Haiti [Members going to help]

ChipG said:
Upsetting, CNN just said the est death toll will now be over 200,000.
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That was the death toll from the 2004 tsunami, wasn't it? And that was spread out over several countries and a very large area.

Now imagine that in a place the size of Maryland.
 
Sad Max said:
The donations-by-calling-from-your-cell-phone can take weeks-to-months, to process and get the $$$ where it's going. Probably better to make the minor additional effort to donate directly to whatever organization you decide to support.
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Fortunately the 4 major cell phone carriers are advancing the $10 text donations to the charity organizations so they get the money faster.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/63961

So far $22 million has been raised. Wow!
 
A strong 6.1 aftershock (largest yet) hit a while ago, I just flipped on CNN and it showed large groups of people beating others.
 
It's unfortunate that the prerequisite for effective disaster relief is public order, and that to establish public order you need the military on the scene (in their fighting capacity as well as their rescue capacities), which dilutes the actual rescue-and-recovery assets with the necessary proportion of guys carrying rifles...not to mention the pr lambasting that some people are just drooling to give the US, as soon as we hit the point where the troops have to use lethal force...
 
I just wanted to make a quick post and say that we all made it back safely. I'm extremely tired, and I'll post more tomorrow. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

That was the worst thing I've ever seen, and possibly ever will.
 
Welcome back Hawk! Glad to hear you made a safe roundtrip!

I still have vivid memories from shooting Central American earthquakes and hurricanes over 20 years ago... and nothing on the epic scale of the disaster of Haiti.
Thus I found myself (reluctantly, believe me) turning down a second offer to go to Haiti, from the BBC no less.

Every morning over breakfast with the paper I say "Damn, I wish I was there/ God, I'm glad I'm not there!"

Obviously the news gets covered without me there, but your NGO has an entirely different sort of relationship with Haiti. I hope your work will be effective in getting word out about your organization's efforts.

And I hope the memories are the worst that you'll ever see, I shudder to imagine worse...
 
I'll do my best to not speak politically or religiously here.

When we got to the Dominican Republic (about to take a bus into Haiti), we were approached by a guy from the UN that told us it was extremely dangerous going in there. He informed us that people were dragging dead bodies across the main roads to stop vehicles so they could rob them with machetes. I was not excited to hear that. However, we made it into Haiti without any complication. Our bus stop was right beside the US Embassy. We went to a complex outside the city, but actually closer to the epicenter of the earthquake. It sustained no damage. That's where we stayed. We felt some aftershocks, which scared me a little, as I've never been through anything like that hailing from NC and OK.

The next few days we traveled around Port-Au-Prince. We went everywhere there. Businesses, homes, and families ... all destroyed. Very sad. We saw bodies on the side of the roads, but nothing like what was there before. They had most of that cleaned up by the time we arrived. They were burying them in the mass graves a few miles from the compound we were staying in. As we drove by, we could see the machines digging deep holes, and piles and piles of bodies around it to be dumped in later. The smell of death was so thick I could taste it.

Almost every federal building was destroyed. Leveled to rubble. We saw thousands of pages of paperwork mixed into that, and realized that there was no way any of that was backed up on computers anywhere. That was possibly the only documentation that some people were even alive in Haiti, and since there was no check on who they buried before burying them, it's almost as if some of those people never existed.

To be honest, the entire time we walked the streets of Port-Au-Prince (at times in areas that aren't the safest), I never felt threatened. Yeah, people approached us a lot asking for food, water and money, but I would have done the same thing. That's not threatening at all. They also told us "Thank you" for going down there and doing what we could, and getting the word out.

THAT SAID, the entire time we walked those streets, we saw ZERO US troops outside of the Embassy or airport. We saw 2 UN vehicles in the 3 days we were on the streets. Food has been sent to Haiti, and we've seen it sitting in the airport... for days. The only food and water we've seen go out at all has been through churches that are going in and DOING something instead of sitting on ... instead of waiting. It was very frustrating. And it's not even a hostile environment. I think "UN" is just a shortened version of Unhelpful. AHH! I'll stop talking about that now.

I'm sure I've left a lot out, but it's time to head out and log and capture footage to work on.

Long story short, if you're given an opportunity like this, try and take it.
 
g-cvr-10021-hait-kiki-tight-10a.grid-6x2.jpg



Greatest picture I've seen all day - probably the greatest I'll see all week...
 
Wow, amazing Hawk, thanks for the report!
Something I've learned living through/covering Hurricane Andrew here in Miami, then covering/watching coverage of subsequent disasters, is it's amazing how lessons learned are soon forgotten.

It doesn't matter what city or country disaster happens in, things move slowly, sadly.
No relief 3 days after Andrew in Miami, until the county Emergency Director pleads on national TV "Where the hell is the cavalry on this one?"
The relief starts trickling in, the 82nd Airborne arrives...

Governments (inside the disaster and out), and the UN, are slow to react.
And international aid is often distributed by the military, which needs government approval to distribute.

Small relief groups are often more nimble, but don't work on the scale needed after a disaster like Haiti.

And if the transportation infrastructure is destroyed (sea port), damaged (airport) or barely passable (roads) how do you get aid distributed?

Helicopters? Ok.

So you get US Navy sending extra helicopters onto a carrier in Jacksonville, FL, (great idea) but on the other hand, the carrier arrives in Haiti with no extra food or supplies on board to distribute (not so great an idea).
So they empty the concession machines on the ship of drinks and snacks, and distribute that! Then they eventually move on to the backed up aid at the airport.
I guess in a perfect world, you'd have a carrier with 200+ helos, and hundreds of cargo containers on board ready to be immediately airlifted to jammed Port-au-Prince and the outlying areas like Jacmel and Gonaives.

But back to your shoot, and the inevitable technical questions (when you get a chance).
What size was your crew?
Did you shoot on the HVX?
How much material did you shoot?
Somebody dumping cards as you shot them?
Do you know what your first project with this material will be?

Thanks and best of luck with the project!
 
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My mom witnessed the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, and your story reminded me of her stories. Especially the smell. She had to get out of the city and flew to Houston for about a month, and when she came back it was still there. I can't imagine what it's like in Haiti. Glad you made it back safe.
 
groveChuck said:
But back to your shoot, and the inevitable technical questions (when you get a chance).
What size was your crew?
Did you shoot on the HVX?
How much material did you shoot?
Somebody dumping cards as you shot them?
Do you know what your first project with this material will be?

Thanks and best of luck with the project!
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My crew was 1. There were 5 of us there, but they were doing totally different things. I was the only one with a video camera. 3 of the others are ministers, and one is an electrician / carpenter.

I shot on the EX1. A now very dusty EX1 that will be shipped to Sony soon for cleaning.

I was only able to get about 3 and a half to 4 hours of footage (4 16GB SxS cards). We got some really good interviews.

No dumping until I got back to the states. I mean that in more ways than one.

We're about to send out an update on where we were and what we did, and how money can be raised and what it'll be used for. I hope to be sending that out early next week. They're giving me tomorrow off (yeah), so I won't be working on it until Monday. The other video editor here will be cranking that out tomorrow.
 
Thanks Hawk!
Good luck with the EX1, the project and with... your plumbing ;^)
And your bed has never seemed so exquisite, right?
Rest well, my friend.
 
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