Stuart Leiderman leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: leiderman: emergency command stations: who's watching the store?
"Haiti’s National Emergency Operations Centre (COUN) has been activated
by the DPC, as well as other departmental emergency centers. However,
these entities do not have any power generator capacity or satellite
phones, which have impacted communication, as they are struggling to be
in contact with the capital city."
http://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/unicef-haiti-haiti-hurricane-matthew-situation-report-4-6-october-2016
- - -
In its concern and generosity, and an effort to contribute to Haitian
disaster preparedness, the U.S. Southern Command designed, built and
gifted to the Haitian government ten sophisticated emergency command
stations, roughly one per department. The proviso was that Haiti would
staff and maintain them. The investment was in the neighborhood of $40
million. I've appended my compilation on the subject over the past few
years. I can provide maps and details upon request.
Now comes the telling comment from UNICEF in its dispatch of yesterday
saying that these centers (I assume they are the same ten) have no
generators or telecommunications! This is a tragic disgrace.
If there is a Haitian equivalent to Ben Franklin's adage, "For want of a
nail, the horse was lost," please post it here.
- - - - - - -
http://dialogo-americas.com/en_GB/articles/rmisa/features/2015/01/13/feature-01
2015-01-13 | Caribbean
Haiti, Five Years after the Earthquake and the U.S. Military Humanitarian
Assistance Mission
By Cmdr. Ted Kim, Senior Defense Official/Defense Attaché and Chief of
Security Cooperation Office
U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince
January 12, 2015 marks the fifth anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. The
massive earthquake with a
magnitude of 7.3 destroyed half of the buildings and homes in the capital
city of Port-au-Prince, killed more
than quarter million people, left more than 1.5 million people homeless,
and resulted in an immense
humanitarian crisis.
The response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake was the U.S. military’s largest
international humanitarian effort in
history. The U.S. military began mobilizing immediately and providing
support to the international response and
relief effort. Within days, the U.S. Air Force reopened Haiti’s
international airport. U.S. Coast Guard cutters
arrived on the scene and began delivering emergency supplies and
evacuating U.S. citizens. More than 22,000
U.S. service members were in Haiti at the height of the mission. Of those,
about 14,000 were in ships at sea
and air, operating aboard 58 aircraft and 15 nearby vessels, while 8,000
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and
Coast Guardsmen were on the ground at any given time.
According to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
study, the U.S. Government (USG)
channeled $461.7 million via military actors to Haiti in 2010 through the
Department of Defense (DoD)
Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid.
While the earthquake response effort is over, the U.S. military continues
to execute a humanitarian mission in
Haiti and support the work of Haiti’s government and international
agencies in recovery. Here are just a few
examples of the humanitarian assistance that the U.S. military continues
to execute in Haiti:
Disaster Preparedness
Since the devastating 2010 earthquake, the United States Southern Command
(SOUTHCOM), in
partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
concurrence of
Government of Haiti (GoH), has completed more than 60 collaborative
projects in the field of
humanitarian assistance and disaster response with a total budget of $45
million. SOUTHCOM
constructed 10 emergency operations centers (EOC)/Disaster Relief
Warehouses (DRW) in each
department and eight fire stations throughout the country. The EOC is
where the GoH and international
partners come together during an emergency to coordinate response,
allocate resources and plan for
recovery activities. The DRW serves as a central point for aid
distribution to shelters and other
temporary evacuation locations.
In addition, there are eight community clusters of which four are located
in Artibonite department, two in Sud
department (Les Cayes) and two in the Grand’Anse department (Jeremie).
Comprised of a school, a clinic, and
a well, the cluster is the result of joint efforts between SOUTHCOM and
local authorities to provide a
community center for the outlaying settlements and serves as a shelter
during a disaster. The USG’s mission is
to collaborate with the GoH and international partners so that Haiti is
better prepared to cope after a sudden
disaster (earthquakes and mudslides) or an imminent disaster (tropical
storms and hurricanes). Also, these
strategically located regional centers can alleviate swarms of people
rushing towards the capital in search of
food and shelter.
As part of the whole-of-government approach to support the recovery
initiatives, USAID’s Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has supported the Directorate of Civil
Protection (DCP), a Haitian version
of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to develop a
national emergency response plan,
specifically for hurricane response. This plan can be adapted for use in
other emergency responses such as
landslides and flooding. More importantly, it provides a framework for
integrating the DCP and international
partners under the emergency response system. This integration has
streamlined the relationship between the
DCP and international partners and has improved information sharing along
all emergency management
stakeholders prior to and during events.
The GoH has been committed to improving its disaster response capability
and continues to make gradual
progress since 2010. The DCP has successfully utilized the National EOC to
manage Hurricanes Isaac and
Sandy in 2012 and supported the response to the cholera outbreak in 2010
with the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), United Nations (UN), and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs). Last November, the
efficiency of disaster preparedness was tested once again. When copious
rain had caused flooding in and
around the city of Cap Haitien in northern Haiti, at least 2,000 homes
were destroyed, 12,000 people were
displaced, and 12 lives were lost. A vast number of crops had been damaged
and livestock were killed. The
DCP immediately activated the EOCs/DRWs in the northern region to
coordinate responses from the GoH
agencies, UN and NGOs. The GoH had successfully managed the disaster
without requesting assistance from
the USG.
