HAITIAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION <hrdf.org>
Aldy Castor, M.D., President
United States: 845 Marina Drive, Weston, Florida 33327
ph 954.659.7953. 954.873.0064 fx 954.659.7957 [log in to unmask]
Haiti: 17, 2ème ruelle Wilson, Pacot, Port-au-Prince, ph 509.3.443.3703
and 25, Rue Sténlo Vincent, Aquin ph/fx 509.245.4117
The Haitian Resource Development Foundation (HRDF), a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization, with United States Federal Tax I.D. No. 72-1074482, was
established in 1987 in the State of Louisiana. This Foundation is also
recognized by the government of Haiti as a Non-Governmental Organization
(N.G.O.) under the RE: No. MPCEFP/1993/94/17 and registered in the
archives of Le Ministere de la Planification et la Cooperation Externe
under the number B-0167. HRDF’s mission is to initiate or support
projects whose goals are to develop Haiti’s resources and focuses its
effort on outcome-based programs in the fields of health care,
education, scientific research, arts and culture and economy.
THE COLLISION OF NATURAL FORCES AND MANMADE WEAKNESSES IN HAITI
Stuart Leiderman and Aldy Castor, copyright 2010
The result of the earthquake in Haiti is a collision of natural forces
and manmade weaknesses. On the one side, you have the prehistoric
creation of the Earth, where large parts of its massive rock crust are
always in motion on the continents and beneath the ocean. Originally,
most landmasses were once joined but now they are apart, continents and
islands alike. These are ancient forces beyond the control of human
being - earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, thunder and lightning. We
can try to understand them, but we need to be out of their way.
This brings up the second part of the equation, human weaknesses.
1. Ignorance – Haitian scientists know the history of earthquakes in
the Caribbean, but this information has not filtered down to the Haitian
people. For example, what do you think that Haitian parents have been
telling their children when they cry and are afraid about what just
happened? Can they explain the truth? or make up a story? or just
change the subject? This is particularly difficult when even such an
earthquake hardly ever occurs. This is different than the seasonal
hurricanes. Haitians are overcoming their ignorance of hurricanes.
They waterproof their houses, they move away from rivers, they stock
food and water for the storm season that comes every year. So now, they
must overcome their ignorance about earthquakes, because earthquakes
produce complex emergencies.
2. Simplicity – Haitians often construct large buildings without good
architectural design or engineering. They often use whatever materials
are available, instead of demanding the highest quality for each
purpose. this occurs among the poor and the rich as well.
3. Blind Faith - Generally, Nature is good to Haiti. There is
rainfall, fresh water, fish,. fruits and vegetables fall into
children’s hands naturally. Nature also has its own affairs separate
from people. It cracks the Earth open, raises and collapses mountains.
At the same time, it gives Haitians a little comfort from the sun, the
birds and the bees. So Haitians cannot take blind faith that Nature
will only give the good things. Therefore, the whole country must get
together to replace their current weakness with strength.
That’s what HRDF stands for: Each of the four words are important
strengths that Haitians now need.
HAITIAN – There are now nine million Haitians in the country itself and
approx. three million outside of the country. The strength of Haiti is
in every Haitian on Earth. Twelve million, soon to be fifteen million.
RESOURCE – Anything that Haitians can acquire from anywhere in the world
and put it to good use – it could be, for example, a computer, a doctor,
a tractor, a windmill, or an idea – becomes a resource for the country.
Haitians have not yet discovered all the resources available to them.
When they do, that will be their greatest strength.
Among the resources of HRDF are:
Partnerships – For twenty-three years, HRDF has combined with
significant institutions, charities, professional societies such as
- communities of the Wallone Region of Belgium,
- The European Union,
- Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas
- Florida Governor’s Haiti Advisory Group
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems,
- US Agency for International Development,
- Mole St. Nicolas (Haiti) in Action,
- Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad,
- the City of Suresnes, France,
- Cités Unies, France,
- the Department des Hauts-de-Seine, France,
- the U.S. Southern Command.
- Firefighters from Limoges, France
The City of Aquin in Southern Haiti - Aquin has served as the Haitian
headquarters of HRDF for twenty-three years. HRDF is lucky to have this
beautiful and peaceful part of Haiti to help it do its work over the years.
Universities of the world such as:
- Southern University in Baton Rouge,
- Loyola University in New Orleans,
- University of Louisiana in Lafayette,
- Florida International University, Miami
- University of Brest, France
- University of Angier, France
HRDF constantly draws on their professors and students for advice and
answers to its questions. They are especially strong resources for use
after this earthquake. Right now, we need a lot of advice and a lot of
answers. For example,
- Shall we move millions of Haitians out of harm’s way?
