Raph’s Website » The Haiti earthquake

The Haiti earthquake

January 12th, 2010 (Visited 3135 times) Tags: earthquake, haiti

The National Palace

It seems that every few years there is a major earthquake somewhere I have lived. Now it is a major one near Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

I hear the hotel where I lived for two years partly fell down. The hospital where one of my brothers was born has collapsed. Schools have crumbled, and even the Palace. I hesitate to think what the slums look like now, given that they were mostly cardboard and aluminum and rotting wood to start with.

Haiti is not a country that can afford a disaster like this. Its infrastructure is almost non-existent. People literally use sewage as drinking water for lack of anything else, and vast areas of the country are hugely deforested. A common part of the diet is “cakes” made of clay and water.

This page has info on where to donate and how to help: Impact Your World – Special Reports from CNN.com.

Update: photos can be found here. And apparently, the UN headquarters (Hotel Christopher) collapsed as well. It’s not clear how damaged Hotel Montana is.

How to donate: per the White House, text “HAITI” to “90999″ to donate $10 to the Red Cross, charged to your cell phone bill.

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len said on January 13th, 2010 at 9:07 am:

Passing that donation information along down the Facebook food chain. Please keep us informed, Raph.

Raph said on January 13th, 2010 at 11:09 am:

The latest is that most of my mom’s colleagues are missing, many presumed dead. And the woman who was my brother’s nanny… her neighborhood is just gone. We have been told to expect bad news.

len said on January 13th, 2010 at 12:49 pm:

Sorry to hear that, Raph. We’ve been sitting here waiting to see if we can do the updates on PR’s EMA system. Given proximity, we weren’t sure if they were on standby to help. So far, no or at least not using our system. I don’t know what kind of interagency cooperation is possible there.

This is when it sucks. We have systems designed to help in public safety emergencies. The sales cycle goes on forever. We’ve been in PR for three years with a health version that was only finally accepted recently after being final for over a year. I don’t mean to redirect away from the tragedy to business matters except to say even when trying to help, it’s a difficult region to provide to.

Ryan Henson Creighton said on January 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm:

Raph – it may be VERY early to ask this, and the last thing i want to do is to sound insensitive, but could this be a good thing for Haiti?

They will gain international attention and aid, which is something they would never have received otherwise. And it’s hard to “rebuild” a country with nothing to rebuild, so perhaps the funds donated will go towards things Haitians need and have never had – namely proper infrastructure?

The last thing an AIDS-ravaged and destitute nation needs is a natural disaster, but i can’t help but wonder whether this will wake us up to the plight of a completely disadvantaged group of people?

We sponsor a family in a rural area of Haiti – nowhere near the same as having lived there, but our money and prayers are with the country now more than ever.

- Ryan

Raph said on January 13th, 2010 at 1:28 pm:

Ryan, I think it is safe to say no.

Haiti was already getting piles of international aid. The hole this created… I dunno, I just have trouble believing the aid will go up in a sustained fashion as a result of this.

I mean — they now have no power, no clean water, no food, no hospitals, no prisons, no police, no government buildings, no churches, no archbishop, no Doctors Without Borders, no UN mission, no highways, and (effectively) no housing.

So yes, there’s an airport left, but I have trouble seeing all that flowing in through it.

Raph said on January 13th, 2010 at 1:30 pm:

BTW — I have often said that the best thing that could happen to Haiti would be to get annexed, honestly. It was that much of a failed state previously. It already would have taken ridiculously concentrated effort to save the country, effort it was not getting. But knowing how disasters go, the world’s attention will shift. What is needed is for Haiti to be a source of revenue, then people would actually give a damn.

Ryan Henson Creighton said on January 13th, 2010 at 2:04 pm:

What’s left (even pre-earthquake) that makes Haiti worth annexing?

Raph said on January 13th, 2010 at 2:10 pm:

Nothing, that was kind of my point.

len said on January 13th, 2010 at 2:24 pm:

I’m trying to wrap my head around the 100,000 + number in the press. I guess or I hope we’re sending the military ASAP. That is the only agency I can think of that can put enough helicopters and logistics on the ground to help.

Itwasntme said on January 14th, 2010 at 12:50 pm:

Bill Clinton (UN special envoy to Haiti) spoke with Greta Van Susteren on her show the other night. He said that they had conferences, something like 100 investors attending, and other things going on in an effort to build Haiti up and bring it out of it’s depressed state of being. The government there is in with it, as are Haitian private citizens. According to him, things were moving along well before this hit. It sounds like there’s hope for them.

Haiti does have something to offer as a Caribbean nation, just like all the others.

Of course it won’t be easy and will take a very long time to work through all the troubles that come to any nation as it grows out of poverty. But they will be their own nation, and hopefully not stumble on the way to freedom and human rights and democracy.

Itwasntme said on January 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 am:

Just thought you all might like to read this. It was posted on a sports forum by a navy pilot the other day.

Hey gents. Greeting from USS Vinson floating just off Haiti.

The internet is usually down but for some reason tonight I was able to log on. Its frustrating watching CNN as when its up as they make it sound like nothings getting done here. Below is a letter I wrote my fam from a few days ago (Saturday during the playoffs I think). I share it with you so you know that things ARE getting done.

For those that don’t know I’m a Navy Helo pilot and have been for 10 years. Its funny I get as wrapped up in the Browns as all of you. In the grand scheme though… well lets just we have it good. Even for Cleveland sports fans. Anyway here is a day in the life out here:

0415 woke up

0450 Brief for my flight section of 2 HH-60′s scheduled for 5 hour flight

line from the boat to Haiti.

0515 drank obscene large / strong cup of coffee
0530 rolled through the

intell portion of the ship where all the targeters, and Intel is for

latest’s on LZ status (where crowds, ground security forces

are)

0545 Read the aircraft discrepancy book (its basically a history of all the

recent maintenance for the specific Aircraft we fly)and crunched my power

available numbers for max cargo in the given heat and humidity.

0600 walked to the flight deck with my crew as the sun came up.

0650 launched as a flight of 2 on time inbound to port au prince airport for

tasking with 2 photogs (news media types)

0720 first hit on deck. We land in the grass next to the runway so it can stay open. The 82nd airborne as well

as tons of media are always there. Started to load up with water and food when additional tasking came in. My

playmate had an urgent med evac from the US embassy while we had tasking to

fly 3 medical persons from the airport to re-con possible field medical

Landing zones. Based on this we split the flight and proceed on single ship.

0755 recon complete (you can fly then entire stretch of Port au Prince in about 5-10

mins. Its not very big) landed back at the airport and dropped of our pax.

0800 loaded up again with about 1000 pounds of water and a camera crew from

Spain, and a camera guy from DC. Honestly we tend to have media on almost

every single sortie we do. We flew to a dirt lz near the water where within

seconds of our landing we were swarmed by about 100 people. They have no

fear or the rotor blades and just want the water and food. It is

heartbreaking to watch. Other then minor wrestling for who gets how many

bottles they are considerably tame. No punching or anything like that.

0830 ran back to the airport and loaded up again.

0840 on final for the same LZ we could see the word had gotten out. Over ICS

(intercom system) I rather firmly ordered my door gunner to get the load off

as fast as possible and be prepared for an early and sudden departure if we

felt unsafe. As soon as our tail wheel hit the ground we were totally

surrounded. Even the camera crew started helping throw cases of water out

the door. My scan was outside the door with people face to face with me. You

could see the pain and desperation in their eyes. I started pumping the

collective (which is what makes the helo go up) in order to try and create

more rotor wash to try and get them back but it had no effect. What seemed

like minutes but was only about 20 seconds I called “liffting” and got light

on the struts. When they realized we were going airborne they all dove to

the deck and got flat.(thankfully). You can’t see your tail rotor from the

front and I was very concerned that someone was going to get pushed into it.

After getting up and away I called into control and recommended that they

close the LZ. Once you use a spot more then once the word gets out.

0900 back on deck at the airport I was tasked with flying a DV

(distinguished visitor) to the boat. This was good timing as I was scheduled

for a deck hit anyway to get more gas. We do they give me? Geraldo Riviera.

I couldn’t help from giggling a bit. He came strutting out to the load zone

in his pink sunglasses, black T, power mustache, microphone in hand with 1

camera guy. He came up to my door and saluted me, and then hopped in the

back. My crewman of course started taking pictures with him. Classic. Fox

news here I come. Anyway we lifted off and headed back to the boat. I did a

flew laps over head so he could get some footage.

0930 Safe on deck mom and hooked up to the grapes (what we call the fuel

guys since they all wear purple shirts) for more gas.

0945 Back airborne and headed back to the beach.

0955 on deck at the airport and loaded up with more food and water and some

security that needed a ride to another LZ

1015 safe on deck at the next LZ. Picked up some more media and took them

back to the airport

1025 Joined up with my skippers bird and flew as a flight of 2 to try and

find a location that had been reported to need aid. There were no suitable

LZ’s in the area so we were unable to land. Hundreds of people in the

streets, buildings collapsed / pan caked like accordions all the way to the

ground. We noticed a very large fire that had broken out near the Cathedral

which was totally destroyed. Not sure if you knew but Haiti is 96 %

Christian and 80% catholic. Reported that to our betters and headed back to

the airport.

1100 picked up a 4 man Britt assessment team to recon some damage areas.

Gave them a lap around town and then took them back to the airport.

1130 took our last run of persons needing a ride back to the boat.

1155 safe on deck at the boat and landed exhausted and soaked with sweat to

get more gas and hand the bird over spinning to the next crew.

5.0 hours in 90 plus weather with no AC in our bird. As I stepped out of the

bird I felt a bit dizzy and despite drinking 8-10 bottles of water

throughout the flight had rather dark colored piss when I finally got to

relieve myself. Grabbed a quick bite from the wardroom and then debriefed

for about an hour in CIVIC where we give a very very detailed recap of

everything we did. There was more stuff we did that I left out as its not

cool for me pass it to you.

1300 finally all done and of course the ships tv had no single so no

football games… Bummer. Took a shower and went to bed for 3 hours..

That’s a typical day here. Non stop. Eat sleep fly. I haven’t worked out

once yet, but I’ve lost weight.. All water I’m sure you can see why.

Love all of you and am very thankful for the support. The Navy is executing

our mission statement. “Global force for good”. The camaraderie and moral is

very high. Its very rewarding to see the direct result of all the years of

training in a 5 year olds eyes (like the one med evac’d the other day) as you get her out of hell and know that you

did your job.

It all starts again in the A.M.

The Haiti earthquake

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