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Major Kelly Pontsler holds the newest baby girl born in The Salvation Army clinic in Haiti.
Major Kelly Pontsler, Public Information Officer for the Haiti Incident Command Team, delivered another updated, personal account of The Salvation Army’s ongoing aid efforts yesterday in the Port-au-Prince area that included new workers transitioning in and the arrival of a newborn girl!
Major Pontsler described part of her job focus as consolidating key information, such as contacts, resources, and many other details, since the urgency in the time immediately following the disaster required a lot of “shooting from the hip.” As personnel leave or move about in Haiti, her efforts will help prevent important information from being lost in the shuffle and centralize it for all those continuing to work over the long term.
With internal and external communication still being difficult in Haiti due to the damaged infrastructure and other unmet needs, even simple emails from Salvation Army officers such as Major Pontsler provide a unique, intimate look into the relief work and state of Haiti (rather than the broad stories run on every news network) that we would not otherwise have.
Below are excerpts of her most recent correspondence:
“ These have been two very busy days. Yesterday we saw the arrival of five new people – and the departure of three of the medical doctors. I must say, the doctors did truly amazing service for two weeks! Major (Dr) Cindy Lou Drummond, Col. (Dr) Herb Rader and Dr Steve Fischer are truly missed. They have been in the ‘war zone’….landing in so quickly after the earthquake to treat people with all kinds of ailments and physical conditions. They certainly have the respect of this command team!
But change is change – so it has been a day for getting the new people up to speed, perhaps more sitting and waiting than they were hoping for on the first day. But a day to transition in is good – they will all hit the ground running tomorrow…”
“I had a chance for a quick walk through the camp which sits adjacent to the current Division Headquarters (DHQ) property, for which we are responsible. About 3100 families reside there, in conditions that are difficult to describe. The spaces are small, the clusters of people very dense, throw in the smells of cooking food, poor sanitation and humanity in general, and mix it together with heat and humidity…and you have just a hint of the reality.
…
There really is no room for tents in there. These are more like what we’ve probably call lean-to dwellings. We are still waiting for proper toilets to get installed – but they were able to arrange for some showers. Mind you, a few blocks of showers and toilets don’t go far when there are some 16,000+ people in the camp. I read today that Port au Prince (PAP) will need at least 7,000 toilets to begin to deal with the sanitation and reduce the risk of disease. That’s a lot of toilets! And I think for the first go around we are getting help to set up something like a dozen. It is going to take some time.
…
“The highlight of the day was saying hello to newborn #5 at the Army clinic here. A little baby girl made her way into the world about 8 am this morning, in the compound outside the clinic. Her mom and family are now living in the camp. But she is a gorgeous little baby. She didn’t have a name yet when I went to visit, but her mom gave us permission to take a photo.”
Major Pontsler also said DHQ was damaged beyond repair and is renting offices in a building where the Incident Command office has also been moved. Despite these setbacks, she reports, “The ministry of the Haiti Division has not stopped.”
She closes with an important request. If you’ve been wondering how you can support our workers in the field, this one’s for you:
“Your prayers and thoughts for everyone serving here are much appreciated! The Salvation Army is serving phenomenally well – and we sense God’s hand every day. Please pray for good health for the team, for quick assimilation of the newest team members…. and for wisdom for the command leadership, as they start to think further done the road now.”
For more information on what The Salvation Army is doing in Haiti, visit our Haiti website at www.salvationarmyhaiti.org.
You can also stay updated on our efforts by visiting our national website at www.salvationarmyusa.org or following us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Salvation Army is mobilizing resources and personnel to assist with the international relief effort in Haiti following a severe earthquake Tuesday that damaged much of the country’s infrastructure, housing and commercial buildings.
The Salvation Army has had a presence in Haiti since 1950 and currently operates schools, clinics, a hospital, feeding programs, children’s homes and church-related activities spread across two major facilities in Port au Prince, close to the epicenter of the earthquake and at other locations in the country.
The second compound that houses Salvation Army administrative offices is being used as an emergency operations center; damage was slight to this compound, according to Salvation Army reports from Haiti.
The Salvation Army hospital in Fond-des-Negres (75 miles west of Port-au-Prince) reports some minor damage, but no injuries.
