing is to consolidate our support and make sure that the aid gets delivered as quickly as possible.

However, we are closely monitoring the security situation in Haiti and based on current information, the arrival and distribution of vital Red Cross relief items has not been affected. Security issues will be taken into consideration as the situation becomes clearer and relief programmes are established.

It’s vitally important with so many people affected that the aid is prioritised for those who need it most. But our teams are trained and experienced at identifying the most vulnerable and making sure that they get the aid in the safest way.

It’s been long days and nights for us here in the London office, but obviously far worse for those living through this nightmare. We will continue to do everything we can.

Please help us by giving to the Disasters Emergency Committee emergency appeal.

Image 1 © American Red Cross

Image 2 © Eliana Aponte / Reuters

Image 3 © Lloyd Sturdy / British Red Cross

Image 4 © Matthew Marek / American Red Cross