- Can locations for new communities be quickly found, designed and
inhabited?
- What can be made of all the rubble in the cities after the earthquake?
- How quickly can community emergency response teams be trained and
equipped?
DEVELOPMENT - “Development” is how you use the combination of resources
at your command. We are talking about more than band-aids. Development
is about making the transition from weakness to strength, from ignorance
to knowledge, from chaos to organization, and especially from blind
faith to preparedness and civil defense.
FOUNDATION – A foundation is more than the first rock in the ground. A
foundation has to have the whole structure in mind. A foundation for a
one-story house cannot later support two more stories. A foundation in
an earthquake zone may not even support one story.
HRDF is comprised of experienced people, technical know-how, mobility,
quick response, adaptability, communication, demonstration projects,
monetary contributions from Haitians and non-Haitians all over the
world. This makes the strongest concrete for a Haitian foundation.
- - - - - - -
TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR RESPONDING TO ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES
Haitian Resource Development Foundation <ordf.org>
copyright 2010, Aldy Castor and Stuart Leiderman
[Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 15, 2010, Americans HRDF Director Dr.
Aldy Castor <[log in to unmask]> of Florida and environmental refugees and
ecological restoration specialist Stuart Leiderman
<[log in to unmask]> of New Hampshire were at HRDF headquarters in
Port-au-Prince at the above address. Right before the earthquake, they
had returned from a week's work in the southern coastal city of Aquin,
continuing HRDF's work with residents on disaster preparedness,
ecological restoration, flood control and mountainside catchment lakes.
The following was drafted in response to requests for guidance in
preparing, bringing and maintaining appropriate relief for Haitian
earthquake survivors whom Castor and Leiderman consider environmental
refugees. They welcome your questions and comments.]
The Haitian Earthquake has caused a "complex emergency" involving most
of the country's population and most of its natural environment. As
defined by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a complex
emergency is a "humanitarian crisis in a country, region or society
where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting
from internal or external conflict and which requires an international
response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single and/or
ongoing UN country program." In the case, the violence has come from
the depths of the Earth rather than from the barrels of guns, and the
international response must also address the damaged environment before
the survivors can reinhabit their homeland.
Therefore both the country's population its natural environment must be
understood and addressed by the visiting teams. For example, it will not
be sufficient to treat people in a hospital and send them "home,"
because they probably have nowhere to go. Seen this way, environmental
refugees suffer more greatly than other categories of refugees.
Humanitarian response is necessary but not sufficient. Thus, the
following "ten commandments" for responding to environmental refugees
are offered to help responders move beyond "necessary" and closer to
"sufficient."
1. Know before you go. In the best of times, it may usually take a week
or more preparation for every day's work in Haiti, depending on whether
the work will be for education, construction, health services,
environmental research, etc. Post-earthquake, plan on devoting much more
time in preparation for each day you will be "on the ground."
Especially because much of the population is or will be in motion, in
search of security, supplies and settlement, there must be more precise
knowledge of people, places, roadways, access and egress, their
interrelations and potential reactions to your presence.
2. If you are a highly specialized humanitarian team, for example a
group of surgeons, you will probably be more effective by partnering
with a specialized environmental team that may complement your work.
For example, an environmental team with expertise in Haitian traditional
medicine may help your patients recover more quickly from surgery.
3. No matter what the specialties, all teams should include some members
with humanitarian understanding and experience, e.g. with social
psychology, grief counseling, family and community dynamics, and some
members with environmental expertise, e.g. with water, sanitation, waste
management and resettlement needs. This is because many teams may find
themselves working all alone in certain areas. It cannot be assumed that
one sided response, either humanitarian or environmental, will be
sufficient and keep anyone alive for very long.
4. The magnitudes and quality of disaster conditions encountered in
Haiti will likely be many times worse than previously encountered
elsewhere. Therefore, the teams should be many times more experienced,
cautious, funded, supplies and backed up than usual. For example, search
and rescue teams in Haiti will not only encounter building debris but
large amounts of uncollected garbage, raw and decomposed human waste,
and infectious dust and dirt that cannot be avoided.
5. Teams must include articulate and observant Haitian nationals who can
bridge and make the best of the inevitable wide gaps in language,
literacy, comprehension, stamina, availability and use of technology,
performance standards and procedures, and punctuality. For example,
where sometimes a team's sophisticated, high-tech or big -approach may
work best, and at other times a native Haitian approach may prove to be
superior. This cannot be predicted.
