Red Cross Blogs

If we were living in Shakespearian times I would have thrown down a glove and dared you to pick up the gauntlet. However this is the twenty first century and I am a logistician so instead I’ll fling down my forklift keys and if you are up for the challenge. The disaster challenge.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the negative press about how slow aid has been getting into Haiti.

Whilst it’s frustrating for all involved to hear these things actually I think it’s a good thing for the examination and scrutinising.  Flagging up issues, seeing if things could have been done better and making them public. After all, it’s the public’s money that we are spending.  What would have been refreshing would be if some of those voices were also hollering solutions to the problems being reported. They were less forthcoming. Maybe because disaster response just isn’t that easy?

We took some calls in the office with people offering ideas.  Some mirrored what the teams on the ground were doing.  Others were well meaning but less practical.  Air dropping aid seems sensible, but when you consider that only the youngest, fittest and healthiest (and arguably the least needy) are going to be able to race and get there first you can start to see a flaw in the plan.

So my question to you, is what would you have done to run the relief operation in Haiti better?  How would you have got food and blankets to the elderly, the injured, the orphaned and the sick?  Remembering that the airport was only built to allow ten planes to land a day.  The port was damaged and couldn’t be used. The roads were blocked by debris. Petrol and electricity was scarce.  Oh and there was still a risk of pretty large aftershocks.

Got some ideas already?  Feeling confident enough to put them into practise?  Obviously I can’t send you to Haiti to test your plans. But what if I could offer you an opportunity to go to Bukistan, a little known country lying on a major fault line and the scene of at least two major earthquakes a year since 2004.  So would you be interested? Do you think you could work in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster? Could you face the issues and make life saving decisions?

You’ve seen the pictures on TV, you’ve heard the problems, and you may have even talked about it down the pub.  But what does it feel like to actually be there?  How would you provide shelter to thousands of people who have lost their homes?  What would you do about the security situation? Could you live in the most basic of conditions? Are you be someone passionate about saving lives and changing lives?

This is a fundraising event, not a training programme. If you want to work for us you need to apply for the jobs that we have available. But I can promise you that it is a weekend you will not forget.  It’s hard work, it’s exciting, it’s exhausting and it’s great fun.  I know, I was a participant on the very first disaster challenge, long before I got my job here. It literally changed my life.  Maybe like me, after you’ve completed the challenge you’ll feel so passionate that you’ll change your career.

So, the keys are still lying there, are you going to walk straight past them. Or do you choose to bend down and scoop them up? The door is open, come on inside and see what my world’s like. I really hope to see you there.

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: charity jobs, disaster challenge, earthquake, emeregency aid, emergency response, fundraising, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, logistics
Posted in Emergencies

---

Spent most of today training new assistant Leslie on the LOGIC software that we use to track goods. I’m happy that she has already worked for a shipping company so she is familiar with logistics. We speak an interesting mix of Spanglish but her English far outweighs my Spanish.. I apparently have a pronunciation problem with the word for age, which I pronounce as bottom. Very unfortunate.

Meanwhile, thousands of American Red Cross blankets and Kuwaiti Red Crescent tents have been arriving at the warehouse and the team in Haiti have asked us to send 10,000 mosquito nets…

Gareth has been keeping an eye on the port now that shipping is coming in, Carl our new Air Ops (Antonio finished his mission yesterday) found the Danish plane we’d been looking for and David has been adeptly dealing with the usual trials and tribulations of team leader diplomacy.

Image © Emily Knox/BRC

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: emergency response, emergency response unit, ERU, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, haiti earthquake appeal, logistics
Posted in Emergencies

---

On Friday, my colleague Sarah wrote about the importance of toilets after a disaster like the Haiti earthquake. David Peppiatt, our international director, is in Haiti now and has sent back a vivid description of why they’re so needed.

Some early reflections at the end of my first day, which was spent mostly at base camp meeting with Red Cross and Red Crescent delegates and then a visit to La Piste camp, where our  mass sanitation emergency response unit is working.

I cannot emphasise enough the enormous scale of this operation. There are 500 Red Cross delegates on the ground with more on their way.  There’s a constant flow of people through base camp coming from Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world..  Base camp infrastructure and coordination are huge tasks alone – can you imagine having to provide tents, food, water and toilets for a few hundred aid workers on the edge of a city of rubble?

