I had a nice little blog sorted for yesterday.
Not one of my better ones, usual old tosh, this one about New Year Resolutions but the flood of videos, news reports and talk on the street as the horrific situation in Haiti unfolds has thrown such frippery into sharp relief.
As the first stories came in there was talk of “hundreds” dead.
Now I’m not particularly familiar with Haiti, other than it’s on the left hand side of the island which also contains the Dominican Republic for which my expertise is also sadly lacking.
What I do know however, from a brief sojourn in the Caribbean and the general information which all of us glean from the endless “real world” style documentaries we get bombarded with, is that this is a “backward” country, by the old colonial style definition, which basically means there’s not a lot of money about.
Also communities tend to be in disparate and remote areas where the facts concerning a disaster of this magnitude take time to emerge.
As those first reports trickled in I was struck by the thought that the initial estimate of casualties was liable to be, to say the least, conservative.
Although the nature of journalists, especially in the national press, is to exaggerate any story this does not usually apply in the case of such international disasters. Until actual facts start to emerge even hard bitten reporters seem to maintain the element of hope that things will not be as bad as they might be.
Alas, this disaster has proved to be far more tragic than first hoped.
It is usual for this blog to show related photographs and associated videos to illustrate the thread of the story.
Not on this occasion.
The sight of an aid worker throwing a single child’s body out of the wreckage of a school, simply to save time in reaching any possible casualties still buried, summed up for me the horror even more than other shots of streets lined with bodies.
So what can we in the logistics community (apologies to Private Eye) do to assist? No doubt over the next few days we will see the freight community “step up to the plate” as so many times before, much as the Handy Shipping Guide report of the 14th January on the generosity of UPS ($1 million donated). What interests me more is how to solve the problems created by the collapse of transport infrastructure.
So many of these huge disasters occur in regions where transport is difficult even in better times. It is at such times that the US military machine (plus so many other operations too numerous to mention) show their true value. Only an organisation with the resources of such a giant war machine can provide some instant relief in these circumstances. The airport too small for effective use, the nearest bulk landing point miles to the East in another state, roads blocked by landslips and fallen buildings. Helicopters are often the only way of reaching the remoter areas in time to save lives and, as we all know they are often impractical for reasons of cost, availability, location etc.
What is needed from the logistics community is a better system for spreading essential supplies, food, water (or means to purify it) medical items, shelters etc. faster and more efficiently.
So that’s your task for this week.
Find better ways to relieve situations like this. Doesn’t matter what it is, airships, folding containers, all terrain delivery trucks, whatever. Post anything you think of and we’ll publicise it.
In the meantime http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/ is the place to go to give some help.
If you’re an ORANGE phone customer you can add a contribution directly to your bill plus I’m sure there are many other ways to donate something.
No matter how cynical we often are about charity appeals (…how do I know the money gets there?) it simply doesn’t apply to cases like this.
