Haitian children in Gonaives wait for medical clinic. U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jessica M. Lopez

Task Force Kout Men moved into northern Haiti in mid June. Over 500 members of the United States military, the National Guard, Reserves and the regulars, will be working in and around the city of Gonaives. The base camp is in the village of Mandrin.

The task force is headed by the Louisiana National Guard who chose the Creole name, which means “Helping Hands”. The exercise is titled “New Horizons – Haiti 2010″ and the men and women rotating through during the June through September time frame will be working on four schools and providing a number of medical outreach services.

At any one time 500-550 Americans will be on the ground but units will be rotating in and out during the mission. It is headed by the Louisiana National Guard and many participants are from Guard and Reserve units in other states, such as Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North and South Dakota, Texas and U.S. Virgin Islands. Troops from the Central American nation of Belize are also attached to the mission.

In a Bloggers’ Roundtable, we had the opportunity to speak with Army Col. Michael Borrel, the task force commander of the New Horizons-Haiti 2010 exercise, a member of the task force’s engineering team, Maj. Charles “Chuck” Hudson, Louisiana National Guard, as well as a member of the medical staff, U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas Steinbrunner.

Work on local schools is progressing. In addition to structural work, the American engineers are adding wells for drinking water and improved latrines. The SeaBees, Navy Construction Batt. 25, are doing much of this work, assisted by other units and the troops from Belize.

Asked about the earthquake and hurricane resistance of the new construction, Col. Borrel had this to say:

Yes, the system that was selected through the Army South engineers that we’re utilizing is the Royal Building Systems that’s — that has since been renamed the NuForm System. And it’s essentially a concrete-reinforced slab that’s 3,500-PSI concrete with reinforced rebar that is very — with a six-inch slope that’s very strong concrete slab. The walls use a smaller aggregate but at the same 3,500 PSI and the same six-inch slump (sic; slope). So it’s a reinforced concrete building.

And the roof structure facilitates a steel frame J-bolt system that’s bolted steel with the corrugated metal roof. You know, it’s much more better — much better technology, a much stronger system than any of the systems in — being utilized in Haiti. When we came on the ground, essentially, in Mandrin they were using United Nations tents, and they had a pole barn that they were using as a classroom.

So this will be a significant improvement and will enhance the learning capabilities of the children and the instructors as well.

At the facilities at the K. Georges and at the Diaquoi (sp), they were existing structures that were projects from the past that were constructed under the guise of USAID, and they are a similar concrete reinforced structure that have withstood the hurricanes and winds of the past. The grade at which we are placing these buildings is consistent with where the grade is of the existing structures and is intended to be above any type of flood area.

Staff Sgt Rebekah Chiarini, a medical provider with the 399th Combat Support Hospital, plays with children from the Vision For A Better Haiti Orphanage at the at the U.S. Army South New Horizons- Haiti 2010 Gonaives medical assistance site July 7. New Horizons, in partnership with the government of Haiti, is conducting various medical, dental engineering missions for the locals in Gonaives. New Horizons also provides valuable experience to learn in a real-world environment for our U.S. Forces. U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jessica M. Lopez

This region of Haiti escaped the direct effects of the January 12, 2010, earthquake. Gonaives was partially destroyed by Hurricane Hannah in 2008 and suffers from regular flooding. I asked Co. Borrel about the choice of location for the exercise. He told us that up to 100,000 Haitians from the quake zone were believed, by the Haitian government, to have moved to the Gonaives area. The work on the schools provides for more capacity, to allow some of those refugee children to attend school.

Ten medical exercises are part of the overall mission plan. To date, the officers report that well over 20,000 Haitians have been seen at a variety of locations. Col. Steinbrunner described this outreach as primary care only. Serious problems would be referred to the local Haitian hospitals.

Along with medical exams, Haitians are being seen by dentists and other medical professionals. At the request of the Haitian government, there are no immunizations being provided. Steinbrunner described the conditions seen to date as a mix of many things, skin conditions, parasitic illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases being predominant.