The Salvation Army’s World Services Office, based in Alexandria, VA, has committed $50,000 to the relief effort and the organization is prepared to commit more financial resources, as well as food, water and other emergency supplies, to assist in the recovery.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti at this time and especially our Salvation Army officers and employees throughout the country,” said Lt. Col. Dan Starrett, who directs the Salvation Army World Services Office.
Words cannot begin to describe the devastation that has taken place in Port au Prince, Haiti.
I am the Director of Disaster Services for The Salvation Army in Haiti, and I am from the United States. My wife and I have been in PAP since April, and have fallen deeply in love with the country and it’s people.
When the earthquake struck, I was driving down the mountain from Petionville. Our truck was being tossed to and fro like a toy, and when it stopped, I looked out the windows to see buildings “pancaking” down, like I have never witnessed before. Traffic, of course, came to a stand-still, while thousands of people poured out into the streets, crying, carrying bloody bodies, looking for anyone who could help them. We piled as many bodies into the back of our truck, and took them down the hill with us, hoping to find medical attention. All of them were older, scared, bleeding, and terrified. It took about 2 hours to go less than 1 mile. Traffic was horrible, devastation was everywhere, and suffering humanity was front and center.
When we could drive no further, we left the truck parked on the side of the street, and walked the remaining 2 miles to get back to the Army compound. What I found was very sad! All of the security walls were down. The Children’s Home itself seems pretty intact, but our quarters, which is attached, are destroyed. Unliveable. The walls and ceiling are still standing – but so badly compromised that I wouldn’t even think of trying to stay there. All of the children, and hundreds of neighbors, are sleeping in our playground area tonight. Occasionally, there is another tremor – another reminder that we are not yet finished with this calamity. And when it comes, all of the people cry out and the children are terrified.
As I am sitting outside now, with most people trying to get a little sleep, I can hear the moans and crys of the neighbors. One of our staff went to a home in the neighborhood, to try to be of assistance to the woman who lived there. But she was too late.
The scene will be repeated over and over again. Tomorrow, we will begin the process of assessing damage, learning about casualties, and preparing for the future.
God bless Haiti.
Reply by David Ebel on January 14, 2010 Calling the death toll “unimaginable” as he surveyed the wreckage, Haiti’s president, René Préval, said he had no idea where he would sleep. Schools, hospitals and a prison collapsed. Sixteen United Nations peacekeepers were killed and at least 140 United Nations workers were missing, including the chief of its mission, Hédi Annabi. The city’s archbishop, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, was feared dead.
And the poor who define this nation squatted in the streets, some hurt and bloody, many more without food and water, close to piles of covered corpses and rubble.
Limbs protruded from disintegrated concrete, muffled cries emanated from deep inside the wrecks of buildings — many of them poorly constructed in the first place — as Haiti struggled to grasp the unknown toll from its worst earthquake in more than 200 years.
In the midst of the chaos, no one was able to offer an estimate of the number of people who had been killed or injured, though there was widespread concern that there were likely to be thousands of casualties.
“Please save my baby!” Jeudy Francia, a woman in her 20s, shrieked outside the St.-Esprit Hospital in the city. Her child, a girl about 4 years old, writhed in pain in the hospital’s chaotic courtyard, near where a handful of corpses lay under white blankets. “There is no one, nothing, no medicines, no explanations for why my daughter is going to die.”
Governments and aid agencies from Beijing to Grand Rapids began marshaling supplies and staffs to send here, though the obstacles proved frustrating just one day after the powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit. Power and phone service were out. Flights were severely limited at Port-au-Prince’s main airport, telecommunications were barely functioning, operations at the port were shut down and most of the medical facilities had been severely damaged, if not leveled.
A Red Cross field team of officials from several nations had to spend Wednesday night in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to gather its staff before taking the six-hour drive in the morning across the border to the earthquake zone.
“We were on the plane here with a couple of different agencies, and they all are having similar challenges of access,” Colin Chaperon, a field director for the American Red Cross, said in a telephone interview. “There is a wealth of resources out there, and everybody has the good will to go in and support the Haitian Red Cross.”
