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Haiti Response Coalition Progress Report

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

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Haiti Response Coalition Progress Report: February 3, 2010

As Coalition members begin to see more clearly that their immediate humanitarian relief efforts are intricately tied to their vision for long-term, sustainable program implementation, they have gathered to more formally organize around these efforts.  Since late January, meetings of Coalition members and Haitian community organizing partners have taken place regularly to discuss the evolving nature of their immediate efforts as well as to flesh out more formal organizational structure and goals.

Two levels of effort are happening:  (1) responding to basic humanitarian needs (2) beginning to organize strategy meeting of Haitian-community leaders to develop a Haitian rebuilding strategy and agenda.

One major point discussed at the Coalition meetings is trying to bring together a planning committee of Haitian community-leaders that would help develop a national strategy for rebuilding and redeveloping Haiti.  The purpose of this gathering would be to bring together Haitian community leaders from around the country, using some traditional meeting and some open space methodology, to discuss and determine what the Haitian rebuilding agenda and strategy looks like.

In addition to the longer-term strategizing, Haiti Response Coalition continues to work with Haitian community organizers to do needs-assessments of the new tent cities that have developed after the earthquake, specifically focusing on the partner communities of Coalition member organizations.  Completing these standard assessment forms should help expedite the distribution of needed supplies from MINUSTAH and other larger NGOs.

The assessments so far have uncovered that some communities, like Solino, have had no distributions of anything at all.  Solino is an example of a community in a dire situation.  It has not yet received any first aid, water or food aid.  The people of Solino are living on the street along the sewer canal which is filled with garbage.  A first rain will leave them literally in the garbage.   Other communities like Jake have been organizing themselves and have received some distributions, maybe once or twice, not a regular daily basis yet.  Other communities are getting aid maybe once or twice per day,  but that is very rare.  So there is still a very real bottle neck in aid distribution and a lack of access to basic needs like water,  food and  even shelter.   Shelter continues to be an undefined issue.  At the UN coordinated logistics cluster meetings for shelter, for example, there is discussion of about distributing tarps and ropes to provide temporary shelter.  However, meetings also include discussion about that fact that where people are living right now in tent cities are in unsustainable; therefore, they need to move from these areas.  This is causing at least some holding back of distribution of temporary housing supplies because officials do not want people to put set up in places that cannot be maintained over the long-term.

Haiti Response Coalition also has been trying to deliver aid to communities outside of Port-au-Prince, as identified by Coalition member organizations.  Petit Goave, for example, has not yet received coordinated aid distribution.  It appears that there have been some small, sporadic water distribution efforts only.  Most people do not have any kind of temporary shelter and there is a diminishing food supply.  It has begun to rain a little bit just about every day, so shelter concerns are very real and imminent.  Ryan McCrory of Haitian Sustainable Development Foundation is trying today to get a first load of food to Petit Goave, as well as working to complete an initial needs-assessment of community members.

Haiti Response Coalition member organizations are working to supply Jacmel with needed food supplies for distribution.   Michael Adam, a volunteer from New York, will fly into Santo Domingo on February  4, and proceed from there to accompany a boat load  of mainly food to Jacmel.  Additionally, Sustainable Haiti is working to provide food, especially to areas of Jacmel that have not yet received any aid.  The second medical team from Delaware also will arrive in Jacmel within the next few days.

Multiple 40-ft containers of temporary housing materials, such as tarps, tent, and ropes, being donated coming from the City of Sydney, Australia are now on the way! Upon their arrival, the materials will be distributed in areas of Port-au -Prince, Jacmel , and other locations as identified by the Coalition assessment results.

Haiti Response Coalition Progress Report

Monday, January 25th, 2010

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Haiti Response Coalition: Coordinating with Medical Teams

Progress Report: January 25, 2010

From the very first moment we learned about the earthquake and began to realize the extent of the damage, the Haiti Response Coalition has been working to secure a way to get desperately needed medical supplies and teams onto the ground in Haiti. For eleven days we have been up against a bureaucratic bottleneck that has made it nearly impossible to move resources onto the ground in Haiti.

After a few days of calling everyone in our extended networks, KONPAY was able to get office space for the Haiti Response Coalition to have a team in place on the ground in Santo Domingo at the offices of FUNGLODE. Our incredible team in Santo Domingo is being coordinated temporarily by Anna Dioguardi and Steven Moyano. They have been working with a large web of volunteers and AMURT’s Peter Meadow and team to establish contacts there to assist our efforts. They are embedded there with the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic. Nestor Sanchez at The Nature Conservancy helped us connect with General Valeria of the Dominican military, which made it possible to and acquire space for medical teams and cargo on navy vessels from the port of Cabo Rojo in Pedernales directly to Jacmel.

