Haiti.com Now Live
Updated: Monday, 09:10
With a color-coded legend, haiti.com houses a map of what’s happening and where in Haiti so aid and relief can flow to places where it’s needed most.
Disaster Relief Logistics
Does anyone else feel as helpless or useless as I do right now in the wake of this disaster in Haiti? My guess is there are many people who want to help; we want to DO something more than make donations. I know money is still needed and I have given and will give again (please give all you can as soon as you can). But for me, it is very frustrating to sit or even pace when I know that time is critical to life and moving concrete needs to be done NOW.
It also doesn’t help that one reporter stopped short of suggesting that some people (non-Haitian) were being rescued preferentially over others (Haitian). I really doubt that is how rescue decisions are being made; I consider her attempt at finding injustice in this disaster unethical and sensationalistic.
How do you decide where to send limited resources when the demand for those resources obviously exceeds the supply?
Every time one person is rescued, another person is not. I do not like looking at the situation in Haiti like this, but is this not true? In any disaster, decisions like this are made. I have to believe that right now in Haiti, rescue-decisions are being made with as much information as is available and with the best intentions.
The scope of the need in Haiti is immense. For those of us who aren’t trained disaster relief workers or emergency first-responders, it helps to have a perspective on the logistics of an emergency situation. Michael Keizer has written an excellent article about disaster relief logistics. In it, he explains the necessity of disaster preparedness (something all of us can do whether at home or as a member of our community). He explaines The Five Rights and makes a very good argument for giving for emergency preparedness and not simply emergency response.
The health of a supply line is often measured by the ‘five rights’:
1. Are the right goods (including in the right quality[1]) being delivered?
2. Are they delivered in the right quantity?
3. Are they delivered to the right location?
4. Are they delivered at the right time?
5. Are they delivered at the right price?
Souce: Michael Keizer
The Good News from The Red Cross in Haiti
If you want updated information about what IS being done in Haiti, find and follow folks who are on the ground in Haiti. I started with this one:
@RedCross
@CNN/haiti-boots-on-the-ground
I am waiting for Project Medishare‘s twitter address so I can post here and follow.
Disaster Relief Map of What’s Happening in Haiti
This came in from Aza Raskin onTwitter
He has created a pretty cool Disaster Relief Map – a Haiti Help Site.
It is currently in “draft design+implementation” mode. I have asked him how he will verify need and will keep you posted.
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