The quake struck just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, ravaging the infrastructure of Haiti’s fragile government and destroying some of its most important cultural symbols.
“Parliament has collapsed,” Mr. Préval told The Miami Herald. “The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.”
He added: “All of the hospitals are packed with people. It is a catastrophe.”
President Obama promised that Haiti would have the “unwavering support” of the United States.
Mr. Obama said that United States aid agencies were moving swiftly to get help to Haiti and that search-and-rescue teams were en route. He described the reports of destruction as “truly heart-wrenching,” made more cruel given Haiti’s long-troubled circumstances. Mr. Obama did not make a specific aid pledge, and administration officials said they were still trying to figure out what the nation needed. But he urged Americans to go to the White House’s Web site, www.whitehouse.gov, to find ways to donate money.
“This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share,” Mr. Obama said, speaking in the morning in the White House diplomatic reception room with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at his side.
Aid agencies said they would open their storehouses of food and water in Haiti, and the World Food Program was flying in nearly 100 tons of ready-to-eat meals and high-energy biscuits from El Salvador. The United Nations said it was freeing up $10 million in emergency relief money, the European Union pledged $4.4 million and groups like Doctors Without Borders were setting up clinics in tents and open-air triage centers to treat the injured.
Supplies began filtering in from the Dominican Republic as charter flights were restarted between Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince.
Some aid groups with offices in Port-au-Prince were also busy searching for their own dead and missing.
Sixteen members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti were killed and as many as 100 other United Nations employees were missing after the collapse of the mission’s headquarters in the Christopher Hotel in the hills above Port-au-Prince.
Forty or more other United Nations employees were missing at a sprawling compound occupied by United Nations agencies. Ten additional employees had been in a villa nearby.
It was one of the deadliest single days for United Nations employees. The head of the group’s Haitian mission, Mr. Annabi, a Tunisian, and his deputy were among the missing, said Alain Le Roy, the United Nations peacekeeping chief.
The Brazilian Army said 11 of its soldiers had been killed. During a driving tour of the capital on Wednesday, Bernice Robertson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, said she saw at least 30 bodies, most covered with plastic bags or sheets. She also witnessed heroic recovery efforts. “There are people digging with their hands, searching for people in the rubble,” she said in a video interview via Skype. “There was unimaginable destruction.”
Paul McPhun, operations manager for Doctors Without Borders, described scenes of chaos.
When staff members tried to travel by car, “they were mobbed by crowds of people,” Mr. McPhun said. “They just want help, and anybody with a car is better off than they are.”
Contaminated drinking water is a longstanding problem in Haiti, causing high rates of illness that put many people in the hospital. Providing sanitation and clean water is one of the top priorities for aid organizations.
More than 30 significant aftershocks of a 4.5 magnitude or higher rattled Haiti through Tuesday night and into early Wednesday, according to Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey. “We’ve seen a lot of shaking still happening,” she said.
David Wald, a seismologist with the Geological Survey, said that an earthquake of this strength had not struck Haiti in more than 200 years, a fact apparently based on contemporaneous accounts. The most powerful one to strike the country in recent years measured 6.7 magnitude in 1984.
Bob Poff, a Salvation Army official, described in a written account posted on the Salvation Army’s Web site how he had loaded injured victims — “older, scared, bleeding and terrified” — into the back of his truck and set off in search of help.
In two hours, he managed to travel less than a mile, he said.
The account described how Mr. Poff and hundreds of neighbors spent Tuesday night outside in a playground. Every tremor sent ripples of fear through the survivors, providing “another reminder that we are not yet finished with this calamity,” he wrote.
He continued, “And when it comes, all of the people cry out and the children are terrified.”
Louise Ivers, the clinical director of the aid group Partners in Health, said in an e-mail message to her colleagues: “Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. S O S. S O S … Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us.”
Photos from Haiti on Wednesday showed a hillside scraped nearly bare of its houses, which had tumbled into the ravine below.
Simon Romero reported from Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Reporting was contributed by Marc Lacey and Elisabeth Malkin from Mexico City, Ginger Thompson and Brian Knowlton from Washington, Neil MacFarquhar, Denise Grady and Liz Robbins from New York, and Mery Galanternick from Rio de Janeiro.