Through Reed Lindsay and the Honor and Respect Foundation, the Coalition connected with Hye Young Lee whose friend Wes Carter heads up the Atlantic Packaging Company. Wes and Atlantic have made their trucks and warehouse available to us, have worked to ensure our cargo can get through customs, have offered us free diesel from their tank, and have connected us to other important companies. Atlantic has helped us move cargo over land to meet boats at Pedernales headed to Jacmel.
Two teams have taken the land and water route to Jacmel so far, the Christiana Care team from Delaware and Team Ange (angel in Haitian Creole) from New Jersey.

1.  The Delaware Christiana Care Team

This is the first team we sent in via Navy boat. They arrived late at night on Wednesday and were met by a bus at the Santo Domingo airport. They spend several hours traveling to the port in Pedernales, and then waited there for the boat to be loaded. After a four hour boat ride they arrived in Jacmel and set up an operating room in a tent at the Hospital St. Michel in Jacmel. Joe Duplan of KONPAY has coordinated their logistics on the ground and worked closely with Guerda Lexima and Fondasyon Limyè Lavi to prepare for their arrival, finding them a secure place to stay and meeting local authorities.

Beth Miller of the Delaware News Journal is with the team and has been Tweeting and uploading pictures throughout the trip. Today the team was asked to leave the hospital because Medecins san Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders will be taking over the facility. The team didn’t waste any time before heading out to offer a mobile clinic to a new tent city in Jacmel. Sedrick Desir reported:

“We made the hospital grounds functional, with the help of the Canadians, we can work at another site… We are here to help the people of Jacmel and nothing else. The tent OR we put up allowed our surgeons to save many lives and that is why we came. So we will continue to do so.”

To follow the Christiana team, visit the Delaware News Journal’s page on them here http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=Haiti


2.  Team Ange: Angels of the OR in Cayes-Jacmel

The Angel team came mainly from New Jersey and is coordinated by a wife and husband team, Katie and Michael Galotto. They arrived in Santo Domingo on Friday and we transported them to the port in Pedernales. Through a contact on the ground in Jacmel, Rick Barger, several team members were picked up in Pedernales on helicopter and small aircraft and flew to Jacmel, while the others stayed behind and traveled on the ship with their cargo.

At the same time, a flight carrying supplies for them was traveling to Port-au-Prince. It arrived late on Friday night and Amber Munger was there at the airport with a team to meet the plane. Communications continue to be difficult, and Amber was on the phone with Melinda Miles, of KONPAY in Massachusetts, searching the airport for the plane. Using her cell phone to call the co-pilot with her other ear, Melinda was able to get Amber face-to-face with the pilot. Amber and her team laughed at the silliness of it all and she remarked, “This is the first time I’ve really laughed since this all started.” A moment of levity and connection brought to us by ATT, Voila, Comcast and Verizon!

A second plane arrived early Monday morning, and Amber and Daniel Tillias will load the cargo onto a truck to Cayes-Jacmel. We were very excited to read this report that Katie Galotto gave to Julia Helstrom, D.O. on January 24, 2010:

“They are in Cayes-Jacmel and doing GREAT.  They have become the only site in south Haiti with anesthesia, so are getting all surgical cases in the area sent to them.  They worked through the night last night doing surgeries.  Sad news is, they have not been able to save many legs because the infection is so bad that they are doing more amputations than fixing fractures.  They have essentially become THE hospital in south Haiti! Katie couldn’t say enough about how pleased she was as to how things are going.”

Another point of entry has been northern Haiti. Two teams we are collaborating with entered that way:

3.  CCH Team to Jacmel

Karen Carr from the Community Coalition of Haiti (CCH) flew into Santiago last Monday with a team of seven others and crossed the border at Dajabon-Ouanaminthe. They then flew via Missionary Aviation Fellowship directly to Jacmel from Pignon, and were the first team of foreign surgeons to arrive in Jacmel on Wednesday.

4. Team Emmanuel TV to Arcahaie

On Friday a team of 8 experienced medical field staff flew into Cap-Haitien and were met by Peter Haas of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG). With his assistance, Fiona Tonge and her team visited the airport to make sure their cargo, which arrived on Sunday, would be able to clear customs. Before they traveled to Haiti, Kathy McAllsiter with the Haitian Sustainable Development Fund contacted local authorities in Arcahaie to ensure their desire and participation for setting up a field hospital there. Team Emmanuel TV brought several tons of medical supplies and food for their operations in Arcahaie, and Kathy arranged for former Peace Corps driver Pierre Juste Anesoir to accompany the team to Cap-Haitien and act as a guide and interpreter as they travel to Arcahaie to set up their hospital.