The large numbers of American troops that surged into Haiti after the earthquake are gone. Yet, a small, hardworking group of Americans troops continue to make a difference as a part of Task Force Helping Hands.

You can follow these Americans through social media:

Facebook: New Horizons – Task Force Kout Men

Flickr: Task_Force_Kout_Men_New_ Horizons_Haiti_2010′s photostream

Twitter: @tfkoutmen

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It has been six months since the impoverished nation of Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. While nearly two thirds of this island nation suffered little or no effects from the quake, the economic, political and population center of the nation was nearly leveled. The effects of the loss of life and the loss of infrastructure are still being felt today.

On January 12, 2010 Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake. 230,000 people were killed an nearly 200,000 more injured. Over 1.2 million Haitians were displaced from their homes. A simpler illustration of the effects of the earthquake might be the resumption of international mail delivery to Haiti on May 3 after nearly four months.

The loss of buildings is extreme. Homes, hospitals, schools and other institutions are rubble or unsafe to occupy. The homeless are truly that, without anything but a blue tarp over their heads.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been working in Haiti for 19 years. Here is what they recently reported:

The earthquake destroyed 60 per cent of the existing health facilities and 10 per cent of medical staff were either killed or left the country. MSF had to relocate services to other facilities, build container hospitals, work under temporary shelters, and even set up an inflatable hospital. With over 3000 Haitian and international staff working in the country, MSF currently manages 19 health facilities and has over 1000 beds available at various locations. The organization has provided emergency medical care to more than 173,000 patients between January 12th and May 31st.

Caritas Haiti is the charitable arm of the Catholic Church in Haiti. They have been operating there for some 35 years. Here is a portion of their recent statement:

Providing shelter to the many people who lost their homes in the earthquake remains a major challenge. Over a million people still live in makeshift settlements and camps around the capital Port-au-Prince. More than 250,000 houses were destroyed. Over the last six months, Caritas provided emergency shelter or temporary homes to almost 160,000 people in Port-au-Prince and in rural areas. While things are starting to improve in the Léogâne area, the situation remains highly complex around Port-au-
Prince.

Despite continuous clearing work, the rubble remaining in the streets considerably slows down reconstruction. The camps are so densely populated that no temporary houses can be built there. The problems are often worsened by unclear land ownership.

Only a few hundred temporary shelters have been built in the capital so far. Ahead of the rainy season starting in June, inhabitants from unsafe camps had to be relocated. While people in camps needed to be taken care of with emergency shelter materials such as tents and tarpaulins in the first months, heavy rains flooded these places and made distributions difficult.

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Action Aid has been in Haiti for thirteen years. Its six month report includes this:

Jean-Claude Fignolé, ActionAid Haiti Country Director, said: “The Haitian people must be included in the reconstructions plans. At the moment the plan is more reflective of donor country interests and that is wrong. It is imperative that Haitian people be directly involved in their own recovery and lead the reconstruction process.”

The situation in Haiti remains extremely challenging. The hurricane season which began on June 1 and continues until November has been forecast this year to be particularly severe with a high probability of several tropical storms which could lead to mudslides, landslides, subsidence and flooding.

Most survivors are still living in tents as finding the land to build transitional shelters has been a huge challenge in the densely populated capital Port-au-Prince where land ownership is often disputed and documents have been lost or destroyed.

Jean-Claude Fignolé said: “It is urgent that solutions to the housing crisis are found and implemented before a real storm hits the country.

CHF International has been concentrating on getting Haitians back into their own neighborhoods by paying for rubble removal and constructing shelters.

As of July 2, CHF has completed 1,527 transitional shelters in Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Cabaret, delivering housing to more than 7,600 Haitians. Most shelters are designed for the average Haitian family size of five. Through funding from USAID/OFDA, as well as support from corporations and the public, CHF is building an average of 200 shelters per week and plans to meet its goal of 6,000 shelters by October, which will offer safe housing to 30,000 people affected by the earthquake…

CHF has been able to build so many shelters because they have focused not on building camps, but on returning Haitians to their original communities and maintaining community cohesion. CHF demolishes damaged homes and builds shelters in their place. By keeping communities together, crime and violence are reduced and people are able to continue the job they had before. This is at the core of CHF’s vision of community-based development.