Reply by David Ebel on January 15, 2010 at 8:15pm DeleteHaiti: OCHA Situation Report #3Three IT emergency responders departed on Wednesday night from Dubai and Rome. They will transit through Panama to arrive in Port-au-Prince on Friday morning. They have equipment to re-establish basic communication facilities and initiate inter-agency services. Two IT officers are already in Port-au-Prince doing IT assessment work. Five more people are on standby. Additional equipment is being prepared in Dubai to join a flight scheduled to depart in the next 36 hours. Equipment will include solar panels, generators, laptops and wireless equipment to augment the first batch. Inter-agency teleconferences are being held regularly to ensure relevant information is shared among the clusters, and to inform humanitarian IT counterparts how to request and access WFP services in Haiti.
Agriculture
FAO is active in Port-au-Prince and is implementing a $25 million food production programme. FAO is preparing to provide assistance in affected areas as well as in rural areas where an influx of people from Port-au-Prince is expected. The aim is to be ready to provide agricultural inputs and technical assistance for the upcoming March planting season. FAO is preparing needs assessment missions to that effect in the coming days as part of the immediate agriculture and food security priorities.
Coordination:
MINUSTAH has established an Emergency Joint Operations Center to coordinate support to the overall humanitarian effort, which will likely be considerable in the coming days. UNDAC and the Iceland and US Search-and-Rescue teams have set up a reception centre at the airport.
Britain has sent 64 firefighters and 8 SAR personnel. Canada has deployed transport planes, helicopters, a hospital ship and the DART team. The
Netherlands has sent a 60-person SAR team. Spain has sent 3 planes with rescue teams and 100 tons of emergency relief equipment.
Sweden has sent tents, water purification gear, and medical assistance. The US has sent 3500 soldiers, 300 medical personnel, 1 aircraft carrier and 3 amphibious ships.
In-kind donations:
From the private sector side, OCHA has received offers of medical supplies and practitioners; water equipment and supplies (Siemens and two other companies); generators and equipment to move rubble (Caterpillar – supplies in the Dominican Republic); logistical support (DHL, Maersk shipping and a third company has offered planes); and emergency telecommunications (Ericsson).
Several initiatives are being undertaken by private corporations to raise funds for charities in Haiti and also provide services. These include large corporations in North America such as Digicel Group; National Bank of Canada; FedEx Corp; UPS; Kraft; 3M; Scotiabank; General Motors; Campbell Soup; Wells Fargo; Wal-Mart; Lowes; American Airlines; ConAgra and Google Inc.
All humanitarian partners, including donors and recipient agencies, are encouraged to inform FTS of cash and in-kind contributions by sending an email to: fts@reliefweb.int.
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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on January 15, 2010 at 9:40pm 
The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) is accepting search requests for loved ones affected by the earthquake. For those who would like to put in a request that SATERN personnel attempt to locate a loved one, fill out and submit an online health and welfare information form at http://qso.com/satern/emailfrm.htm . Approximately 300+ requests have already been submitted.
SATERN is a group of 4200+ amateur radio operators scattered throughout North America and the rest of the world who help assist with disaster operations by communicating via high frequency radio networks.
SATERN said there have been significant challenges to establishing searches and gathering information about Haiti because all communication lines within the country are down, preventing the radio operators from being able to take action on the health and welfare requests they’ve received so far. Any information they’ve received about the state of the devastated country has come from maritime ships and other nations around Haiti.
The volunteer organization has a radio operator heading to the country next Friday to set up a radio station, which will be the first step in establishing significant two way communication out of Haiti. There will also be two teams from the Dominican Republic and a medical team heading to Haiti within the week.
SATERN operator Pat McPherson couldn’t estimate how long it would take to get the radio station and an established line of communication set up. In the 21 years he’s been working with SATERN, he described the situation in Haiti as “the most challenging he’d ever seen” due to the massive devastation. He also noted, “Usually when something goes bad, there are operators around the area that was hit, but Haiti didn’t have very many amateur operators to begin with, and that’s part of the challenge.”
Thank you to all the SATERN volunteers who are working around the clock to help those who are looking for their loved ones affected by the earthquake in Haiti. For more information on SATERN, visit their website at www.satern.org.