With the EOC/DRWs in every department, response infrastructure and relief
resources are readily available in
affected areas after a disaster. GoH officials are better prepared to
process and disseminate information and
coordinate responses in the face of disasters. The critical resources and
emergency workers are prepositioned
for faster responses to ease the suffering of people.
Louisiana National Guard Partnership
Once, there was a strong connection between Haiti and Louisiana, a former
Francophonie state. Louisiana has
never forgotten its Haitian connection, regularly lending assistance to
those who live on the island through
good times and bad. The Louisiana National Guard State Partnership with
Haiti is one of 22 Latin American
partnerships that spearheads the SOUTHCOM’s State Partnership Program
(SPP) and one of 65 worldwide
partnerships that makeup the National Guard State Partnership Program. The
Republic of Haiti signed a
bilateral affairs agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense and the
State of Louisiana in June 2011,
establishing the Louisiana National Guard (LANG) Partnership Program.
Since then, LANG has fostered a
solid relationship with the GoH and continues to be a viable enabler in
building capacity in Haiti.
LANG has witnessed the fruits of its enduring relationship with the
Haitian National Police (HNP) and the DCP.
LANG has conducted over 60 military-to-civilian engagements to support the
SOUTHCOM’s security
cooperation objectives since partnership inception. Engagements have
focused on supporting senior
leadership visit, interoperability with international partners and NGOs,
assisting in the development of
emergency response capacity and promoting respect for human rights.
The National Guardsmen have exchanged ideas with their Haitian
counterparts acquired during combat
deployments as well as those learned through other disasters such as
Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. During
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response, 3,000 National Guardsmen
assisted in the Gulf oil spill cleanup
efforts. This deployment has given LANG solid experience to share
specialized expertise with Haitian
counterparts including its processes for supporting the National Incident
Command System and executing
response efforts at all levels.
During the fiscal year (FY) 2014, LANG conducted 16 subject matter expert
exchanges in Haiti valued at
$608,000 to promote contingency planning and response which increased the
technical expertise of 388
Haitian government officials. DCP personnel and HNP officers have
benefitted from subject matter exchanges
on FEMA’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) and have also
participated in simulation disaster
response exercises sponsored by LANG. These professional exchanges between
Haiti and Louisiana have
resulted in GoH’s adoption of U.S.-based knowledge and techniques for
disaster preparedness and response.
These exchanges establish a solid base from which further engagement can
build upon with the goal of
enabling the GoH to manage and coordinate national disaster response with
minimal outside support. In fact,
strong partnership with Louisiana has increased GoH’s confidence to the
point where they are now conducting
disaster readiness rehearsals on their own.
Denton Cargo Program
The Denton Cargo Program provides transportation for approved humanitarian
assistance commodities
destined for approved countries. The program is jointly administered by
USAID and the DoD. It allows for the
transport of humanitarian goods on a space available basis using U.S.
military transportation. The program
was initially created to use the extra space on U.S. cargo aircraft that
were delivering supplies into Central
America. The shipment utilized space available on a routine flight to
Haiti to fly commissary goods, supplies
and equipment to military personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy
Port-au-Prince.
Haiti, still recovering from the devastating earthquake, receives tons of
donated goods from the U.S. annually.
Since 2010, the U.S. military conducted more than 100 flights carrying
more than 3,000 metric tons of
humanitarian goods. During the FY 2011, approximately 393 tons of
humanitarian goods were delivered from
the U.S. to Haiti. The goods delivered increased dramatically in 2012 as a
combination of disasters struck in
Haiti, drought in the first part of the year, followed by Tropical Storm
Isaac in August and Hurricane Sandy in
October. During the FY 2012, approximately 964 tons of goods were
delivered. While internally displaced
people remain high and recurring disasters continues to threaten
vulnerable population, large volumes of
goods flowed to Haiti in FY 2013 and FY 2014 as approximately 1,543 and
1,193 tons of goods were delivered
respectively.
Delivery items are mostly food, clothing, and education supplies donated
by the U.S.-based charity
organizations to the GoH directly or approved charity organizations
operating in Haiti. Sometimes, the program
approves large items. Since FY 2011, the Denton Cargo Program delivered 12
fire trucks and ambulance
vehicles to HNP firefighters and first responders. In August 2012, Florham
Park Fire Department in New Jersey
donated a fire truck to the Volunteer Emergency Service of
Croix-des-Bouquets; a small city situated just
outside Port-au-Prince. Prior to the Croix-des-Bouquets Volunteer
Emergency Service, there was no
emergency response service in the area. The fire truck is the first fire
suppression vehicle in the history of the
city.
The Denton Cargo Program makes the humanitarian mission possible. Because
donated items are on the
military plane, the goods are expedited and delivered without delay.
Transportation costs are one of the
biggest expenses charity organizations face with international aid.
Through opportunities such as the Denton
Cargo Program, additional savings can be achieved through pooling and
sharing of resources. The money
saved can be used to bring more goods to more people in need.