We are currently working to coordinate another team into Haiti in the next week:

5. Thiotte-Wisonsin Team

Dr. Maureen Murphy contacted KONPAY last week about getting a team to Thiotte, in the southeastern department near the border with the Dominican Republic. Her community has a long-term commitment to the community there and does regular clinic visits annually. They heard of the need for medical response for victims in Thiotte and those returning to the village from Port-au-Prince.  The team will fly into Santo Domingo on January 29. Our team there will get them on a bus to the Jimani-Malpasse border. Once they cross, local leaders from Thiotte will meet them in Malpasse to transport them to the village to set up their clinic.

In addition to these fantastic teams, the Haiti Response Coalition offered logistical support to Representative Maxine Waters for her visit to Haiti this Monday and Tuesday. Sarah Cool made reservations for Rep. Waters and her team to fly with World Vision to Port-au-Prince today, and our team in Santo Domingo, Anna Dioguardi and Steven Moyano are briefing Congresswoman Waters before she leaves Santo Domingo.

Progress Report on Coordinated Rapid Response

Monday, January 18th, 2010

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January 18, 2010
Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY – Working Together for Haiti

We have made substantial progress this weekend on finalizing logistics to get supplies and critical medical teams into Haiti and now have three points of entry to Haiti: direct to Jacmel via boat from the Dominican Republic, direct to Port-au-Prince over land from the DR, and to points north of PAP and the capital via Cap-Haitian and Santiago, DR (crossing at Dajabon-Ounaminthe).

This report includes progress made on transporting teams and supplies into Haiti, the latest summary assessment for Jacmel from the UN in PAP and details of our headquarters and operations in Santo Domingo.

Jacmel:

BY AIR: We finally have the first team from a partner group landing in Jacmel this afternoon. Karen Carr is traveling with the team coordinated by her organization, Community Coalition for Haiti. After efforts by many to get clearance to land a plane directly in Jacmel, Karen’s team went with plan B and traveled to Santiago, Dominican Republic. From there they crossed the border at Dajabon-Ouanaminthe and spent the night in Pignon. From Pignon they will fly with the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF). They should arrive mid-afternoon and will be met by KONPAY’s Joe Duplan and Guerda Lexima of Fondasyon Limyè Lavi who met with local authorities and the MINUSTAH in Jacmel to prepare for the team’s arrival. The team will be provided with security and Joe and Guerda will coordinate their intervention on the ground.

BY SEA: On Sunday we received two excellent connections for sending supplies and emergency teams to Jacmel by boat. Through Nestor Sanchez at The Nature Conservancy in Santo Domingo we were able to connect with Marino Jose, heading up efforts to ship supplies to Jacmel for the Dominican Republic Red Cross. He has a first load going to Jacmel on a DR Navy ship this morning. He will be able to take our supplies to Guerda and Joe in Jacmel, and may also be able to transport medical teams.

A second contact was made with Cristina Thomen with Defense Civil who was already on a boat at the Cabo Rojos port in Pedernales on Sunday. She has a first load of supplies going into Jacmel this morning as well. Joe is working to coordinate getting the MINUSTAH troops to the port to meet the boat for offloading. Through Cristina we should be able to rent this boat for future trips to transport supplies and more medical personnel into Jacmel. Special thanks to Sarah Cool from Beyond Borders for being the point person following up both of these boats.

UN Rapid Assessment of the city of Jacmel performed on Friday:

World Food Program and UNICEF carried out the assessments and the Canadian military are now there doing reconnaissance. UNICEF will prepare a more detailed report and share with the UN. Right now World Food Program and UNICEF have depleted the supplies in their warehouses with food distribution so the UN thinks our approach by sea is wise. MINUSTAH is protecting the people living in camps. Structural engineers are assessing the road to Jacmel and MINUSTAH is working to open the road with their teams and the engineers. The International Federation of the Red Cross is putting in place a field hospital in Jacmel.

Port-au-Prince:

BY LAND: Thanks to fate, Demeter Russamov of the Ananda Margra Universal Relief Team/AMURT’s motorcycle ran out of gas on Friday in front of the home of the owner of a major trucking company in Port-au-Prince. Apolinar was anxious to get supplies into Port-au-Prince, especially medical supplies. He will be able to send the first trucks to Santo Domingo today to pick up much needed supplies.

During coordination meetings at the United Nations’ headquarters yesterday, Amber Munger from KONPAY learned that groups like ours and the ones we are working with to coordinate rapid response will not be able to get absolutely critical supplies from the UN or the warehouses of the major agencies in PAP (including World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and others). They encouraged us to pursue our own over land shipments of supplies.

