Haiti Relief News Conference with US Response Leaders

February 17, 2010 | USAID Joint Task Force News Conference on CSPAN

Ambassador Lewis Lucke and Army Lt. General P.K. Keen, leading the U.S. relief efforts in Haiti, say signif­i­cant progress has been made by cooper­at­ing with a number of inter­na­tional response partners, but much work remains.

Transitioning into the relief phase now, the focus will be on provid­ing shelter, sanita­tion, rubble removal, recon­struc­tion, medical services, and jobs.

Ambassador Lucke is the former US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland, served the US Agency for International Development for over 30 years and is the Haiti US Response Coordinator.

Army Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen is the Deputy Commander of US Southern Command in Miami and is currently serving as the Commander of Joint Task Force Unified Response in Haiti.

What Does "OODA" Mean Anyway?

Observe. Orient. Decide. Act.

That’s what OODA stands for. It’s a term coined by Colonel John R. Boyd (January 23, 1927 — March 9, 1997; pictured right), a United States Air Force fighter pilot and military strate­gist, whose theories have influ­enced both military and business strategies.

He used the term “OODA Loop” to describe the process that individ­u­als and organi­za­tions use to react to events. The key to success is the creation of situa­tions where one can make appro­pri­ate decisions more rapidly than others.
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Out of Disaster into Preparedness

The Time is Now to Capitalize on Risk Mitigation Opportunities

Major disas­ters provide impor­tant learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. People are motivated by the loss of life to be more recep­tive to new approaches and strate­gies for risk reduc­tion in the after­math of a crisis. In 2008, 321 natural disas­ters claimed more than 235,000 lives and cost the world an estimated $181 billion (accord­ing to The World Bank).

A long-term approach to build­ing disas­ter resilience is criti­cal, sadly however, disas­ter risk is often only fully acknowl­edged follow­ing a major event. The disas­ter recov­ery period thus provides an oppor­tu­nity to once again sound the alarm and prose­ly­tize for increas­ing disas­ter prepared­ness and risk reduc­tion funding at the federal, state and local levels.

Climate change now compounds the risks for natural disas­ters, but also provides an oppor­tu­nity to empower commu­ni­ties to manage that risk. Consider that disas­ter risk reduc­tion and climate change adapta­tion funding can actually be integrated into relief and recov­ery budgets. How about an in-depth review of the relevant funding instru­ments and practices to ensure that those insti­tu­tions most able to effect change have access to relevant funding  facil­i­tated by local and national governments?

Let’s get serious about risk reduc­tion partner­ships and collab­o­ra­tion with practices that engage local govern­ment, civil society and NGOs in collec­tive decision-making and tangi­ble strate­gies to reduce risk and strengthen early warning. Technology MUST be utilized more effec­tively if we are to achieve enhanced resiliency and risk reduc­tion with the limited funds we are currently willing to allocate.

This fleet­ing moment needs to be capital­ized upon by policy­mak­ers, practi­tion­ers and the public alike — let’s do it together.

Télécoms Sans Frontières - Communications for Life

We applaud the work of Télécoms Sans Frontières …

Their Origin: During missions respond­ing to the crisis in the Balkans and in Kurdistan during the 1^st Gulf War, Télécoms Sans Frontières’ (TSF) founders realized that, in addition to medical and food aid, there was a criti­cal need for reliable emergency telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions services. Conflicts and emergen­cies often led to massive civil­ian displace­ment and separated families. And affected popula­tions are often left with no commu­ni­ca­tions infra­struc­ture in place to find assis­tance and loved ones. To address this need, TSF bought its first satel­lite phone eleven years ago and the organi­za­tion was born. For all missions today, TSF offers a 3-minute call to any affected family.

TSF soon found that the inter­na­tional response teams that deploy to emergen­cies also had a criti­cal need for reliable telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions services in the first days after an emergency. TSF, there­fore, expanded its opera­tions, improved its technol­ogy, and began to estab­lish rapidly deploy­able emergency telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions centers to serve UN, govern­ment, and NGO human­i­tar­ian workers, and devel­oped a reputa­tion for being among the first to arrive after disasters.

