Two Colombian Armada tender boat operators, crew members from the Cartagena de Indias, pilot their craft towards a small port in Killick to the awaiting U.S. vessel, landing craft utility 2026, the Hobkirk, April 22, near the conclusion of a 6-day mission with the U.S. Army and other non-government organizations. Cooperation between the U.S. Army, Colombian Armada and Army, along with Red Cross groups from both Haiti and Colombia, resulted in several thousand tons of humanitarian supplies reaching the Haitian people. Photo by Capt. Jose Emperador

It’s almost as if the multi-national team of Haitians, Colombians and Americans, who began working less than one week ago to offload humanitarian cargo inbound from Colombia, have been working together for years.

The complex effort of transferring cargo from the anchored Colombian Armada Navy ship, Cartagena Indias, to two alternating U.S. Army landing craft utility vessels, the Matamoras and the Hobkirk, near a small port at Killick, Haiti seemed like a routine effort to the novice mariner. Representatives from all organizations credit teamwork, cooperation and motivation as the catalyst for the successful operation which ended April 22. And no matter which language was being spoken, be it Creole, French, Spanish, English or a mangled combination of all four, everyone involved seemed to agree that the cooperation was “excelente.”

Colombian Armada ship Commander Jose Guillermo Rodriguez says a chance meeting at Port-au-Prince’s main port with U.S. Navy and Army officers began the discussion of a possible joint cooperative mission between the two allies. Rodriguez, skipper of the Cartagena de Indias, a ship used by Colombia primarily for counter drug patrols off the South American country’s coast, said the partnership began forming during the initial encounter. “As soon as I met the officers from the [U.S.] Navy and Army, we began discussing how we could help each other,” Rodriguez said. “After further discussion, we determined they could help us offload cargo from the Cartagena and get it ashore to waiting representatives from the Colombian Red Cross.” Rodriguez added that the partners between the various organizations were motivated and committed to the effort.

“The Colombian Red Cross in conjunction with the Haitian Red Cross and your Soldiers [U.S. Army] came with the LCU of the Army …and every day they came to help unload,” Rodriguez said.

The Hobkirk’s vessel master, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Willis Allen, says the small, damaged port facility at Killick isn’t conducive to a ship the size of the Cartagena. Allen says his vessel, with a flat bottom and shallow draft, is capable of pulling up right to the beach if needed. This quality, unique to LCU-type boats, allowed him to complete those final legs to shore that the Cartagena previously had to do with its utility skiffs.

“We moor alongside the Colombian ship… we tie up, they take a crane and put a gang way down to our vessel and we just start a chain and start the food down to the vessel,” Allen said.

Allen joined the consensus of opinions in saying there was excellent cooperation between all the agencies involved.

“It shows a lot of hospitality between two countries to make things happen,” Allen said. He also said the Haitian workers, the Colombian Red Cross and the crew of the Cartagena, along with his Soldiers, worked extremely well and efficient together. Prior to the use of the two LCU’s, the Colombians off-loaded a load similar in size but that effort took 18 days.

“It is my understanding that when they unloaded the first shipment they had to unload everything to small boats all by themselves by hand.” said Sgt. 1st Class John Gaviria, who coincidentally is Colombian as well as the Hobkirk’s 1st mate. “The experience that I’ve had with the Colombian Armada, the Colombian Army, and the volunteers of the Colombian Red Cross has been excellent.”

Representatives from the Colombian Army, who helped with transportation on the cargo was offloaded, also shared similar sentiments. Colombian Army Maj. Diego Pastrana, second commander, equivalent to an executive officer, of the Disaster Awareness and Prevention Battalion, said their job has required a lot of effort taking into account that they could have used some much-needed resources. “Here, the American Army has been the fundamental logistical part to all the support necessary,” Pastrana said. “At this moment, we’ve been supported greatly and thanks to that, we are able to continue our support for the Haitian people.”