Five Years Later
Before the earthquake, Haiti was already one of the poorest countries in
the Western Hemisphere. Five years
after the earthquake, Haiti is still challenged, with over 200,000
internally displaced people still living in
temporary shelters in difficult conditions and children collecting
plastics bottles from the trash in order to
survive. Recovery has been long and fraught with difficulty with the
threat of cholera and regular tropical
storms, but the people of Haiti and international communities are making
steady progress every day. Children
dressed in neatly pressed school uniforms with colorful ribbons tied to
their hair are going to school in the
morning. Construction crews are working late into the night paving the
washed out roads or laying cinder
blocks for building houses under dim light.
After five years of dedicated support, the U.S. military has been
recognized by the GoH and international
communities for taking on a leading role in expanding disaster readiness
capacity, promoting respect for
human rights, and delivering goods to reconstruct a more equitable future
for the people of Haiti. The U.S.
military has emphasized the importance of building partner capacity to
address emerging threats. Instability in
Haiti will threaten U.S. and partners’ interests in the Caribbean. DoD’s
efforts to humanitarian missions are
designed to promote stability in Haiti and the region. When this close
neighbor with strong people-to-people
ties is more prosperous, secure, and stable, Haitians and Americans both
benefit.
Note:
1. Haiti is divided into 10 departments (French, départements), “provinces”.
2. Any opinions, analysis, recommendations, or conclusions should be
attributed to the author, and is not
necessarily the view of DoD, DHS, or the USG
About the author:
Commander Ted Kim, U.S. Coast Guard, is Senior Defense Official, Defense
Attaché, and Chief of Security
Cooperation Office (SCO) at the U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is
a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy and earned advanced degrees from the University of New Orleans,
the George Washington
University and Georgetown University. The author would like to thank the
SCO, SOUTHCOM, and the
Louisiana National Guard for their dedication and hard work.
http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/US-assistance-helps-Haiti-respond-to-recent-floods.aspx
US assistance helps Haiti respond to recent floods
11/25/2014
By Jose Ruiz, U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs
MIAMI -- Haiti’s ongoing efforts to increase its disaster response
capabilities with U.S. and international
assistance showed demonstrable progress earlier this month when the
country’s FEMA equivalent, the
Direction de la Protection Civile, rendered aid to communities impacted by
heavy rainfall, floods and landslides
in Cap-Haitien and nearby towns.
According to the United Nations Development Program, 17 people were killed
by the effects of the devastating
weather, which flooded more than 15,000 houses and forced an estimated
6,500 citizens to seek temporary
refuge in emergency shelters. The floods also affected over 2,200 hectares
of crops in one of the country’s
most fertile areas.
The Haitian government responded to this recent natural disaster without
requesting U.S. disaster-relief
assistance, thanks in part to disaster preparedness projects and
activities funded by U.S. Southern
Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP).
In the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, the
U.S. Embassy in Port-au-
Prince, USAID’s Office of Response Coordination and Joint Task Force-Haiti
identified 62 humanitarian
assistance projects to help the government of Haiti strengthen the
country’s ability to mitigate the
impact of natural disasters on the safety and well-being of its citizens.
As part of this U.S. government-led assistance plan, $29 million was
allocated through HAP to fund the
construction of emergency-response facilities across the country,
including nine emergency
operations centers, nine disaster-relief warehouses, and14 fire stations.
Eight community clusters
were also constructed, each consisting of a community center that doubles
as a shelter, a medical
clinic, a school and a water well. The assistance also included training
and equipment for first
responders and disaster relief personnel.
HAP planners and SOUTHCOM’s Security Cooperation Office in Port au Prince
coordinated the assistance
closely with Haitian ministries, the U.S. State Department and the U.S.
Agency for International Development
(USAID).
This sustained engagement with Haiti helped the country build its disaster
relief capabilities and made a
positive difference in its response to the recent flooding.
After the country experienced heavy rainfall earlier this month, DPC
activated and utilized one of the
emergency operations centers constructed under the plan, located within
the Nord Department in Haiti’s
northeast region. Leading its regional relief operations from the center,
DPC has worked closely with UN and
NGO experts in the country to respond to the crisis, aid victims, and
distribute relief supplies.
According to data posted on www.reliefweb.int by the United Nations’
Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Haiti has experienced more than 30 natural
disasters and weather-related
emergencies since 2005, about a third of them involving floods.
Each emergency operations center and disaster relief warehouse compound
constructed in Haiti under the
interagency assistance plan costs approximately $2.2 million to build and
supports the Caribbean nation’s
disaster readiness throughout infrastructure’s lifespan.
By comparison, a week-long, U.S. military disaster relief deployment
consisting of 100 personnel and three
helicopters comes with an estimated cost of approximately $2.5 million,
according to U.S. Southern Command
Humanitarian Assistance Program experts.
The command last deployed military personnel and resources to Haiti to
support U.S. government-led disaster
relief operations following the January 2010 earthquake. In September
2008, SOUTHCOM diverted the
amphibious ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) to waters off the Haitian coast,
where it supported USAID-led efforts
to assist communities impacted by flooding after a succession of
hurricanes and tropical storms severely
impacted the country.
http://www.metisolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/HA-DR-Haiti-Miragoane-press-release.docx
METIS Solutions Awarded Contract Task Order to Provide Humanitarian
Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) and Disaster Preparedness (DP) Assessment,
Logistics, and Training (ATL) Services in Miragoane, Haiti
Alexandria, VA
24 April 2014
METIS Solutions, LLC announced today it has been selected as the prime
contractor to provide
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Disaster Relief Warehouse (DRW)
Training and Equipment
under U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Civil Military Assistance (CMA)
Division, Humanitarian
Assistance Program (HAP) and their efforts to support the Haitian
government’s emergency response
management. This contract is aimed at improving crisis management
capability and disaster response
efficiency and assuring the Haitian population that their government can
provide security for its
citizens.