Conditions in the camps earthquake survivors are living in are shocking.  Overcrowded.  Filthy.  People sleeping under scraps of plastic, old sheets draped over some precarious frame of wood,  pieces of timber or whatever they have recovered from the rubble.  What struck me most was the human waste scattered throughout the camp.  The stench in places was repulsive.

Our mass sanitation team is working around the clock to dig latrines in the camp. It’s encouraging to see some already up and in use. They’re working to get 100 up by the end of next week.  The public health team went in today to deliver hygiene promotion messages – translated into Creole and posters put up on toilets about washing hands.  They’ve sent out thousands of SMS messages with public health advice and also launched a public health campaign on the radio.

Shelter is proving very problematic. People are extremely vulnerable in these makeshift shelters for long – little protection, unsafe and no dignity. The looming rainy season followed by hurricanes make this a matter of urgency and huge responsibility for the Red Cross as we lead the shelter response in Haiti.

As for the earthquake damage and destruction, words fail to describe what you see. It is like those desperate images of a bombed city where huge swathes have been decimated, destroyed and turned into mountains of rubble and debris.  It will surely take many months, if not years in some places, to clear the damage and debris before the rebuilding can begin.

Follow updates from the mass sanitation team on the British Red Cross international blog.

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: emergency response, emergency response unit, ERU, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, haiti earthquake appeal, latrines, sanitation, toilets, water and sanitation
Posted in Emergencies

---

Okay so toilets may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to life-saving equipment, but think again. Without decent sanitation facilities, diseases like cholera can spread like wild fire and as was seen in the Zimbabwe crisis last year – thousands of people can die as a result.

In an article on Reuters AlertNet, the UN reports that 7,000 latrines are urgently needed in Haiti to help prevent the spread of disease.

My colleague, Sharon Reader, is currently in Port-au-Prince with our sanitation emergency response unit. Listen in as I speak to her and find out how it’s all going.

Image © Joe Lowry/IFRC

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: emergency response, emergency response unit, ERU, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, haiti earthquake appeal, latrines, sanitation, toilets, video, water and sanitation
Posted in Emergencies, Podcasts

---

Well, I’ve managed to get a cold despite the hot weather! It has not deterred me from the constant flow of waybills out and waybills in that come my way though. My current bugbear is if goods do not have their tracking number attached.. causes us lots of headaches..!! I feel sometimes as if I’m the grumpy finance woman glued to her computer in the warehouse office all day only to exit at full pace into the warehouse to ask for the answer to a question about buckets or tarpaulins. Oh, I’m not really grumpy – I would say smiley but stressed.

In one of those brief trips into the warehouse, I had a chat with one of our warehouse team leaders, Adalberto. Adalberto is 30 and from Santo Domingo and has worked for the Dominican Red Cross for 6 years. Initially during this operation he organised the warehouse at the Dominican Red Cross Headquarters, sorting and dispatching unsolicited goods (clothing, food) to Haiti. Now he is a key part of the operation here at our main warehouse. Adalberto said it was a satisfying experience as he felt like he was contributing more actually loading and unloading goods instead of sitting in an office. As for working with ‘foreigners’ like us, Adalberto said he thought it would be more difficult but it wasn’t. He said, ‘Walking down the hall you looked unapproachable, but after I got to work with you all I noticed you were wonderful people to work with’. Oh I feel better now..! But Kenny and I agreed we must work on our hall-walking…

Image © BRC

Donate now to the British Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Comments (3) »

---

Tags: disaster response, earthquake, emergency response, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, volunteer
Posted in Emergencies

---

The UK’s extended cold snap has provided the perfect excuse to go home, sink into the sofa and get glued to some cockle-warming telly.

I was quite excited about the new series of Dancing on Ice. It’s great to see celebrities performing out of their comfort zone. Of course, triple toe loops and over-the-top costumes aside, skating is also associated with tumbles.

Heather Mills, one of the celebrities involved, was reeling off the injuries she’d incurred from her training a few weeks back: she’s snapped one rib, fractured another, torn muscles in her shoulder and injured her pelvis. It’s definitely not a sport for the faint-hearted.

At least one of her fellow skaters – a recently qualified first aider – is close at hand should contestants take a tumble.  Daniel Whiston, a professional ice skater currently wowing the crowds in the hit ITV series, is Hayley Tamaddon’s partner. And she’s in safe hands as he completed a day-long Red Cross basic first aid course recently.