Jose Estrada Charis, director of area relief for the Colombian Red Cross says all the agencies involved formed a strong team. “Responding to emergencies and natural disasters often create a fraternal bond between various nations in the world involved,” Charis said. “The Colombian Army and Armada [Navy] with the American Army have formed a team with the Colombian Red Cross.”

“The humanitarian supplies that the Colombian Red Cross is providing to the Haitian Red Cross as well as the interaction with the American Army and that great friendship and great team that we’ve now created has created an excellent rapport between us all,” Rodriguez, said. “As the commander of this ship, it is one of my hopes that all our crew remember the images we see on land and learn to better appreciate what we have back in Colombia because, in reality, we all live in paradise.”

DVIDS
Story by Capt. Jose Emperador

Haitian citizens remain in the street afraid or unable to return to their homes. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Candice Villarreal

And it grinds on.

AlertNet / Reuters

Around a quarter of a million Haitians living in precarious tent camps could face a “catastrophe” unless they are moved quickly to safer areas ahead of the approaching rainy and hurricane seasons, the United Nations has warned.

More than two months after the Jan. 12 earthquake that wrecked Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding cities, rain and storms threaten to turn some of the city’s squalid tent camps into toxic rivers of mud and human excrement, and protecting the 250,000 residents who are judged to be most vulnerable is a race against time.

As of last week, only around 200 families had been moved to temporary shelters outside of the capital approved by the government.

“We just can’t let people continue to live in these conditions,” France Hurtubise, public information officer for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told AlertNet by phone from Port-au-Prince.

“Some sites sit on flood plains and on hills, which is very dangerous and could lead to landslides. That would be a disaster. These people will have to be moved or it will be a catastrophe if they remain in these sites.”

The government wants some quarter of a million people in around seven of the capital’s 461 camps considered at high risk of flooding and landslides to move by mid-April.

It says relocating people to new temporary sites is the last resort, and is encouraging quake survivors to return to their homes or seek shelter with host families in and around the capital.

The plans mean finding at least 600 hectares of land for alternative settlements, which is hard to come by in an already crowded capital city, says OCHA.

Only around a third of the land needed for resettlement has been identified by the government so far, according to a recent OCHA report.

“We are urging the government to identify more land. Work needs to move faster to move people out of harm’s way before the rainy season starts,” OCHA spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told AlertNet from Geneva, echoing growing frustration among aid agencies.

Progress has been slow in moving people to safer sites because of difficulties in finding rubble-free land to build on, agreeing land deals and obtaining government approval and building permits, the United Nations says.

Tension between landowners and displaced people settling on private land is also a growing concern, according to OCHA, and in some cases people have been forcefully evicted.

“A strategy to address the legal rights of land owners while also protecting the affected population needs to be developed,” the U.N. agency says in a report.

There are some very simple ways that the people of Haiti can be helped. There are actions that all of us can take to provide that help. And, sadly, there are a great many ways that our work and our money can be used that will not benefit the Haitians.

Most of us will never see a place with more basic needs than Haiti. Providing for those needs means more than just a shipping container full of old clothes. It means that the work and the money we donate must go to groups that are effective, expert in their field, on the ground in Haiti right now, and will use the resources we provide to aid the Haitians the the ways they need aid. We can see all their needs, but we must assist them through their choices and their involvement in the relief and reconstruction process.

This series has repeatedly pointed to the number of small NGOs that are working in small ways to help the Haitian people. Most of these groups are religious in nature. Some are supported by various denominations while others have been “adopted” by individual churches. Some of these groups are just the efforts of a family and their friends, who are devoting their lives to service in Haiti.

If you attend church, the best way to help the Haitians is to donate to the church’s charitable arm for Haitian relief and reconstruction. Here is a list of some of those NGO’s:

• Caritas – Caritas is the worldwide Roman Catholic assistance charity. There are others, but this is the largest. All of the money raised by Catholic Relief Services in the United States is going to Caritas. This charity is not rated by the website Charity Navigator.