Under the Haiti-Miragoane DRW and EOC training and equipment project,
METIS will provide services that
include inspecting current DRW and EOC facilities to ensure adequacy,
purchasing and installing equipment,
developing training programs, and then training personnel on use of EOC
and DRW equipment. The
Miragoane EOC will serve as the regional platform for emergency management
throughout the province.
Michael Waltz, METIS President said, “Any government must be able to
respond to their citizens needs in their
time of need. METIS is very pleased to be supporting U.S. Southern Command
and the Haitian government
in their efforts towards building Haitian capacity in humanitarian
assistance and disaster preparedness.”
METIS Solutions, LLC, is a growing small business providing strategic
solutions to global problems in the
defense and security fields for government and private sector clients. For
more information please visit
www.metisolutions.com.
Metis Solutions, LLC
1660 Duke Street – Suite 201
Alexandria, VA 22314
(877) 837-4149
http://haiti.usembassy.gov/pr-disaster-relief-inaguration-gonaives-feb-25-2014.html
Inauguration of an Emergency Operations Center, a Disaster Relief warehouse
and fire station in Gonaives
February 26, 2014
Directoer of Civil Protection Alta Jean Baptiste speaks at the
inauguration of the emergency operations center
in Gonaives.
On the morning of Monday, February 24, 2014 in the city of Gonaives
(Artibonite), the opening ceremony was
held for an Emergency Operations Center and a warehouse.
The U.S. Southern Command built these structures through its U.S. Armed
Forces’ in Haiti
Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP), in collaboration with the Embassy
of the United States,
USAID, the National Emergency Operations Center and the Ministry of
Interior and Territorial
Collectivities.
The 4,000 square foot building housing the Emergency Operations Centers
was built to withstand
hurricane-force winds. The warehouse covers an area of 4,800 square feet,
costing approximately
US$1,193,270. In addition, this project includes training and equipment
for members of the Directorate
of Civil Protection working in the Northwest department.
The EOC and DRW provide the DPC with the capability of conducting long
term planning, storage, and
management for a rapid response to situations throughout the country.
These facilities, which are present in
each department, provides the DPC locations from which to coordinate,
plan, execute and manage operations
with international partners, disaster relief management entities,
governmental agencies, and non-governmental
organizations.
DPC plans to use the regional EOC and DRW to coordinate public service,
safety, and security operations in
support of the official Carnival celebration in Gonaives scheduled for
01-04 March 2014.
Following the earthquake of 12 January 2010, the U.S. government is
committed to helping the Haitian
government to strengthen its capacity to respond to emergencies and
natural disasters. In partnership with the
Haitian government, including the Department of Civil Protection (DPC), a
total of ten (10) Emergency
Operations Centers are being built across the country for a total
investment of more than US$ 34 million, to
support the efforts of the Haitian government to better protect the public
and respond to emergencies.
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=60279
New Facilities Celebrated in Fort Liberte, Haiti
Story Number: NNS130613-21Release Date: 6/13/2013 8:28:00 PM
By Earl Bittner, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast Public
Affairs
Fort Liberte, Haiti (NNS) -- A celebration was held for the
newly-constructed emergency operations
center (EOC) and disaster readiness warehouse (DRW), June 5.
The new facilities, located within the Nord-Est Department of Haiti, were
built as part of U.S. Southern
Command's Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP) in Haiti.
"The 4,000 square-foot EOC will provide a central hub for the local
government to coordinate
responses following catastrophic events and report vital information to
the Haitian government for
rapid decision making," said Lt. j.g. Blaine Henning, resident officer in
charge of construction (ROICC),
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast (NAVFAC Southeast), Haiti.
"The 4,800 square-foot DRW should provide ample storage for items needed
to respond immediately
following a major disaster," said Henning. "The warehouse also creates a
place for supplies to be
redistributed from a central area outside of the Haitian capital to help
alleviate major supply chain
issues discovered following the 2010 earthquake."
Haitian President His Excellenacy Michel Martelly thanked the U.S.
government for the newlyconstructed
emergency operations center (EOC) and disaster readiness warehouse (DRW).
During the ceremony, Daniel Basile, Haitian Minister of the Interior,
signed the documents officially
transferring the EOC and DRW from U.S. Southern Command oversight to the
Government of Haiti. The
two buildings will be managed and staffed by members of the local
Directorate of Civil Protection
(DPC), the equivalent of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Participants in the inauguration ceremony were His Excellency, Michel
Martelly, the President of Haiti; Cmdr.
Richter Tipton, senior defense official, U.S. Embassy; Daniel Basile, the
Minister of the Interior; Hugo Charles,
the delegue to the region; Guiteau Pierre, Fort Liberte mayor; and Madame
Jean Baptiste, director of DPC.
Also in attendance were Lt. j.g. Blaine Henning, NAVFAC Southeast ROICC
Haiti; Mr. Greg Marcellous,
NAVFAC Southeast project construction manager, Sgt. 1st Class Roland
Laforest, HAP program manager
U.S. Southern Command and the local DPC volunteers.