Updates on Disaster Relief:
For more information on what The Salvation Army is doing in Haiti, visit our national website at www.salvationarmyusa.org or The Salvation Army Haiti at www.salvationarmyhaiti.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
How to Donate:
To donate directly to the Salvation Army’s Haiti relief efforts , visit our secure online donations page. You can also donate by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY, texting ‘HAITI’ to 52000, or sending a check or money order to: The Salvation Army World Service Office, International Disaster Relief Fund, PO Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728 (*Please note that your donation is for Haiti Earthquake relief*).
Tags: Disaster Relief, Donate, Earthquake, Haiti
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Permalink Reply by Chris Schwartz on January 15, 2010 at 12:36am I watched the news and could only watch it for a short period of time as it breaks my heart to see what they are going through.
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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on January 15, 2010 at 12:47am Attach File(s):
Permalink Reply by Bob Atkinson on January 16, 2010 at 9:41am Attach File(s):
Permalink Reply by David Ebel on January 18, 2010 at 1:50pm http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/18/haiti.updates.monday/
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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on January 18, 2010 at 1:54pm On behalf of FEMA Administrator Fugate, I’d like remind you that FEMA is supporting USAID’s efforts in Haiti with search and rescue teams, communications and coordination support, and relief supplies and commodities. As you well know, state, local, and tribal responders are the foundation of our nation’s search and rescue teams. I know the President and Secretary Napolitano share my gratitude for the commitment and dedication shown by these responders.
State, local, and tribal governments with goods and services to offer to the relief effort in Haiti should direct their offers to helphaiti@state.gov. Responders are reminded to please not attempt self-dispatch to Haiti; USAID and the State Department are coordinating the deployment of resources to Haiti and responders should deploy only if tasked to do so.
The most urgent need that we can all fulfill at this time is to support ongoing disaster relief fundraising efforts. To help, I urge you to go online to http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti to find relief organizations supporting the response in Haiti and make a contribution to support the disaster relief efforts.
Thank you for your continued hard work and commitment.
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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on January 18, 2010 at 2:02pm Attach File(s):
Permalink Reply by Bob Atkinson on January 19, 2010 at 11:47am That allowed for:
– a 14-person American medical team of 8 doctors and six nurses to arrive in Haiti Sunday and administer care in Port-au-Prince Monday.
– An additional 2 doctors and 5 international emergency management personnel from the U.K and Canada to arrive in Haiti Monday morning.
– 2 doctors and 1 nurse to visit an unreached orphanage and administer formula and oral electrolytes to infants and young children.
– nearly 200 people, including 100 orphans, to receive medical aid by Salvation Army doctors, nurses, paramedics and other specialists trained in medical care.
– 7,000 people to receive food in less than 2 hours from Salvation Army officers and staff. The provisions are enough to supply 1 individual with 5 days of food!
Also to come:
– A cargo plane with critically needed medical and relief supplies departed for Haiti Monday evening.
– Additional planes are expected to leave today (Tuesday).
– A Salvation Army Haitian Relief Team is bringing a water filtration system that will be able to purify up to 10,000 gallons of water per day.
To help get out supplies and personnel out as quickly as possible, a Salvation Army base of operations has been set up in south Florida to act as a supply line to the country where food, water, medical equipment, fuel, and other supplies are scarce and desperately needed by both earthquake victims and relief workers.
Your financial support is urgently needed to be able to continue relief efforts. Monetary donations are our most crucial need and can be made through:
* www.salvationarmyusa.org and via PayPal
* Text ‘HAITI’ to 52000 and confirm ‘Yes’
* 1-800-SAL-ARMY
* The Salvation Army World Service Office
International Disaster Relief Fund
PO Box 630728
Baltimore, MD 21263-0728
Please note that your donation is for Haiti Earthquake relief
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Permalink Reply by Bob Atkinson on January 20, 2010 at 1:07pm The Salvation Army in Canada & Bermuda continues to serve the victims in Haiti as a part of its disaster response plan. In cooperation with Salvation Army teams from the United States and the United Kingdom, 7,000 Haitians were given a five-day supply of food on Monday and hundreds more, including infants and orphans received medical care from Salvation Army doctors.