• American Jewish World Service – AJWS is providing grants to 13 small NGO’s on the ground in Haiti. This charity has a 4 star rating by the website Charity Navigator.

• Episcopal Relief & Development - Working with the Diocese of Haiti and the Diocese of the Dominican Republic. This charity has a 4 star rating by the website Charity Navigator.

• Lutheran World Relief –
  

  To help provide immediate relief to rural communities, and set the stage for a long-term response, LWR is working with local Haitian organization Partenariat pour le Développement Local (Partnership for Local Development or PLD). LWR is collaborating with Lutheran World Federation, Catholic Relief Services, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Church World Service, the United Nations Foundation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Women of the ELCA, the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, World Neighbors and Action by Churches Together to deliver relief supplies and expertise where they are needed most.

  Donations to LWR are being matched on a 1:2 basis by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, up to a max of $1 million. This charity has a 3 star rating by the website Charity Navigator.

There are many other religious charities working in Haiti. Some are associated with various sects while others are non-denominational. These include Star of Hope, Joy in Hope, Heartline Ministries and World Wide Village. If you should be looking for a small charity where your dollars will make a big difference, any of these deserve your consideration.

The American Red Cross deserves special mention in this piece. As of March 10, 2010, it has received $354 million in donations for Haiti. It has spent or allocated a total of $106.4 million dollars. Its website talks a great deal about the international Red Cross response and the relief it has provided.

Almost immediately following the earthquake, the American Red Cross provided 3 million pre-packaged meals as well as $30 million to feed 1 million people for a month in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme. Relief workers are also providing 1.5 million liters of water each day in more than 120 locations throughout Port-au-Prince and outlying areas. Red Cross sanitation experts are constructing latrines and developing waste-disposal solutions in support of spontaneous settlements as well.

In addition, during the first two months more than 400,000 people have received basic supplies from the Red Cross, including hygiene kits, cooking tools, buckets, blankets and mosquito nets.

The American Red Cross contributed $374,500 to support the health ministry’s emergency [vaccination] campaign …

It is very unclear from the Red Cross’s site how much money they have actually spent versus “allocated”. The American Red Cross has about 50 disaster specialists in Haiti. This charity has a 3 star rating by the website Charity Navigator. I will not recommend the ARC at this time, until its spending and plans become clearer.

Americares tells us that it has spent $20 million for relief efforts to date. It has raised $12.5 million. It has a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator. It is primarily a relief and not a recovery NGO.

Mercy Corps is a 3 star charity at Charity Navigator. Its website describes their relief efforts and some innovative programs to help jump start the economy. They are operating a cash for work program focused on debris clearance. They are also working with the children in the refugee camps, providing both psychological resources and care for these traumatized victims of the earthquake.

Doctors Without Borders is a 4 star charity. With its international counterpart, Médecins Sans Frontières, it is heavily involved in post-quake medical care. It is operating 26 hospitals and health centers in the country.

Habitat for Humanity has a 4 star rating. Its local office was destroyed by the Haitian earthquake. It has plans for transitional homes that can be added to over time. These will be built with the natural threats in mind. They are also planning to reuse and recycle as much of the debris as possible. They are currently providing emergency shelter kits.

Lions Clubs International Foundation has a 4 star rating. Its disaster and major catastrophe grants are given to smaller NGOs and local Lions Clubs for their projects.

Samaritan’s Purse is the charitable arm of the Bill Graham organization. It has a 4 star rating. They are acting as a relief organization, working through local, Haitian churches. They have teams in the heart of the quake damage, Leogane and its surroundings.

I do not mean to neglect any worthwhile NGO or religion. This is a sample of quality charities that I hope you will consider as you continue to provide support following the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Donations to the charities named here will help in both the relief effort, and most importantly, in the recovery effort.

Over 60 articles about the Haitian earthquake, U.S. military assistance to Haiti after the quake, American giving to earthquake relief and other related topics can be found at the link Haiti Quake 2010.