The $1.4 Million EOC and DRW are part of 62 Humanitarian Assistance
projects NAVFAC Southeast is
administering the design and construction of for U.S. Southern Command on
behalf of the Government of Haiti
and the Haitian people. The $33M program is being executed, with ROICC
Haiti oversight, through 20
contracts at 22 sites and will provide EOCs, DRWs, fire stations, medical
clinics, community centers and
schools for the Haitian people.
http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/US-donates-trucks,-boats-to-haitian-disaster-relief-agencies.aspx
NEWS RELEASE: US donates trucks, boats to Haitian disaster relief agencies
1/16/2014
From U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs
Updated 1/22/2013: Added link to U.S. Embassy Haiti news release.
HAITI (Jan. 16, 2014) -- U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Pamela A. White,
ceremoniously hands over the keys of 12
transport vehicles to Haitian officials. (Courtesy U.S. Embassy Haiti)
Point of Contact
U.S Southern Command Public Affairs Office
Mr. Jose Ruiz, Tel. 305-437-1213
e-mail: jose.a.ruiz9.civ@xxxxxxxx
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haiti’s disaster response capabilities were
boosted today after U.S. Ambassador
Pamela White and U.S. embassy officials donated 12 transport vehicles and
12 watercraft to Haitian
emergency response and civil protection agencies during a handover
ceremony in Port-au-Prince.
During the ceremony, the U.S. delivered six all-terrain, large cabin
pick-up trucks; six 20-foot, all-terrain cargo
trucks; and a dozen 18-foot search and rescue boats, purchased under U.S.
Southern Command’s
Humanitarian Assistance Program to extend the operational reach of Haitian
emergency response officials who
aid communities and citizens following natural disasters and other
life-threatening crises.
Representatives from Haiti’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security
accepted the keys for the vehicles on
behalf of Haitian National Police firefighters. The trucks will be used by
the Haitian Volunteer Firefighter
Association and will complement existing disaster relief capabilities at
six of 10 Emergency Operation Centers
constructed by the U.S. at departments across the country and donated to
help the nation strengthen and
expand essential disaster-response infrastructure and services.
The U.S. delegation presented the boats to officials from Haiti’s Ministry
of Interior and Territorial Collectives.
The boats will be used by the country’s Civil Protection Directorate to
support Emergency Operation Centers
and Disaster Relief Warehouses in the Artibonite, Centre, and Nord
departments in the country’s northern and
central regions.
A team of 10 first responders from Haiti traveled to Pineville, La., Jan.
6 to participate in a bilateral capacitybuilding
exchange covering search and rescue boat operations and maintenance with
subject matter experts
from the Louisiana National Guard, the latest in a long series of
engagements between the two under
Louisiana’s state partnership with Haiti.
Previous SOUTHCOM-funded assistance to Haiti has included more than $29
million for projects such
as the construction of eight community clusters in Hatte, Desdunes,
Torbeck, Les Cayes, Mandrin,
Ecole Pont Gaudin, Abricot and in Jeremie Chateau to help the Haitian
government support its citizens
and provide essential services.
The clusters consist of a school, medical clinic, and a community center
that also doubles as shelter in
the event of a disaster, along with a water-well. USSOUTHCOM also
constructed primary disaster
preparedness facilities, including 10 emergency operations centers, 10
disaster relief warehouses and
12 fire stations.
http://caribpr.com/ground-breaking-for-new-disaster-relief-and-emergency-operation-center-boosts-haitis-civilprotection-
network-in-the-nord-est-region/
For Immediate Release
Title: Ground-Breaking for New Disaster Relief and Emergency Operation Center
Boosts Haiti’s Civil Protection Network in the Nord-Est Region
Initiative is part of the Ministry of the Interior’s community-based
decentralization strategy, which seeks to build
a safety, infrastructure and institutional capacity network across Haiti.
FORT-LIBERTE, Haiti, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Haiti’s comprehensive
disaster preparedness
strategy advanced significantly with today’s groundbreaking ceremony for a
new emergency
operations center, disaster relief warehouse, and fire station in
Fort-Liberte. As the first of 10 such
emergency operations centers and disaster relief warehouses, eight
community clusters and 14 fire
stations to be constructed throughout Haiti, the Fort-Liberte facility
marks the beginning of the next
phase of construction under the auspices of the U.S. Southern Command’s
Humanitarian Assistance
Program in partnership with the Government of Haiti.
Presiding over the ground-breaking, Haiti’s Minister of the Interior,
Thierry Mayard-Paul remarked that
functional emergency operations centers and disaster relief warehouses
“are not only critical in saving lives
and minimizing damage during disasters; they also enhance institutional
capacity throughout Haiti so we can
increase safety in all parts of the country.”
Daniel Foote, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, representing the U.S.
Southern Command, noted that
Haiti’s civil preparedness projects have entered construction phase and
are one step closer to helping the
Government of Haiti provide vital services to communities in the Nord-Est
Department. “This Emergency
Operations Center will allow local emergency response personnel to collect
and analyze reported information,
make decisions, and manage Haiti’s collective response to emergencies or
natural disasters.”