A Canadian team is now on the ground, assisting with relief efforts and participating in long-term planning. A supply line from south Florida to Port-au-Prince has been established to deliver aid and supplies, allowing for the delivery of more than 2 million meals by next week.
A 14-person medical team continues to provide care to hundreds, suturing wounds and treating broken bones. At the Army’s orphanage, two doctors and a nurse were able to administer formula and oral electrolyte solution to dozens of orphans left with nothing following the earthquake.
Although severely suffering from the effects of the 7.0 earthquake that devastated much of Haiti a week ago, The Salvation Army in that country has been fully mobilized in reaching out to help others. The initial response has been aimed at helping people survive. This life-saving effort concentrates on getting food, water and shelter to as many people as possible and has involved more than 700 Salvation Army personnel from Haiti.
The local Salvation Army emergency response is being supported by international Salvation Army teams which have assisted in setting up staging areas in Kingston, Jamaica, and south Florida, USA, and arranging logistics on the ground in Port-au-Prince. The supply lines established have already helped deliver skilled disaster relief workers, medical teams and supplies to those who have been affected.
On January 19, a one-week supply of food was given to 6,000 families. This is just a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous population still awaiting food and water. One million prepared meals should arrive from the USA today.
At International Headquarters (IHQ) in London and in various countries throughout the Caribbean, as well as in the USA and Canada, The Salvation Army is working with corporate partners and vendors to send bulk food, quantities of pre-packaged meals, bottled water, tents, lanterns and other supplies, along with several 15,000-gallon water purification units and multiple mobile hospitals.
Once the emergency situation becomes stabilized, Salvation Army teams will be able to turn their attention to the long task of recovery and rebuilding. However, this will be some time in occurring as urgent life-saving needs require the full attention of all available Salvation Army emergency personnel.
The initial international Salvation Army assessment team arrived in Haiti on Friday 15 January and has worked with the Haitian government and the US military to gain clearance for relief flights to the airport in Port-au-Prince. In addition, the team is working with the local military, the Jamaica Defence Force and the United Nations to arrange transportation, security and delivery of supplies. Subsequently, teams from IHQ, Canada and the UK have assisted in preparing command and distribution centres.
On Sunday 17 January a 14-person Salvation Army medical team from the USA, including eight doctors, arrived in Port-au-Prince with medical supplies. This is the forerunner of a number of other teams that will be arriving from around the world.
Also on Sunday more than 1,000 people attended open-air church worship in Port-au-Prince. The territorial commander reports: ‘We had a great meeting in the school yard as we cannot use the hall which is badly damaged. Sixty people publicly responded to a call to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour.’
According to reports from Salvation Army staff in Port-au-Prince, no one in the main Salvation Army compound was injured during the earthquake, even though the Salvation Army children’s home, school, clinic and corps building (church) on the site suffered major damage. Several smaller buildings, including residences, have collapsed completely. The second compound that houses Salvation Army administrative offices is being used as an emergency operations centre as damage to it was slight. Some vehicles from Haiti Divisional Headquarters were damaged. Bethel Clinic, a Salvation Army hospital in Fond-des-Negres – 75 miles west of Port-au-Prince – reports some minor damage but no injuries.
Thousands of people have made their home in a large football field behind the Salvation Army compound. The emergency teams are concentrating much of their efforts towards these people. There have been several minor quakes in recent days – one measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale – and many buildings are still unsafe.
Colonel Onal Castor (Territorial Commander, Caribbean Territory), who is with the team in Haiti, reports that all Salvation Army officers – active and retired – are alive. He says, ‘We have been concerned for our cadets [studying at the territory’s training college in Kingston, Jamaica], most of whom are Haitian and desperately trying to make contact with their families. It seems that they have had no loss of lives in their families. We have lost several soldiers from Port-au-Prince Corps – among them Corps Sergeant-Major Mesguere Anglade, who was presented with a certificate of appreciation by the General during his recent visit to Haiti.’
Although The Salvation Army’s La Maison du Bonheur Children’s Home sustained damage it continues to care for 52 children and is preparing to receive 135 babies and small children from another orphanage in the countryside. Responding to a request posted on The Salvation Army’s Caribbean website, two members of the emergency team went into the countryside and found 30 infants under the age of five months holed up in the back of a tractor trailer with no food or water since the earthquake. The children are now being transported to Port-au-Prince for ongoing care.
