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S U B S C R I B E
Catastrophe in Haiti
Wednesday, 10 February, 2010The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization says Haiti desperately needs new weather services. Weather information is more critical than ever for the earthquake-ravaged island nation as the rainy and hurricane seasons approach in April. Reporter Alex Helmick has more:
Wednesday, 27 January, 2010
Swiss-based aid experts say that rebuilding Haiti’s shattered infrastructure could take as long as a generation. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it’s determined to “build back better” after so much of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was destroyed, but that it’s going be a very slow process and that the recovery operation must also take into account that people will need to be re-housed before the arrival of rains and possibly hurricanes.
WRS’s Catherine Allen spoke with IFRC spokesman Paul Conneally, who’s just returned from Haiti:
Tuesday, 26 January, 2010The search and rescue phase has officially ended in Haiti. Its government says it believes more than 112,000 people have died, and nearly 200,000 more were injured in the catastrophic earthquake two weeks ago. Thousands are leaving the capital Port-au-Prince for other parts of the island. WRS’s Carla Drysdale looks to Elisabeth Byrs from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for an update on relief efforts:
Friday, 22 January, 2010It’s now been over a week since a crushing earthquake devastated the area in and around Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Rebuilding will take years. Amid the chaos, how do you keep kids learning? Haiti’s struggle to educate its children post-earthquake will be even steeper, given its literacy rate of only 52 percent. So some volunteers have taken it upon themselves to make sure kids stay in the habit of being in class. WRS’s Jordan Davis, who is in Haiti, has this report from the Pétionville neighborhood where kids are learning, without a classroom, in a tent city:
Thursday, 21 January, 2010Aid is getting through to Haiti but logistics remain the biggest hurdle as airports are overwhelmed and transports into Haiti are difficult and slow. And there have been rising reports of looting and violence. WRS’s Jordan Davis is there and gives us this update from the ground:
Thursday, 21 January, 2010
Telecommunications were almost totally knocked out by the crushing earthquake in Haiti over a week ago, and communications remain one of the many logistical challenges for relief workers and survivors. Landlines are down. The mobile phone service is choppy at best.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross has launched an operation aimed at restoring family links. It’s encouraging Haitians to register that they’re safe and sound so the information can be shared with friends and family. WRS’s Jordan Davis is in Port-au-Prince and went along to find out more:
Wednesday, 20 January, 2010Even as the picture from Haiti finally becomes clearer and international aid organizations ramp up assistance to Haiti, a powerful tremor struck the island today. WRS’s Jordan Davis is in Haiti, and says the aftershock, which registered just over 6 on the Richter scale, was an unsettling reminder, a week after the original quake:
Wednesday, 20 January, 2010Last week’s devastating earthquake in Haiti has brought horror and hardship to millions of Haitians. Among them: orphans and children abandoned amid the rubble. Dutch adoption agencies have already airlifted more than 100 children to Amsterdam to be placed with local couples. The United States says it will temporarily allow orphaned Haitian children into the U.S. to receive care. Other nations, including Switzerland, say they are ready to speed up the process to allow Haitian children to join adoptive families. Yesterday, however, the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF said children should be adopted abroad only as a last resort. WRS’s Carla Drysdale spoke to Jeremy Hartley from UNICEF’s Geneva office:
Wednesday, 20 January, 2010Experts say that medical aid—even if it is arriving—is still coming too slowly to meet the needs of Haitians recovering from the earthquake. The BBC earlier reported that a doctor from Doctors Without Borders had to buy a saw in a local hardware store because of the delays. WRS’s Jordan Davis has this report from Port-Au-Prince:
Tuesday, 19 January, 2010Swiss Aid reportedly started reaching victims on Sunday—five full days after the earthquake—and people on the ground in many areas still say they’re not seeing any. That’s left many asking incredulously: Why did it take so long? Why did they not send choppers in? Why wasn’t there a “SWAT” humanitarian team maneuvering in the first 48 hours to give people much needed basics like food and water? WRS’s Susan Flory looks to Rony Brauman, former president of French medical charity Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and now director of their research center, for some answers:
