Gareth McCray on Haiti disaster
Tragedies do not pass quickly. Neither should our enthusiasm for aid.
ALIVE - KIKI'S MIRACLE SURVIVALWith Australia Day not far behind us what better way to show the Australian indomitable spirit of generosity than to help those in great need in Haiti
"It makes the perfect metaphor: the collapse of Haiti's National Palace, the crumbling of the one thing that seemed stable while the rulers inside changed places 10 times in the past 25 years.
Now that single, white-domed structure is not just cracked, it collapsed on itself, split in pieces, splintered and fractured like clay that's been baked and left to dry in the sun too long.
At 8:00 a.m. when they raise the flag and play the national anthem, everyone in the square - absolutely everyone - stops still in their tracks and waits for the flag to reach the top. They stop because raising the blue-and-red flag with the white square in the middle is the symbol of their independence, of being the first black republic in the Western hemisphere - one of the only country's to defeat Napoleon's army. A people that could bring down Napoleon but could do nothing against the force of mother nature."
Rescue teams from around the world combed the debris for survivors in and around Port-au-Prince, after two children were miraculously found. But those pulled from the rubble still face a desperate fight for life. Tens of thousands remain seriously wounded in makeshift field hospitals set up around the ravaged capital, and gangrene has already begun to eat its way through many wounds in the tropical heat.
Doctors, working in miserable conditions lacking supplies and modern equipment, have already carried out countless amputations to save victims with serious crush wounds or to repair internal injuries.
"We carried out 30 operations on one morning. In the previous six days we have cared for more than 1,000 Haitians," said French doctor Thierry Allafort Duverger at a clinic in what used to be the posh suburb of Petionville.
A 1,000-bed capacity US naval hospital ship is also off Haiti with about 800 medical personnel, and has begun taking on board the worst of the injured. In a bid to move an estimated 500,000 left homeless by the January 12 quake, the Haitian government said it was seeking to move them out of squalid, stinking tent cities into temporary housing. The government was paying some 34 buses to take victims to the south and north of the country to hastily set up villages designed to hold 10,000 people each.
The International Organization for Migration estimated on Thursday that at least half a million people are now living outdoors in improvised camps, and warned the number was climbing. Most people had cobbled together makeshift shelters from sheeting, blankets, cardboard or bits of debris, while some had received tents from Haitian authorities or the US forces.
The search for survivors continued, buoyed after a five-year-old boy was found in the wreckage of his home while neighbours dragged out an 11-year-old girl in another part of the city. Mendji Bahina Sanon, 11, was taken to a French-run field hospital in the capital, clearly traumatised by her nightmarish ordeal, crying out: "Don't leave me Mama."
The United Nations, meanwhile, confirmed the number of UN staffers killed dead in quake has risen from 49 to 61, with nearly 180 others, mostly Haitians, unaccounted for. The 7.0-magnitude quake marks the worst disaster in the UN's history.
AUSTRALIA ALSO REMEMBERS TRAGEDY! SATURDAY FEB 7 BLACK SATURDAY VICTORIA
In February 2009 Australians came together in an unprecedented display of support for people affected by the Victorian bushfires.
There are two terms that are now part of the vocabulary of discussing these fires. "ember attack" and "radiant heat".
The firefighters, ambulance officers, wildlife rescue teams, police officers, state emergency services and volunteers are in the best traditions of Australians in times of adversity. In the aftermath was the rebuilding of property and of lives. Again and again survivors described "firestorms" that barreled in from nowhere and swept through faster than a train killing almost everything they touched.
The visuals that haunted and lingered were of all those cars, reduced to grey and black metal husks.
Australian soldiers who thought they would never see anything worse than in Iraq and Afghanistan, helped to recover corpses from burned out cars, whole families, with their pets and photos and treasured possessions, and digging through the wreckage of 100's of farms & homes looking for the missing.
The fire came in like a 'beast' :
Flames more than 15 ms high leapt through treetops in an unstoppable advance. Houses burst into flames as gas cylinders ignited, sending fire into the blackened sky.
It was a fiery hailstorm from hell driving relentlessly at you. The wind and driving embers explore, like claws of a predator, every tiny gap in the house:
- Of six people dead in a car accident in Kinglake.
- Of the badly burned Kinglake man kept alive for six hours by being submerged by friends in a pool.
- Of the Marysville firefighter who lost his wife and daughter while fighting the blazes.
- Of the motorcyclist burnt alive in St Andrews.
- Of the woman who left fighting the fires to save her goats that were found dead by her son in a shed.
Over 400,000 hectares burnt - 210 lives lost - 2029 properties destroyed - 78 townships affected - 2000 firefighters out in force - 1200 kms of containment lines surrounding the fires.
Help the Haitians rebuild and reclaim their lives!!
The crumbled buildings, the crying children and the general sense of despair. The international assistance that has poured into Haiti must continue long after television crews fly home and the heart-rending images they broadcast fade from the world's screens. Immediately after the quake struck Haiti, it was clear that private aid organizations would have a role to play -- not only in delivering immediate relief, but also in helping to rebuild such vital institutions as hospitals and schools over the months and years to come.
The need is immense. Before the quake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The government was ill-equipped to deal with the overwhelming scale of destruction. Modest efforts like ours, multiplied across hundreds of organizations, are one of the many building blocks necessary to reconstruct the country.
The quake will be the defining event for a generation of Haitians who have lost their families, their homes, their livelihoods. Even after the ground stops shaking, normal life will return only slowly to Haiti. It will require years of economic and agricultural development for Haiti to pull itself out of decades of poverty and environmental degradation.
The generosity and ingenuity demonstrated over the past two weeks - from international aid groups to individuals sending donations via cell phone - have helped ease the suffering of thousands. Something as basic as a filter to provide clean water to a family can literally make the difference between life and death.
That generous spirit must continue or the lives saved in these frantic first days will be condemned to poverty, sickness and ignorance for years to come. Haiti is on a slow, arduous track toward recovery from a natural disaster. It will take all of us demonstrating that same purpose and dedication to avoid an even worse man-made disaster.
Much of the immediate response to Haiti's natural disaster relied on new media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and text donations. While the international response to the earthquake in Port-au-Prince was swift.
As you consider donating your time or money to this cause, be conscientious and conscious of your actions. Make sure you know where your money is going. Check to be sure the organization you are considering donating to is a recognized charity with a registered website.
The FBI sent a warning to would-be philanthropists about donation scams perpetuated through e-mails and on social networking sites following Hurricane Katrina. They advised making contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf. These same principles should be followed in light of the Haiti crisis.
It takes time for charities to mobilize in times of tragedy, so let this be a reminder that the victims in Haiti will continue to be affected for months to come as they pick up the pieces of their lives. We need to keep the people of Haiti in mind even after the disaster disappears from the headlines.
Tragedies do not pass quickly. Neither should our enthusiasm for aid.
Help UNICEF help those who desperately need our support!!
1300 884 233
Gareth McCray
Breakfast 2CH