Salvation Army teams have grave concerns for the countryside areas as Port-au-Prince is the hub for the whole country. Now that the supplies from this ’service centre’ have been disrupted it will be just a matter of time before fuel and food in the outlying areas runs out. Some Salvation Army centres have solar energy but most depend on diesel generators. The territorial commander has been promised the use of a helicopter to allow him and the divisional commander to visit locations outside the Port-au-Prince area that have also been badly damaged, including Petit Goave, Jacmel and Bellamie.
Please support The Salvation Army’s relief effort in Haiti. Financial contributions can be made by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769), by visiting our website, www.SalvationArmy.ca, by mailing donations to The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, Canada and Bermuda, 2 Overlea Blvd., Toronto, Ontario M4H 1P4, or dropping off financial donations at the closest Salvation Army unit in your area. Donors should specify their gift to the Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund.
As a result of Haiti’s recent earthquake, there are many obvious threats survivors must face in the aftermath, such as malnutrition, dehydration, lack of shelter, and rampant disease.But there is another enemy less obvious to the naked eye far that’s far more sinister than these afflictions – human trafficking. In the wake of natural disasters, the breakdown of rule of law, extreme poverty, and increased vulnerability all contribute to a surge in human trafficking, especially targeted towards young children who are the most vulnerable of the population.
Haiti is no exception. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN in an interview that child trafficking is one of the country’s most significant problems, even without the added stresses caused by the earthquake. It is estimated that every year a quarter million children are reported trafficked within the country.
Now, as the country struggles to rebuild, children face an even greater risk of being sold for sex, slave labor, or their organs. Prime Minister Bellerive says many culprits pose as organizations falsely claiming to want to save children from the streets and send them to the United States. He is working to register displaced children in Haiti so that the government can account for the children and return them to their relatives if they have any or place them with new families. Trafficking dangers are another reason why Haiti is
thoroughly verifying adoption papers before orphans leave the country.
The Salvation Army has been named the lead agency of some 20,000 homeless Haitians living in make-shift shelters and tents near our main compound in Port-au-Prince. As a part of serving as lead agency, we are registering individuals and families settled in this area, in part, to help battle the exploitation of children and vulnerable individuals. The Salvation Army is also rapidly dispensing food, water, supplies, and medical treatment; re-opening schools closed by the earthquake; and offering church-related activities and services in a safe setting in efforts to rebuild and secure the devastated communities.
For more information on how The Salvation Army is working specifically to eradicate human trafficking, visit our national website at www.salvationarmyusa.org/trafficking y
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AP – Two Haitian police officers sit next to Charisa Coulter, 24, of Boise, Idaho, one of the 10 Americans …PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti’s prime minister said Monday that 10 Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country knew that “what they were doing was wrong,” and could be prosecuted in the United States.
Prime Minister Max Bellerive told The Associated Press that his country is open to having the Americans face U.S. justice, since most government buildings — including Haiti’s courts — were crippled by the monster earthquake.
“It is clear now that they were trying to cross the border without papers. It is clear now that some of the children have live parents,” Bellerive said. “And it is clear now that they knew what they were doing was wrong.”
If they were acting in good faith — as the Americans claim — “perhaps the courts will try to be more lenient with them,” he said.
U.S. Embassy officials would not say whether Washington would accept hosting judicial proceedings for the Americans, who are mostly from Idaho. For now, the case remains firmly in Haitian hands, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington.
“Once we know all the facts, we will determine what the appropriate course is, but the judgment is really up to the Haitian government,” he said.
Haitian officials insist some prosecution is needed to help deter child trafficking, which many fear will flourish in the chaos caused by the devastating Jan. 12 quake. The government and aid groups are still struggling to get food, water, shelter and basic health care to hundreds of thousands of survivors, and many parents are desperate to get help for their children.
U.S. diplomats have had “unlimited” access to the 10 detainees, and will monitor any court proceedings, said Crowley. They have not yet been charged.
