Red Cross Blogs

Haiti earthquake: live news update from Red Cross relief delegate

By Sarah Oughton
January 21, 2010 at 12:34 pm

I’m just about to give one of our aid workers in the Dominican Republic a call if you want to listen in.

David Stephens is a member of our logistics emergency response unit (ERU).

His role is air operations and as part of a four-member team he is helping co-ordinate the delivery of vital relief which is being flown into an airport in Santo Domingo, before being trucked onwards to Haiti.

You can find out more about the ERU from Emily Knox, who is working with David and has been blogging about the emergency response operation.

Donate now to the British Red Cross or DEC Haiti appeal HERE.

Transcript:

Hello is that David?

Yes, Good morning.

This is Sarah Oughton at the British Red Cross based in London and I’m speaking to David Stephens who is one of the emergency response delegates currently based in the Dominican Republic. He’s helping to get relief aid into Haiti. David can you tell us what has been happening since you arrived last Saturday?

Yes, good morning Sarah. Very briefly, it has been a constant flow to keep up with the aircraft averaging about five or six a day that’s just the federation alone. The idea is that we have to get these aircraft offloaded, put it into a temporary warehouse at the airport and we’re talking about by the way about five hundred tonnes a day, then find safe warehousing for it in Santo Domingo. Initially we were simply transiting it on to containers and sending it by road to Haiti, but that for various reasons with the situation on the ground there, we received instruction just to slow that process down which is why we are opening warehouse facilities here in Santo Domingo.

And have you had much contact with colleagues in Port-au-Prince? Do you know how the effort is going to get aid into the airport there and if they’re managing to get it out to people?

We’re in contact several times a day. We have very good comms facilities now. It was a little bit tricky at the beginning but now we’ve established good contact. Can you tell me the question again please?

Sure. Can you give us an update via you colleagues how aid is coming in to the airport, whether the airport there is coping and managing to get the aid out to people?

I think most people know from the media its no secret that the limited amount of aid that is getting through is being put out. At the moment all that’s happening, what is happening, is that they’re laying the foundation for a proper relief plan, this is complicated process and the relief teams are in place and they are doing their work and preparing, collecting the data, the beneficiary data, they will be putting together a joint and complex plan for relief operation. Until that is in place, therefore we have to as it were, choke back the delivery of relief items. They do have quite a lot in the country but also the big limiting factor there is warehousing, because without secure warehousing, it doesn’t take a lot to work out that you’ve problems how to keep the stock under control.

Have you heard anything about the port? Which was so badly damaged in Port-au-Prince. I know they weren’t able to use that to get more aid in quickly. Is it likely to reopen soon?

Yes we heard about that last night, and it’s certainly going to happen and it will, eventually say within three days it will certainly be a means for us to deliver in bulk. But then you’ve still got the tricky problem logistically to break down that bulk. For example when they use a roll on roll off type of ferry you’ve got break down that bulk, warehouse it securely and then break it down into distribution packages for the beneficiaries. So it is a good option but it too will take time to execute.

And what about you and the team in Santo Domingo over the next few days, what are your plans?

Our basic plan is to keep the flow going, keep the airport clear because we physically have to but also have to keep the good will of the people operating here. We are a control valve for the whole operation there’s no doubt about that, the bulk of the relief items will come through here for the federation. It’s our duty to get it out of the airport, always get it out within 24 hours and into a secure warehouse, and then start trucking it over when we get a green light from Haiti.

Well all the best for that, thank you for taking time out of your incredibly hectic day to talk to us and we’ll check back in with you early next week to see how it’s all going.

You could almost check back within the hour because the situation changes that much and that frequently. Thanks a lot Sarah.

Thanks a lot. Bye.

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Tags: appeal, british, cross, David Stephens, eathquake, emergency, Haiti, interview british red cross earthquake haiti emergency response, red, relief, response, Santo Domingo

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