He told us: “As a coach as well as a skater, it’s really important that I’m able to help people if they hurt themselves. I really enjoyed the course and will definitely be renewing my certificate when it expires.”

Even if you don’t plan on strapping some skates on any time soon, you can learn vital first aid skills from our online first aid resources and practical courses.

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: celebrities, Daniel Whiston, First aid, first aid courses
Posted in First aid

---

It’s 1 February. You’ve already broken your new year’s resolutions and you’ve got an over-whelming desire to make a difference.

I’ve got the perfect solution to all these problems. This year, join me as a Red Cross volunteer!

Watch this video. It’s only 42 seconds long and it’s quite an eye-opener.

See – there’s loads of ways you could help! And it doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. I volunteer when it suits me – in the evenings, and weekends. The fact is you can help as little or as much as you like, when it suits you.

Ever fancied working behind a till? Become a charity shop volunteer. Want to help fund our life-saving work? Try your hand as a fundraiser. Like to help people in crisis? Become an emergency response volunteer.

A little of your time really will make a big difference to us. Go on – become a Red Cross volunteer.

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: charity shops, emergency response, First aid, fundraising, volunteer, volunteering
Posted in First aid, Health and social care

---

Moved office to the warehouse, which is great for me as I don’t get disturbed by the hustle and bustle of the operations centre. However, I am getting to know the Dominican Republic mosquitos well.. Those of you who know me won’t be surprised to hear that I have various welt-like bites even on my face! Don’t worry I am taking my malaria tablets…

So, our team has added a few more countries to it. Kenny from Scotland who is managing one of our warehouses and Gareth from Wales who is doing a recce of one of the seaports. We’ve also had the Logs Coordinator over from Haiti for the last few days. He said that the other emergency response units (ERU) such as the hospital ERUs and water ERUs are reaching thousands with medical care and the production of millions of litres of clean water a day. It feels good to hear that the things we move are helping people.

Image © BRC

Donate now to the British Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Comments (3) »

---

Tags: aid, emergency response, emergency response unit, ERU, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, haiti earthquake appeal, logistics, sanitation, water and sanitation
Posted in Emergencies

---

This fact was brought home to me as I was wandering around the City of London looking for lunch today.

I noticed two guys on stationary bikes outside Cass Business School riding their hearts out while sporting wigs and blasting the best of 80s pop. Two others were standing there with boxes covered with pictures of Haiti.

They’re raising money for the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal by cycling 250 miles – nearly the distance from London to Newcastle.

Just like the relief effort in Haiti, they’re a multi-national fundraising team. Thomas Newman and Matt Slade are English, and Raphael Gindre and Augustin Renoul are French. Jos Pol and Vinny Coile (who weren’t there when I stopped by) are Dutch and Irish.

They’re all friends from Cass’ football team. They decided to raise money for Haiti because another student at the school is Haitian and she sent round an email asking people to do what they could.

Despite their aching bums, they were thrilled to be on the bikes. “The response from people passing by has been brilliant,” Tom (pictured, right, in the black wig) said. “We were really surprised by how much you can organise in two days when you put your mind to it and get such amazing support.”

Raphael (in the blonde wig) added: “Cass has fed us and given us coffee, Virgin Active let us use the bikes, and the costumes were rented for free.”

You don’t need quads of steel to raise money. If, like me, it’s not muscle that makes your legs big, you can find other fundraising ideas on this blog. Another group of students at Cass organised Hats for Haiti, raising around £1,000 just by asking fellow students to wear a silly hat and make a donation.

If you’ve come up with clever ways of raising money for the appeal, leave a comment below and tell us about it.

Update: Tom emailed me, saying: “In the end we raised around £1,700 simply from the cycle-thon, the hat guys raised nearly £1,500, bringing the total for the DEC to over £3000. Not bad for a day’s cycling!”

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: fundraising ideas, fundraising tips, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, haiti earthquake appeal, relief
Posted in Emergencies, Fundraising and events

---

We teach people life-saving first aid skills in the hope that your community will be able to withstand an emergency or crisis – whether that’s your sister, your best friend, a neighbour, or a stranger.

Our volunteers also provide vital first aid cover at many local events such as football matches, festivals and exhibitions.

Could you help someone in need?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Image © Anthony Upton/British Red Cross

Transcript:

Read the rest of this post »

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: event first aid, first aid course, volunteer
Posted in First aid, Podcasts

---