Haiti has been awash in visitors for the last two months. The relief effort after the earthquake brought thousands of people to the country that had never been there before. Few had any understanding of Haitian traditions, Haitian customs and the way things were done in Haiti up until January 12, 2010. That was both a good thing and a bad thing.

On January 11, 2010, Haiti was a cesspool. Its people were among the poorest on the planet and its government was dysfunctional in all of the traditional ways of a third world country. It had no army, and its police were supported and supervised by United Nations military forces.

Tabitha Hale is a twenty-something conservative activist. She is well known in political social media circles and is considered by many to be an up and comer.

Tabitha spent six days in early March, 2010, in Haiti working with groups associated with her church. She worked in the southern coastal community of Jacmel and in the surrounding region. I was fortunate to interview her on March 17 about her experiences.

Jacmel was in the part of the earthquake damage zone that did not receive immediate assistance. The Canadian military eventually moved in, took control of the city’s small airport and began relief efforts. Hale had nothing but praise for their efforts.

As a city, Jacmel had a tourist “zone” where the businesses and buildings were oriented to tourists, many of whom arrived by cruise ship. She found this area to be virtually leveled. The remainder of the city had a great deal of damage, but Miss Hale sometimes could not tell whether the damage was from the earthquake or was from before the quake.

The local soccer field is now a tent city, filled with refugees from the quake.

The hospital in Jacmel was damaged. The Canadian military were operating a clinic in tents on the grounds of the hospital. Across the street is an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity.

The orphanage is spartan. The Sisters follow Mother Teresa’s rule, to take the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor. Hale writes:

The Sisters that run the orphanage are clearly good women. They did their job well – they kept the place pretty clean, and I think the kids were fed enough. They clearly made most of the clothes – most of the babies wore matching checked shirts, all sewn from the same fabric.

I tried for a minute to put myself in their position. They clearly didn’t have the resources or the knowledge to give extensive medical treatment. They treated for Scabies and did what they could. Babies still die all the time. There aren’t enough of them to give the babies the attention they need. The babies are mostly two to a crib, and like the little girl, there is little attention paid to anything but keeping them alive. After all, what else can you do? When you’re charged with keeping that many children alive, how can you really do anything else?

Hale did not see any large aid agencies at work during her visit. She saw, and writes about a number of small NGOs, mostly faith based, doing what they can with limited resources. She saw little sign of a Haitian government.

Roads, as we know them, were nearly non-existent. Some were, as she describes them, trails. She saw survivors living in the rubble of their homes. No one was able to remove the rubble because there was no equipment, no plan. She believes that recovery can begin only if the rubble is cleared and people have to rebuild.

Tabitha Hale’s experiences in Haiti can be found at this link. Here is her Facebook page.

Andrew Lubin is a noted journalist and writer, covering military affairs and the United States Marine Corps. He spent ten days in Haiti, from January 24 to February 2, 2010, embedded with the 22^nd MEU.

The Marines are providing earthquake relief west of Port-au-Prince along Haiti’s norther shore. Their coverage ranges for 60 kilometers from Carrefour through Leogane to Grand Goave and about 8 km. inland. The Marines have spread out into several encampments to better cover their assigned locations.

I interviewed Prof. Lubin on March 16. While his stay in Haiti was some time ago, he has kept in touch with the Marines in Haiti.

Port-au-Prince from the air on Jan 24. Photo by Andrew Lubin

Port-au-Prince from the air on Jan 24. Photo by Andrew Lubin

Lubin described the scene as “complete destruction”. Haitian authorities were either killed in the earthquake or abandoned their posts. The Marines are working with local community leaders, such as teachers, and small NGOs that have operated in the region for some time.

Earthquake damage to haitian church. Photo by Andrew Lubin

One of the NGOs that the Marines have worked with is the Star of Hope.

Prof. Lubin talked about the grassroots efforts at recovery that the Haitians are making. He found the Haitian people to be very entrepreneurial, and spoke with admiration of the various enterprises he saw being set up in the disaster zone.