Outside of shelter development, CHF is employing Cash for Work teams comprised of Haitians to help demolish damaged structures and clear rubble from key roads, canals, public buildings, and schools. By July 2, CHF had removed 153,650 cubic meters of debris from nearly 300 sites of major roads, canals, and public buildings. This volume equates to two football fields stacked seven stories high in rubble. Since the earthquake, CHF has employed over 11,000 Haitians in rubble removal, for about 20 days each.

There is this story from GoUpstate.com:

Tents clustered in makeshift cities throughout Port-au-Prince are beginning to show wear. One “city” across the street from the Rescue Children Orphanage houses about 120 people in just 12 tents, Ramantanin said. He and others from Rescue Children dropped off pots, pans and food donations at the camp.

The Baptist Standard gives us this information:

The rain, sun and wind have taken their toll on the shelters. Edges of the plastic tarps hang in tatters. Many have begun leaking during storms.

“One interesting thing about the homes is that people have a phobia now. They don’t want to live under concrete roofs anymore,” Shehane said.

In addition to Haitians’ concerns about the safety and durability of new houses, new home building is made difficult by issues related to funding, land ownership and government restrictions.

“It’s always difficult to work through the bureaucracy here, and that’s true in many, many countries,” Brendle said. “First of all, because we have competing interests. We have the international aid community that wants to come in and have everything just flow in without any tariffs, without any bureaucracy, and that worked for a while after the disaster. But one of the major sources of income for this government is its tariffs from imports.”

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The Christian Science Monitor did a story about the camps and forced evictions.

Of 1,241 refugee camps here, only 206 are officially recognized, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Only the official camps are monitored by NGOs, meaning that the majority lack protection. …

This past spring, the government Commission of Damage Assessment, Temporary Shelter, Demolition and Reconstruction reportedly identified several sites totaling 6 million square meters (some 1,500 acres) for relocating people to the perimeters of the capital. Lengthy negotiations to secure the land have yet to secure relocation options for the 2.1 million people left homeless from the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Now, forced evictions from refugee camps are on the rise, officials say. With landowners exasperated by the slow pace, some are taking matters into their own hands.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Sarah Perry, medical coprsman, Operational Health Support Unit, celebrates with two children at the closing ceremony of the Medical Readiness Training Exercise, May 20. The MEDRETE provided more than 4,100 patients in the Les Cayes area with basic, immediate health care over a period 10 days. Facilities for the doctors, dentists and optometrists were provided by the American University of the Caribbean in Les Cayes. More than 40 Navy service members, several Haitian doctors, Uruguayan Soldiers assigned to MINUSTAH and Haitian Coast Guard members assisted in the exercise. Les Cayes is the second MEDRETE to be conducted in the southern region of Haiti. The first was in Port Salut several weeks ago.

On January 12, 2010 Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake. 230,000 people were killed an nearly 200,000 more injured. Over 1.2 million Haitians were displaced from their homes.

160 days have passed, over five months. Here are some of the current facts and figures from the governments and agencies continuing to assist the stricken nation.