Mission Haiti 2010: Deployed in Haiti the day follow­ing the terri­ble earth­quake that struck the country, TSF teams remain mobilized, day after day, support­ing the human­i­tar­ian commu­nity and the affected popula­tion. Three calling centers have been estab­lished in Port-au-Prince, Carrefour and Jacmel that are open for the people of Haiti: Union School in Port-au-Prince, Adventistes in Carrefour and Rue Febrile in Jacmel.

Everyone should know more about the work of this organization!

Resilient Cities

In the wake of the Haiti earth­quake and the destruc­tion of Port-au-Prince, we can wonder again at what it takes to create resilient cities and commu­ni­ties. In this day and age — do we even know what it takes to become resilient ourselves and thereby prepare our commu­ni­ties and our cities? Amidst the wonder, though, is a question of resolve. Do we have the requi­site desire and the resources to do so? Haiti surely did not.

Thankfully there are those who are tackling these thorny questions. In October 2009 the 6^th Gaining Ground Summit series attracted 600 people to Vancouver, BC to learn, talk about, and build connec­tions around the theme of “Resilient Cities.”

Check out Mark Holland’s Resilient Cities Manifesto:

“I will open to the pain that I cause in the world through my ignorance and fear and the distance I seem to have from my inter­nal dignity and nobil­ity, and I will feel the pain, shock and injus­tice of partic­i­pat­ing in the death of so many, if only by accident — and then I will move past the grief to the restless seren­ity of my respon­si­bil­ity — to my planet, to my commu­nity, to my family, and to myself.”

Preparedness Grants can Fund Maintenance and User Fees

Did You Know that FEMA Grant Funds Extend Beyond Equipment Purchases?

Last November, Timothy Manning, FEMA’s Deputy Administrator of the National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) announced that prepared­ness grant funds can be used for fees associ­ated with equip­ment purchases.

An excerpt from the FEMA Grants Program Directorate’s bulletin released by his office:

“Effective [November 2o, 2009], the use of FEMA prepared­ness grant funds for mainte­nance contracts, warranties, repair or replace­ment costs, upgrades, and user fees are allow­able under all active and future grant awards, unless other­wise noted.”

How Does FEMA Define User Fees for Preparedness?

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Volcanic Events of Importance

Though it may come as a surprise to many, 10 to 20 volcanic “events of impor­tance” occur globally every month.

On a recent consult­ing assign­ment, I learned that volcanic ash in the atmos­phere can cause real problems for airplane engines, and the airlines must balance safety and efficiency in response to these events. The goal from a safety perspec­tive is to avoid aircraft encoun­ters with volcanic ash. From the perspec­tive of efficiency, the  goal is to minimize re-routing of aircraft.

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Disaster Strikes When You Least Expect It

The night­mare in Haiti once again hammers home this age-old axiom.

How many more people will die in the future because of our compla­cency — in this country and elsewhere?

How many times do we have to witness such disas­ters only to find that once again lack of commu­ni­ca­tions is the great­est hindrance to rapid and accurate assess­ment of the impact? How many people could have been saved if commu­ni­ca­tions were avail­able to quickly obtain accurate situa­tional aware­ness and better coordi­nate the resources for search and rescue?

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Martin Luther King Had a Dream. What's Yours?

My first-grader’s homework assign­ment this weekend was to fill out an “I Have a Dream” worksheet. Maybe this week, we should each do the same as we honor Martin Luther King’s legacy.

Her assign­ment was to write about her dreams for each topic below. What would you write?

I have a dream …

for myself …
for my family …
for my country …
for the world …

Maybe watch­ing part of his speech will inspire you.

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Special Rates on Satellite Phones for Haiti Response

Iridium 9555 satel­lite phones with discounted airtime rates for Haiti response teams.

For organi­za­tions respond­ing to the earth­quake in Haiti, we can off the follow­ing discounted rates. Order by 3:00 PM Eastern for same-day shipping.

Iridium 9555 to Buy  -  $1,995 with 500-minute bundle
Iridium 9555 to Rent  -  $295/week + airtime (2-week minimum)

Other airtime options are avail­able. Contact us to order or for more details.

More details on the phone: Iridium 9555.