Members of the church group insisted they were only trying to save abandoned and traumatized children — but appeared to lack any significant experience with Haiti, international charity work or international adoption regulations.
After their arrest Friday near the border, the church group members were placed in two small concrete rooms in the same judicial police headquarters building where ministers have makeshift offices and give disaster response briefings.
“There is no air conditioning, no electricity. It is very disturbing,” Attorney Jorge Puello told the AP by phone from the Dominican Republic, where the Baptists hoped to shelter the children in a rented beach hotel.
One of the Americans, Charisa Coulter of Boise, Idaho, was treated Monday at a field hospital for either dehydration or the flu. Looking pale as she lay on a green Army cot, the 24-year-old Coulter, was being guarded by two Haitian police officers.
“They’re treating me pretty good,” she said. “I’m not concerned. I’m pretty confident that it will all work out.”
Investigators have been trying to determine how the Americans got the children, and whether any of the traffickers that have plagued the impoverished country were involved.
Puello said they came from a collapsed orphanage. Their detained spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, said they were “just trying to do the right thing,” but she conceded she had not obtained the required passports, birth certificates and adoption certificates for them — a near impossible challenge in the post-quake mayhem.
Bellerive said that without the documents, the children were unlikely to reach the United States, as some of their families might have hoped.
The 33 kids, ranging in age from 2 months to 12 years, arrived with their names written in tape on their shirts at a children’s home where some told aid workers they have surviving parents. Haitian officials said they were trying to reunite them.
“One (9-year-old) girl was crying, and saying, ‘I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.’ And she thought she was going on a summer camp or a boarding school or something like that,” said George Willeit, a spokesman for SOS Children’s Village, which runs the orphanage where they were taken.
The prime minister said some of those parents may have knowingly given their kids to the Americans in hopes they would reach the United States — a not uncommon wish for poor families in a country that already had an estimated 380,000 orphans before the quake.
Haiti’s overwhelmed government has halted all adoptions unless they were in motion before the earthquake amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to being seized and sold. Sex trafficking has been rampant in Haiti. Bellerive’s personal authorization is now required for the departure of any child.
The arrested Americans’ churches are part of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, which has extensive humanitarian programs worldwide, but they decided to mount their own “rescue mission” following the earthquake.
Also Monday:
• U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the U.S. military would fly critically ill quake survivors to patients in several states to avoid overloading Florida. The flights had stalled for five days due to concerns over space and costs in U.S. hospitals. Earlier, in Haiti, U.S. Army Col. Gregory Kane said the flights had resumed Sunday night. But the military later said there were no flights until Monday.
• In Washington, the American Red Cross said a waiting list of 1,000 flights for Haiti’s airport is limiting delivery of relief supplies.
• In Haiti’s first organized political demonstration since the quake, hundreds of people demanded that President Rene Preval resign. Participants called for the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former priest who was ousted in a 2004 rebellion. The rally was organized by Aristide supporters.
• A U.S. Navy carrier left Haiti after delivering about 500 tons of humanitarian aid. The USS Carl Vinson arrived off the Haitian coast three days after the quake. Its personnel evacuated 435 patients and its 19 helicopters flew more than 1,000 hours to support the relief operation. Ten of those choppers will remain in Haiti.
• Haiti announced “Operation Demolition,” an effort to demolish all collapsed buildings — public and private, commercial and residential. The declaration by Aby Brun, an architect and member of the government’s reconstruction team, followed comments by President Rene Preval that Haiti can take advantage of the catastrophe to reverse the trend of migration to Port-au-Prince. “We will destroy in an orderly and secure manner,” Brun said.
• Many schools in Haiti’s outlying provinces, which were not as affected by the quake, reopened Monday, and more provincial schools will reopen Feb. 8, the government said. It could take months for classes to resume in the hard-hit capital, where the disaster may have ended formal education altogether for many youngsters.
“They’ve cut off my leg,” said Billie Flon, 9. He said he can’t go back to school because his house was destroyed and he needs to beg for money.
Associated Press writers Michelle Faul and Paisley Dodds in Port-au-Prince, and Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/doctors-plead-for-medical-supplies-in-haiti-17885193
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/u-s-resumes-haiti-medical-airlifts-17919413
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