• Since February, the U.S. Government has helped vaccinate more than 1 million people against diseases such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles and rubella. (1)
• USAID cash-for-work programs that employ approximately 24,000 people every day (2)
• In the long term, mobile money could help millions of Haitians improve their lives through easy access to savings accounts and other financial services. Just three years after its launch, Kenya’s M-PESA mobile money service now has more than 9 million users (40 percent of all adult Kenyans), who pay for everything from taxi fares to school fees via mobile phone. The transactions are much safer than carrying cash, and rural households using M-PESA saw their incomes increase by 5 to 30 percent, according to early results of a recent study by the University of Edinburgh. (2)
• Flooding control and prevention – IOM reported that land ownership presents a significant obstacle to mitigation work, as 60 percent of assessed sites are located on privately owned land where a number of landowners have resisted proposed mitigation activities. (3)
• As of June 10, assessment teams had evaluated approximately 120,000 of the 800,000 planned structures and continue to assess approximately 3,000 buildings per day, according to MTPTC. Preliminary results designated 45 percent of structures surveyed in central Port-au-Prince as green, or habitable, and 30 percent of surveyed structures as yellow, signifying that the structures require minor repairs. (3)
• United Nations peacekeepers have this morning helped local police in Haiti capture 30 criminals who had escaped from prison in the wake of January’s catastrophic earthquake and subsequently infiltrated a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the capital.
  Working with the Haitian National Police (HNP), more than 350 military and police staff serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) raided the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for IDPs near the notorious Cité Soleil neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince shortly after 5 a.m.
  The operation was the largest security action conducted by MINUSTAH since the 12 January quake, which killed an estimated 200,000 Haitians and destroyed or substantially damaged the homes of millions of others. Many prison inmates also escaped from jail in the aftermath of the disaster.
  In a press statement MINUSTAH said the raid was conducted following an upsurge in violence inside the IDP camp that was linked to the prison escapees. (4)
• Total FY 2010 USAID, State, and DoD Humanitarian Assistance to Haiti for the Earthquake …..$1,092,894,368 (5)
• As of June 11, Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster partners had registered 371,039 households, comprising nearly 1.6 million individuals, through the displacement tracking matrix (DTM). The DTM records internally displaced person (IDP) data, including on fluctuating site populations, to develop an accurate picture of the humanitarian situation to tailor assistance to identified needs. As of June 9, the CCCM Cluster had identified 1,342 settlement sites in affected areas. (5)
• As of June 9, the DTM indicated that Delmas municipality, in the greater Port-au-Prince area, contained at least 200 settlement sites and the highest IDP population of all earthquake-affected areas. Of the 200 sites identified in Delmas, 11 sites hold more than 1,000 households each, 129 sites host between 100 and 1,000 households each, and 60 sites have fewer than 100 households each. (5)
• During weeks of May 30 and June 6, health authorities reported a total of 39,186 clinic visits, with the most common illnesses comprising acute respiratory infection, suspected malaria, watery diarrhea, fever of unknown origin, suspected typhoid, and bloody diarrhea. (5)

1. USAID Responds to Haiti Earthquake
2. Gates Foundation and USAID Announce Innovative Fund to Incentivize Mobile Money Services in Haiti
3. USAID Fact Sheet #58, Fiscal Year (FY) 2010
4. UN peacekeepers help to arrest 30 criminals on the run since quake
5. USAID Fact Sheet #59, Fiscal Year (FY) 2010

Spc. John W. Peterson, of Fargo, N.D., spends time with a local boy in Haiti before posing for a photo with the Haiti flag the boy was carrying. Peterson was part of a group of 21 Soldiers with the North Dakota Army National Guard's 191st Military Police Company who volunteered for a three-and-a-half week humanitarian mission to Haiti. They provided force protection as part of U.S. Southern Command's New Horizons program while assisting in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake there.

Soldiers working in Haiti returned home yesterday after spending more than three weeks there on a humanitarian mission. The Soldiers, who serve with the 191st Military Police Company, left May 19 to take part in the U.S. Southern Command’s New Horizons mission.

“The North Dakota National Guard does an outstanding job of serving our state and nation, and these Soldiers have proven that the Guard’s dedication and preparedness extends far beyond the borders of North Dakota,” said Gov. John Hoeven. “The important work they have completed in Haiti will have a beneficial impact on the people of that country as they continue to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.”