Port-au-Prince is still not ready to receive volunteer teams. There are doctors on the ground but no supplies for them to work with and there are already massive shortages of food and water. Our strategy for PAP is to bring in supplies to support the work of people already there and encourage the evacuation of the city while preparing clinics in the countryside to handle the exodus.

Cap-Haitien to Points North:

Peter Haas of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group is now in Cap-Haitien and will be coordinating the transport of supplies to Port-au-Prince from there. The first convoy arrived Saturday night with fuel and equipment, supplies to help the efforts underway. In addition, Peter can assist us in coordinating teams crossing the border at Ouanaminthe-Dajabon, provide them with housing in Cap-Haitien and then deploy them to points north of Port-au-Prince from there.

Right now we need to start a spreadsheet of places where medical teams can be deployed in the next few days. Clinics and hospitals north of PAP need to be assessed by people on the ground so we can send an appropriate team with the necessary supplies they need to be effective. We are mainly focused on basic health care and emergency triage, and are referring surgeons to Partners In Health and the Cap-Haitien Health Network. We will coordinate with both PIH and Cap Health as we begin mobilizing and deploying teams. Anne Sosin, formerly with BAI and VIDWA, is going to arrive in Haiti this week with PIH and will be our point person for coordination. Peter Haas put us in contact with Dr. Ted Kaplan from Cap Health.

We are also following up a shipping contact from AIDG that might be able to help us get money and supplies into Cap-Haitien to be coordinated at a warehouse Peter is currently setting up.

Santo Domingo Coordination:

Through a very helpful contact at FUNGLODE in Dominican Republic, KONPAY secured an office space where we can set up a headquarters in Santo Domingo to coordinate our volunteers and supply shipments from there. Asuncion Sanz has arranged for our team to work out of the FUNGLODE office with communication and transportation support. We will be embedded in the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic, which is coordinating response from FUNGLODE’s offices as well. They will be able to assist us with contacts at the UN base in Jimani to assist us crossing the Jimani-Malpasse border.

An AMURT volunteer team lead by Peter Meadow is already on the ground in Santo Domingo and will be joined by Beyond Borders’ Anna Dioguardi and her partner Steven Moyano this afternoon. This team will begin to buy supplies critically needed in Jacmel and PAP to put on trucks and boats.

Reed Lindsay of the Honor and Respect Foundation connected us to the Atlantic Packaging Company in Santo Domingo which has been collecting supplies to ship into Haiti the last several days. Atlantic Packaging will allow us to use their facilities to receive, organize and pack our supplies onto trucks to go to PAP and to the wharf for departure to Jacmel. We are extremely thankful to Hye Young Lee for coordinating this for us with her close friends at Atlantic Packaging.

Gathering and Getting Supplies into Haiti:

Several volunteers are currently following up interesting leads and appealing to companies for donations for the people on the ground. We are using an excellent medical supply wish list provided by the Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia, and from the ground we have highlighted several other key items to the donation list including: work gloves, tents, LED head lamps, walkie talkies, water purification filters and tablets, 3M particulate filter respirators, work masks and eye protection.

Amy Fotta has been volunteering through KONPAY and is in touch with Food for the Poor. They will be shipping supplies into Haiti on Royal Caribbean Cruise ships when they dock at the Labadee port. We hope to be able to help them transport supplies over land to PAP from the north and then to aid in distribution on the ground in PAP.

We are very close to securing some amazing material donations such as tarps, ropes and other necessities for some of the millions of Haitians sleeping outdoors right now. As it began to rain last night, five days after the earthquake, we were reminded of the sheer urgency of needs on the ground. It has been frustrating to see the days slipping by while we struggled to set up this response, but we are pleased to report that the points of entry have been established and the coordination is in place to begin mobilizing human and material resources into Haiti.

Coordinating and Collaborating

Since the earthquake, KONPAY has been a leader in building a coordinated response and encouraging collaboration. We are working with many small and mid-size NGOs with decades of Haiti experience to make a rapid and strategic intervention. Our long-term strategies are all similar in that we support the Haitian people and work to empower them to determine their future.

This collaboration is allowing us to pool resources and track down every offer of generosity we can, and we have already moved mountains through the web of interconnected people with love for Haiti in their hearts. Three points of entry into Haiti; land, sea and air routes for transport; headquarters in Santo Domingo; amazing teams of selfless individuals on the ground in Haiti; and diligent professionals and volunteers – all working together to support Haiti now.

Please make a donation to KONPAY to support ongoing efforts at:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Haiti-Earthquake-Emergency-Relief-Campaign

This report prepared by:
Melinda Miles
Executive Director
Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY
www.konpay.org