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.

As members of the services flight for the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Airlift Wing, Tech. Sgt. Chris Jones (left) and Tech. Sgt. Bambi Putinas volunteered to do search and recovery at the destroyed Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The four-star hotel collapsed during the Jan. 12 earthquake trapping many of its guests in the rubble. The two worked with search and recovery teams from France, Mexico, Canada and other branches of the U.S. military. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

The earthquake that rocked this city left many of its structures damaged or destroyed, including one landmark that many say represented a sense of stability within the city.

The Hotel Montana, a four-star hotel where diplomats, dignitaries and other world leaders often stayed, collapsed during the Jan. 12 earthquake trapping many of its guests in the rubble.

A few made it out alive, and the task of finding and identifying those who didn’t fell to a variety of organizations, including search and recovery teams from France, Mexico, Canada and members of the U.S. military.

As a member of the services flight for the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing, Tech Sgt. Bambi Putinas said her job encompasses not only personnel issues, food services and lodging, but also mortuary affairs.

“We all volunteered to come here, but we had no idea what we would be doing,” she said. “In the back of our minds, we all thought possibly mortuary affairs.”

When a call for volunteers to assist at the Hotel Montana site was put out, Putinas was one of many from her unit to volunteer for the mission.

“We would help with the preliminary identification of remains and make sure they got back home safely and also any articles, luggage, personal effects,” she said. “We helped to document what we found, and those also would be shipped home.”

Putinas said it was an important job to do, but also a difficult one.

“It was hard,” she said. “Sometimes you could actually put a face with a name or an article or something that was inscribed.”

For many who worked at the site, it was an opportunity to provide a sense of closure to the grieving family members of those who died in the hotel.

“…we were recovering those that had fallen at the (Hotel) Montana, so that they could be returned to their loved ones and bring closure,” said Tech Sgt. Chris Jones, also with the 103rd AW. “We were sending them home.”

That was part of what made many who worked at the site go back day after day.

“Some people wanted to go out every day, no matter what,” said Putinas. “You think that you’re going to find somebody one day and you just keep on searching hoping to find someone.”

Though it is part of the services mission set, mortuary affairs is not a skill that unit members use on a regular basis.

“It was a lot of nerves the first time we went out there,” said Jones. “We do a lot of training, but this was our first real-world experience handling this aspect of our career field. It was a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety, but everyone got out there and did their job and handled it very well.”

Unit members also relied on each other for support during the recovery operations.

“We kept an open door policy and set rank aside if anybody needed to talk or had any questions,” said Jones, who added that there were briefings and other opportunities for those at the site to discuss or work through any issues.

“We’re a pretty strong group to begin with,” said Putinas. “I think it was a great team that we put together, and we were there for each other.”

Jones recalled the day the remains of an Air Force officer were recovered.

“They said he was still in his uniform,” said Jones. “His body was covered, and he was moved out of the rubble and all of us stopped working and we went to attention and saluted as he was moved past us. It was our way of paying final respects to him.”

For those at the site, doing the job was something they took great pride in.

“We received a great sense of fulfillment in the job we were doing,” said Jones. “We had an extreme amount of pride in the job that we had done.”

And that is something that will stay with them long after they return home.

“I think I’ll be telling my family members about the team I worked with,” said Putinas. “And how great it was to work with the Army, the Navy, the French, the Canadians, and how people from all aspects of life could come together for one mission, in a country that none of us ever thought we would come to, and pull together and do a mission that needed to be done.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

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.

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.