The North Dakota Army National Guardsmen provided force protection at four locations in Haiti, primarily to facilitate the construction of a base camp near Gonaives, about 95 miles north of Port au Prince. That construction is wrapping up this week, said Sgt. 1st Class Troy Skelton, of Bismarck, the noncommissioned officer in charge of 20 other North Dakota Soldiers in Haiti. The group also provided some convoy security for medical personnel assisting in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“These Soldiers embody the characteristics that make the North Dakota National Guard great,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general. “Despite the primitive conditions and long work days, they all volunteered to go on this mission. They realize that what they did there will have lasting impacts on the people of Haiti, as well as on their own abilities since they were able to refine their skills while operating as part of our global environment.”

During the 26-day mission, Soldiers subsisted entirely on meals ready to eat and bottled water. The bottled water also was their only means of bathing while in Haiti, where the temperature regularly pushed 100 degrees.

Spc. Lindsay A. Suko, of Mandan, N.D., and Spc. Amanda G. Weninger, of Grand Forks, N.D., pose for a photo at the sea port in Haiti. The sea port was one of four locations where Soldiers with the 191st Military Police Company provided security during the past few weeks as they took part in a U.S. Southern Command New Horizons humanitarian mission there.

“I see the mission as a success,” Skelton said. “The Soldiers completed the mission with professionalism and no complaining. The Soldiers who went down to Haiti were up for the challenges we faced, and they all did an incredible job.”

Skelton’s group worked under the guidance of the Louisiana National Guard and side-by-side with Soldiers from Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, South Dakota, Texas and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Together, they focused on construction projects and humanitarian and medical assistance as part of New Horizons, which gives participating military personnel the opportunity to help communities and individuals with humanitarian needs while enhancing their ability to deploy overseas in support of military operations.

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The Louisiana National Guard is scheduled to lead a New Horizons humanitarian assistance exercise in Haiti beginning June 1, U.S. Southern Command officials announced, April 25.

“We are proud to have our National Guard step forward to be a part of this important recovery effort,” said Gov. Bobby Jindal. “Louisiana received so much support from across the country and around the world after hurricanes Katrina and Rita; we stand ready to lend that same assistance to other parts of the world in their times of need.

“These brave men and women know firsthand the type of hard work and perseverance it takes to recover from a disaster, and I know that they will serve the people of Haiti well.”

The exercise in Haiti will provide critically needed medical and engineering services to the country’s capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities, such as Gonaives. The country was ravaged by an earthquake, Jan. 12.

“In three months, we’ve planned a significant exercise in Haiti where there wasn’t one previously,” said Army Lt. Col. Scott Jonda, the exercises branch chief for the Army Guard’s operations division.

“Our engineer units will provide some … new construction of schools and clinics, and there will be medical units that will go out and provide various medical tasks in the community.”

SOUTHCOM officials said that free medical care will be provided at various sites, and that U.S. military medical personnel will be stationed at each site for 10 days to provide general medical, dental and optometry services for about 700 individuals daily.

Engineering projects will include not only new construction at three schools, but also construction of a sports recreation area and water well improvements, said SOUTHCOM officials.

Army Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, SOUTHCOM’s military deputy commander, said that the military humanitarian assistance mission would consist of about 500 Soldiers, led by the Louisiana National Guard.

“The Louisiana National Guard is excited about leading the New Horizons mission to Haiti,” said Army Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, the state’s adjutant general. “While our Soldiers and Airmen are very proud to join the relief effort, this mission [will] also be an excellent training opportunity for them.”

Jonda said the Louisiana National Guard will provide the duration staff, while eight other states and one territory will contribute Soldiers to this mission, including Missouri, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, California, Indiana, Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Specifically, North Dakota, Indiana and Nevada will provide military police support. Nevada and Montana will provide aviation support; and South Dakota will provide engineering support.

New Horizons missions began in the mid-1980s as an annual series of joint and combined humanitarian assistance exercises that SOUTHCOM conducts with Latin American and Caribbean nations.

New Horizons exercises typically last several months providing medical and infrastructure projects. These missions give deployed U.S. military forces invaluable training opportunities to work with partner nations.

The assistance from New Horizons is in addition to the over $1.03 billion in emergency humanitarian assistance already provided to the Haitian people by the U.S. government since the devastating earthquake.

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Story by Spc. Darron Salzer