He saw no sign of any Haitian government presence in the region. He saw no signs, at that time, of any of the larger aid agencies working in the region. Lubin specifically mentioned the Red Cross as having raised a lot of money but not being visible on the ground in the Leogane area.

Little or no recovery efforts had been made during his stay. The Marines used their equipment to establish bases and make necessary improvements to roads but they were not there for recovery.

Both interviewees were emphatic that Port-au-Prince is in terrible shape. Hale and Lubin were able to see the city from the air during their stays. Hale described it as a sea of blue, the tarps being distributed for temporary shelter.

The Mangine family is part of the group that Tabitha Hale worked with. They have a blog about their life in Haiti here. From March 9:

So much is broken; there seems no way to move forward. When such a huge percentage of a country’s population is now displaced, it’s as if, in spite of the already widespread death and destruction, we are tiptoeing on the edge of a cliff—or on the edge of a cracked and slanting building and we’re all just crossing our fingers that nothing else bad is going to happen. But without doubt, rainy season is coming to Haiti. With little doubt, tropical storms and hurricanes are headed to Haiti within the next few months. The misery. The disease. The landslides. The hopelessness. The mud. The death. We’ve just hit the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I don’t think that ANYONE has a plan for what’s going to happen when these inevitabilities arrive. What the heck are these people living in tents (literally, a million or more of them) going to do when the rains come? It’s a question I hear pondered often, but never answered. Because no one knows WHERE all these people—my neighbors—will go when the rains come. My faith has been stretched a lot lately. I find myself with more questions for God and less peace because I don’t have any answers.

The Catholic Church in Haiti suffered a massive blow. While I do not have numbers on the diocesan clergy, I do have information on the deaths, injuries and damages to religious orders. At least 36 priests, sisters and brothers were killed, and hundreds of students in schools.

The Livesay family work in haiti and are also blogging. March 8 post:

I wish I knew how to explain the insane number of “tent cities” there are popping up all over Port au Prince and surrounding areas. Everywhere you turn there is another large area of tents packed wall to wall. Some areas have all matching tents, you can sort of tell that the distribution happened all at once because everyone has blue or everyone has white or everyone has the same usaid tarps. On the edge of these little cities the people who did not get a tent or a nice tarp have made little make-shift tents with sheets and sticks and thin plastic bags. It is completely mind-numbing to think about these people in this housing during rainy season. I don’t know how they can possibly live like this.

Jessica Leeder is writing a blog from haiti for the Canadian paper The Globe and Mail. It’s focused on the Jacmel region. A March 15 post:

Port-au-Prince has the feel of a desperate, dangerous place that is growing steadily worse. While Jacmel has been improving by small but significant leaps, in my two visits to Port-au-Prince I’ve seen little change. While small businesses are starting to open their doors again in Jacmel – soft-drink wholesalers, a few clothiers and auto parts and grocery vendors – Port-au-Prince remains wholly destroyed. The place looks, as the Governor-General pointed out, as if it has been bombed. A persistent cloud of dust hangs over the city, and its particles get everywhere – into your eyes, your nose, your ears, your mouth.

Both times I’ve come from the place, I leave it feeling filthy and spent. It is draining to see all the destruction, the utter lack of hope. I feel sorrow for the people who remain there.

Arriving back in Jacmel after more than a month of living here, feels like coming home. Opening the car window to breathe in the air reminds me of the year I lived in New York City. I lived in an apartment on Central Park West, right next to the park (although we couldn’t afford a view!) and when I would come up out of the subway after traipsing around the projects in Brooklyn all day, the air was clean and distinctive. The same is true in Jacmel.

The fact that there’s no large industry here is bad for the economy but wonderful for the environment. The sea air is lovely and welcoming after the pollution of Port-au-Prince. And even though the streets can feel packed and frenzied – and full of rubble these days – compared with the capital city, Jacmel is a mellow little town where nobody moves too quickly and nobody ever really gets upset.

Haiti Epidemic Advisory System (HEAS) SitRep: UPDATED 13 MAR

Formal medical surveillance efforts remain operationally nascent. Informal surveillance and ground ops expanding quickly in Port-au-Prince. The ad hoc medical infrastructure largely supported by rotating medical responders (who are typically rotating every 1 to 2 weeks) and NGOs is contracting over time as international interest in Haiti declines. Forty-six NGOs have departed since the earthquake according to the UN Health Cluster. This likely represents the first responder community providing immediate trauma and recovery support. We have further identified a critical problem with logistics, where responders are unsure of where supplies are located. This is compounded by lack of efficient resource tracking at the hospitals and clinics. The implication is the medical infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is becoming more sensitive to abrupt changes in patient flow, and it portends a high probability of losing control in the context of an outbreak response during the coming rainy season.

In summary, recovery is a long way off for Haiti. It is unclear if any real efforts are being made and the utter lack of Haitian governance tells the story of the last three generations. Haiti is not a country so much as it is a place where people need our help.

Over 60 articles about the Haitian earthquake, U.S. military assistance to Haiti after the quake, American giving to earthquake relief and other related topics can be found at the link Haiti Quake 2010.

Asking who is in charge of a country is the sort of thing the State Department and the C.I.A. hire folks for. Countries are rarely run solely by their government. There are many other interested parties and Haiti is not an exception to that rule.

The complication for Haiti after the earthquake is the hundreds of outside agencies that are on the ground providing earthquake relief and reconstruction assistance. Some are charities and non-governmental organizations (NGO). Some are international and transnational agencies. And, there are military units from a number of nations that are also in the mix. Who is in charge in Haiti?

The current government of Haiti is headed by Rene Preval, former President (1996-2001) and former ally to Aristide, who was elected in 2006 with a very slim majority of the overall vote. A 30-seat Senate and a 99-member Chamber of Deputies were also elected at the same time. Municipal elections were held last in April, 2007.

There is no Haitian Armed Forces. The Haitian police are supervised by the United Nations.

The United Nations created the UN Stability Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in 2004. Prior to the quake it had an authorized strength of 7,060 troops and 2,091 civilian police.

The Haitian government lost several government buildings and many employees at all levels in the earthquake of January 12, 2010. Other employees have chosen not to return to their positions. The government is operating out of temporary quarters in the vicinity of the Port-au-Prince airport.

The number of non-governmental agencies and international aid agencies operating in Haiti at this time is not known. Some of these groups have been working in the country for decades while others are newly arrived. Much of the aid provided by various governments is being channeled by those governments through “partner” agencies, giving them a great deal of resources and power when compared to other NGOs.

In addition, the country has been divided into sectors where certain agencies have been given the lead for relief and recovery efforts in that region. Many of these sorts of decisions have been made since the earthquake in the inordinate number of meetings and conferences that have been held in Haiti, in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.

The next large meeting related to this disaster is the International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti. This will be held on March 31 in New York City.

Preparation for the International Donors’ Conference thus includes broad-based consultations with key constituencies, including Haitian civil society, the Haitian Diaspora, the private sector, Haitian state and local government, non-governmental organizations, and stakeholders in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

I believe the preceding list can be characterized as “all the usual suspects”.

I have interviewed several military officers as well as reporters who have been on the ground in Haiti since the earthquake. The Haitian Coast Guard and Haitian employees at the airport are the only civil servants that have been discussed as being on the job and a part of the relief and recovery effort. In the earthquake zone, for all intents and purposes, the government is non-existent. Outside of Port-au-Prince, little or no recovery efforts have been made.

Progress is being made by small NGOs, mostly religious in nature, who have a long history of working in Haiti. Identifying local community leaders and persons of influence has been a key aspect of U.S. military work in the country. At the grassroots, some things are being accomplished.

Over 60 articles about the Haitian earthquake, U.S. military assistance to Haiti after the quake, American giving to earthquake relief and other related topics can be found at the link Haiti Quake 2010.