6. Think twice before putting environmental refugees back where they
were before disaster struck them. The goal should always be to return
them to places that are safer, healthier and more functional than
before, in other words, ecologically restored.
7. Teams must stay focused. They cannot allow their mission to be
distracted, corrupted, or politicized by the refugees, by the
government, by business interest or by any others.
8. Teams should build elements of sustainability into their missions.
Investments in infrastructure must also fully include resources for
continued operation, maintenance and transfer of knowledge.
9. Every team should have an exit strategy. Preparation and placement
for egress can take as much time, energy and expense as the process of
insertion and staying in-country.
10. Each team mission should have at least two goals. First, to give
teams members the satisfaction of solving problems in their fields of
expertise. Second, to bring pride and confidence to the survivors, in
this case helping Haitians become independent, ecological, prepared and
ultimately capable of assembling and sending their own teams when
disastrous natural and manmade events cause environmental refugees in
other parts of the world.
- - - - - - -
POST EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE TO HAITI’S “GREAT SOUTH”
Aldy Castor, M.D.
For twenty-three years, HRDF has had a strong presence in civil defense
and emergency response training, health and environmental research and
development in Haiti’s southern peninsula. Its headquarters are in
Aquin, a coastal “commune” of 60,000 located on the Caribbean coast
approximately midway between the larger cities Les Cayes and Jacmel.
The south is rich in natural resources, much of the land is fertile,
supplying large quantities of fresh produce to Port-au-Prince. HRDF
intends to concentrate its effort in this southern region for several
reasons:
1. The South is home to approximately a million Haitians.
2. The South has not been systematically assessed for damage, loss of
life, condition of infrastructure, survival needs, etc. A few reports
indicate significant needs and communities isolated.
3. A major east-west geological fault underlies under the entire region.
4. The epicenter of the recent earthquake was in the northeast quadrant
of the South.
5. HRDF has viable, continuing partnerships in the South with disaster
relief and community development entities including the United States
Military Southern Command (SouthCom), agencies of the European Union,
and several cities and organizations in France and Belgium.
6. The South is a significant “breadbasket” for the whole country and
for high-value export products such as coffee and mangoes whose farmers
will need assistance to prepare for a full year of agricultural
productivity, harvest and shipment.
HRDF has tw\o major thrusts in the South:
1. Sytematic field assessment of remaining community assets and
infrastructure - hospitals, airfields, roads, vehicles, fuel, radio and
television, agricultural equipment and supplies, workforce, etc. – with
special emphasis on health care needs. This will be followed by
matching of Southern needs with the availability of technical personnel,
equipment and supplies now coming into the country and appeals for more
to come directly to the South. The opening of new ports of entry will
avoid the serious bottlenecks now being experienced in Port-au-Prince.
2. Community emergency response teams (CERTS) at the level of the
“communal sections.” This will begin with nine-day professional
training sessions in each communal section followed by distribution of
equipment and team assignments for working in the current worst-hit
areas, at the same time preparing for the next hurricane season that is
only a matter of months away. HRDF initiated its CERTS program in Aquin
last year and has secured the support of Florida
State Emergency Management as a future partner for work throughout Haiti.
- - - - - - - -
SUGGESTED TEMPLATE FOR COORDINATING EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE TEAMS
January 2010
Thank you for your generous and important offer of response teams!
Imagine the worst condition you ever worked under and multiply by 10.
This factor 10 is high because of the population density, the
destruction of much governmental, public and private infrastructure and
the general lack of coordination as of now. Answering the following
questions will help you for your trip. They follow the same formula for
investigations and journalism: who? what? where? when? why? how? how
many? how much? how fast? etc.
We want you to be as certain and as well prepared as you can possibly
be. HRDF will be willing to help you over any sticking points and
uncertainties. Please stay in touch with us. Logistics coordination is
at this time is of paramount importance.
What are your teams’ specialties?
Will there be men and women in your group, if so how many of each?
Will they bring supplies and equipment with them and, if so, what kind
and how much?
Where will they reside?
Who will be your teams’ guides and caretakers? Do you have that
commitment in writing?
How long will they stay? Do you intend to have any rotation in and out
of the country?
In what part of the country do you plan to offer your services?
Do you intend the people to come to you or will you go to them?
Who will provide your meals, transportation and fuel?
How will you publicize your services?
Thank you,
Aldy Castor MD [log in to unmask]
President, Haitian Resource Development Foundation (HRDF) with
Stuart Leiderman, Environmental Refugees and Ecological Restoration
<[log in to unmask]>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the
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