He added that by providing additional fire-fighting and emergency service
capabilities to the Fort Liberte area,
the fire station facility will play a significant role in the event of a
larger-scale emergency within Haiti.
Minister Mayard-Paul concluded “The new facilities will also enable us,
through the Civil Protection Agency
(DCP), to improve the quality of life of our communities, providing vital
safety services. We could not do this
without the unwavering support of our friends in the United States who,
through Southern Command, the
embassy and USAID, along with the United Nations Development Program,
World Food and others in the
international community, help us turn necessities into plans, and plans
into reality.”
The new facilities are expected to be used as soon as available, with
plans to hold community first aid trainings
as part of the DPC’s recently-launched annual campaign, “Civil Protection
is Everyone’s Responsibility,”
already under way.
“At the Ministry of the Interior, we are following through on our
commitment to identify the most pressing needs
of the Haitian people, and turn those needs into plans that materialize
into actual infrastructure, tools and
programs that will benefit communities across the country,” said
Mayard-Paul. “That is the essence of our
community-based decentralization program.”
http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Haitian-Government-Establishes-Partnership-with-Louisiana-
National-Guard.aspx
Haitian Government Establishes Partnership with Louisiana National Guard
1/19/2012
From the U.S. Embassy, Haiti
The below is a press release from the U.S. Embassy, Haiti. Release
originally posted at
http://haiti.usembassy.gov/pr-goh-partners-la-national-guard-january-18-2012.html
Haitian and American authorities announced the establishment of the State
Partnership Program between the
Government of Haiti and the Louisiana National Guard (LANG).
Haitian Secretary of State for Local Communities Fritz Jean Louis, and the
Adjutant General of the LANG,
Brigadier General Glenn H. Curtis, made the announcement at a ceremony in
Tabarre. The agreement creates
professional and institutional linkages between the LANG and Haitian
authorities, focused on support to Haiti’s
emergency management agency, the Direction de la Protection Civile, as
well as the Haitian National Police
and Coast Guard.
Brigadier General Curtis said “We are truly committed to Haiti, and we
know that we will gain as much as we
give from this relationship with our Haitian colleagues.”
Secretary of State Jean Louis said “Louisiana and Haiti have a common
understanding of the challenges of our
environment. Haiti will bring to bear all of its assets and capabilities
to this partnership.”
The State Partnership Program brings together National Guard units from 46
U.S. states and territories with 65
partner-nations from around the world to increase capacity in the areas of
homeland security, disaster
response and mitigation, crisis management, border, port, and aviation
security, and emergency medical
response. Partner-nations include countries with large military forces,
like Chile and Poland, to Costa Rica and
Dominica, which do not have armies.
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Daniel Foote noted that strengthening Haiti’s
capacity to protect its citizens from
threats like crime, drug trafficking, and natural disasters was a priority
for the U.S. government and said, “We
believe that this partnership between Haiti and Louisiana and the
relationships that will be formed between
professionals will help make Haiti stronger and its people safer.”
In May 2010, then-Minister of Justice Paul Denis requested a partnership
with the LANG for Haiti. The LANG
deployed to Mandrin, Artibonite Department in 2010 and 2011 as part of the
New Horizons mission, where it
provided medical care to local residents and carried out school and water
well construction.
http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Task-Force-%27Good-Neighbor%27-leaves-Haiti-a-betterplace.
aspx
Task Force 'Good Neighbor' leaves Haiti a better place
6/22/2011
By Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 21, 2011 – Army Col. Kenneth Donnelly said he
will leave Haiti this week
a better man. But not before leaving Haiti a better place.
Donnelly, the commander of Task Force Bon Voizen, handed over the keys
yesterday to the two engineer
construction projects that the task force set out to complete when it hit
the ground here two months ago.
Tomorrow, its doctors and dentists will see their final patients, and
Donnelly will officially end the exercise in a
small ceremony at the airport here.
The task force is a Louisiana National Guard-led humanitarian exercise
sponsored by U.S. Southern
Command. Task force troops have been providing medical, dental and
veterinary care, and working on
engineering projects in two small villages.
"Today is more than just an end to our operations here … it is a new
beginning … ," Donnelly told a crowd of
community leaders and locals gathered for the final ceremonies at a newly
built school and medical clinic. "The
new facilities you see here today will provide meaningful education and
health care to the people in this area,
as well as mark significant progress in your efforts to rebuild and expand
critical infrastructure in the great
nation of Haiti."
The results of the task force's work will make a positive impact on the
lives of the people here..
Task force engineers built a three-room schoolhouse, a four-room medical
clinic with restroom facilities in the
small village of Upper Poteau, and also a four-room medical clinic in the
nearby village of Bardon Marchan.
Health care and education go hand-in-hand in the efforts to better the
lives of this impoverished area, local
officials said.
As the mayor and representatives from the ministries of health and
education spoke at both locations, an
interpreter was not needed to convey the crux of their message to Donnelly
and his troops.
"Merci," punctuated all of the speeches.
"Please take your hands out of your pockets to applaud the Americans," a
local mayor said.
"I can't find the words in my vocabulary to thank the Americans for
building the clinic," the local health ministry
representative said.
Since receiving his marching orders for this job more than nine months
ago, Donnelly has been a man on a
mission. His planning has been methodical and by the book. Preparing for
this mission, he said, is the same as
for any other deployment.
The difference, Donnelly said, is in the outcome.
"I felt good coming here. The people of Haiti need our help. I feel like
I'm part of the solution for them," he said.
"I was able to come here, and not only have a passion about the mission,
but have a passion for the people of
Haiti.
"And I think I'm going to be a better person for it. I think it made me a
better man," he added.
Donnelly's goal on the ground was to build on the successes of last year's
task force and to set the standard
for any task force that follows him.
"I think we achieved that," he said.
Last year's earthquake was the worst experienced in Haiti in the last 200
years, and it generated an estimated
$11.5 billion in damages and reconstruction costs, according to the U.S.
State Department. U.S. government
humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti total over $1 billion. The United
States pledged an additional $1.15 billion
toward reconstruction efforts in the areas of energy, health, agriculture,
governance and security.
All totaled, the task force's efforts will cost $40 million, including
pay, logistics, local contracts, shipping
supplies and equipment here, and the actual cost of the projects.
Officials here acknowledge the services they have provided are a "drop in
the bucket" compared to the need.
But, while the medical services provide some immediate relief, the
engineering projects are designed to
provide long-term solutions to the problems plaguing the area's health
care and education efforts.
Health care is nonexistent in these small villages. Pregnant women often
ride for miles on the backs of
motorcycles along rutted dirt roads to the nearest hospital. A clinic in
these towns oftentimes means the
difference between receiving care and medicine, or not.
The local ministry of health official promised that the clinics would be
staffed and stocked with needed
medicine and equipment, a condition set by Donnelly before the task force
would commit its resources.
Besides the local ministries, Donnelly's staff reached out to
nongovernmental organizations and the U.S. State
Department to fill requests for equipment and medicine.
"One of the things I definitely pushed for this year was to make sure the
facilities got turned over to the right
hands and that it was turnkey -- filled, furnished, ready to be
operational when we turned the keys over after
the ceremony," Donnelly said.
The local ministry of education official promised that the school would be
used to cater to adults, teaching them
agricultural vocations needed to get jobs and live in this rural area.
Although public education is free, the cost is still high for Haitian
families who have to pay for uniforms, books
and supplies. According to State Department data, only 65 percent of
primary school-aged children are actually
enrolled, and at the secondary level, the figure drops to around 20
percent. Less than 35 percent of those who
enter will complete primary school. This leaves the largest portion of the
adult population under-educated and
nearly unemployable.
It is the long-term impact of these facilities that, officials hope, will
help change Haiti's impoverished landscape
one community at a time.
The Louisiana National Guard, twice called upon to perform these relief
efforts since the earthquake, has
requested through the National Guard Bureau to formally solidify its
relationship with the country by making it
an official state partner.
Donnelly said a strong foundation for the relationship is set on both
heritage and geography similar to both.
Both Louisiana and Haiti were once French colonies. Slavery and the
struggle for equality are also common
between the two. French and Creole are common languages and many of the
customs and courtesies are
similar, Donnelly said.
Also, Louisiana and Haiti are located in the gulf coast region, and both
are susceptible to hurricanes.
"I think we can communicate with them," Donnelly said. "We can help them
and they can help us. We have
what it takes to help them."
Just over two hours by air from Florida, Haiti's proximity to the United
States also makes it an ideal deployment
location for training.
"I think we'll continue to be able to train our soldiers and do it well in
a real-time situation," Donnelly said. "We
get training on our end. They get improved infrastructure on their end. I
think it's a win-win situation."
The deputy task force commander, Army Lt. Col. Michael Pryor, said the
relationship also puts the United
States on good footing with the rest of the Caribbean community.
"They see that we're willing to come here and help out. I think it gives
them confidence that, within our
capabilities, the United States will help any of our good neighbors that
are down here when they need it," Pryor
said.
Pryor is one of the 160 "duration staff," or those who have spent the
entire time here on the ground. The task
force is commanded by members of the Louisiana National Guard, but more
than 2,300 troops from other
states and three countries have joined in for two-week rotations.
Nearing the end of his military career, Pryor said this deployment has
given him a fresh perspective on his
priorities.
"I learned again how valuable the little things are. It's the small things
in life that are really, really important," he
said. "[When] you can eat, and you can sleep safely at night, and you're
well and not sick from anything, that's
the stuff that's really important.”
Despite seeing photos and hearing the stories of the poverty here, Pryor
said nothing prepared him to see it
firsthand. It became real to him on the first day when a boy about the age
of his own 13-year-old son came to
his car begging for a bottle of water.
"I thought I was prepared, but not exactly. When you see that face and
it's the face of your child, just in a
different country, it's very moving," he said.
After driving to each of the sites where the task force would operate,
Pryor said he realized that this mission
went far past its training value. The Artibonite department, or province,
where the task force operated, is about
70 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. Thousands fled to this rural area
after the earthquake to look for jobs,
food and water. Haitian officials chose this area for the task force
efforts because they would rather improve
the infrastructure here than have the displaced return to the already
overcrowded inner city that is still
struggling to recover.
"I could look and see that … it's all going to be worth it because these
people will really appreciate our help,"
he said.
Pryor said as he drove along the countryside, he saw two sides to the
locals. On one side they were poor and
in need. But on the other, they are hard working and take pride in their
work and country.
"You pass by the markets and you see that although some just have a little
bit of fruit to sell, it's all stacked
very nicely because they have pride in what they're trying to do," he
said. "It's kind of a strange combination of
folks in need and folks who are really prideful of what they do here."
Pryor said he hopes that the state's partnership with Haiti becomes
official. Despite more than 20 years in the
military and a tour in Iraq, he puts this deployment at the top of his
career highlights.
"I'm going to take home a really good feeling. Of all the things I've done
in my career, this -- by far -- has
touched more people than anything I've done," he said.
http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Groundbreaking-held-to-mark-beginning-of-Haiti-constructionprogram.
aspx
Groundbreaking held to mark beginning of Haiti construction program
5/11/2011
By Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast Public Affairs Office
LES CAYES, HAITI – U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) broke ground May 9 in
Les Cayes, Haiti to
mark the beginning of construction of 58 projects that are part of the
SOUTHCOM Humanitarian Assistance
Program (HAP). The projects are located throughout Haiti to assist the
country in preparing for any future
natural disasters.
The ceremony took place at the site of two contracts. The first consists
of a 4,000-square foot Emergency
Operations Center (EOC) and a 4,800-square foot Disaster Relief Warehouse
(DRW) that will provide
the Regional Department of Civil Protection the ability to coordinate and
effectively respond to
emergencies and provide necessary relief to the Haitian people. The lead
contractor is GDG Benton &
Construction from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The second contract is a community cluster which consists of an
eight-classroom school, community center,
medical clinic and water well. The community cluster provides much needed
facilities to the local population
but will also function as evacuation centers in the case of hurricanes or
other natural disaster. The lead
contractor is Palgag Building Technologies from Kibutz Gaash, Israel.
“Through the construction of these emergency operations centers and
disaster relief warehouses, the U.S.
Government seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian Government to
protect its people, and in doing so,
reduce Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters,” said the U.S.
Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth H. Merten.
The projects total $2.9 million and are scheduled to be completed in
November and September 2011,
respectively.
Participants in the groundbreaking ceremony were The Honorable Kenneth H.
Merten, U.S. Ambassador to
Haiti; Antoine Bien Aime, Minister of Interior, Government of Haiti;
Kevenor Estinvil, Departmental Delegate,
Government of Haiti; Cmdr. John Reed, Senior Defense Official, U.S.
Embassy; Yvon Cherry, Mayor of Les
Cayes; Lt. Cmdr. Luis Holkon, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction
(ROICC) Haiti, Naval Facilities
Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast; Yoav Zilber, Regional Manager,
Palgag Building Technologies,
Ltd.; and Sony Gay, Vice President, GDG Benton & Construction, S.A.
Overall, the $31 million SOUTHCOM HAP will construct an EOC and DRW in
each of the ten Haitian
departments (analogous to States); ten fire stations; and eight community
clusters throughout Haiti.
Construction of the Haiti HAP projects are expected to continue until the
end of fiscal year 2012.
ROICC Haiti was established by NAVFAC Southeast in November 2010 as a
forward-deployed field office to
administer the Haiti HAP construction. They currently manage eight
multi-project contracts in Haiti, with an
additional ten contracts to be awarded prior to September 2011. Besides
ROICC Haiti, a robust team of
Project Managers, Architects/Engineers, Contract Specialists and others
diligently support the Haiti HAP
projects back at NAVFAC’s Facilities Engineering Command in Jacksonville,
Fla.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-southern-command-transitions-haiti-efforts-95363374.html
U.S. Southern Command Transitions Haiti Efforts
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 1 [2010]/PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Southern
Command's (Southcom) Joint
Task Force Haiti officially completed its mission today marking the end of
Operation Unified Response almost
five months after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Jan. 12 devastated the country.
However, Southcom's commitment to Haiti continues with engineering
projects as part of New Horizons, as
well as visits by medical assistance teams. Additionally, the medical
staff aboard the U.S. Navy amphibious
assault ship Iwo Jima will provide basic medical care and perform
specialized surgeries during a visit to the
Caribbean nation this summer.
According to Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander, U.S. Southern Command, "These
engineering projects and
medical services were coordinated and approved by the Government of Haiti
and USAID and demonstrate our
continued support to the people of Haiti. We also have a robust capability
to rapidly respond to any future
disaster situation in Haiti."
New Horizons, is a humanitarian assistance exercise involving
approximately 500 National Guard troops, will
take place in various locations in Haiti outside the country's capital,
Port au Prince, from June to September
and includes the construction of schools, clinics, and community centers
that can also serve as hurricane
shelters. USS Iwo Jima is scheduled to arrive at the Port de Paix area in
July.
In addition to these New Horizons activities, U.S. Southern Command will
fund $13 million in disaster
preparedness and humanitarian assistance projects designed to enhance the
capacity of the
Government of Haiti to provide essential services to its citizens. The
projects include the construction
of four emergency operations centers and four disaster response warehouses
that will increase the
Haitian government's response capability to future natural and man-made
disasters.
There were many significant accomplishments achieved by JTF-Haiti during
its tenure in Haiti. U.S. military
medical professionals evaluated and treated thousands of earthquake
survivors and military surgeons
conducted nearly 1,000 surgeries. The majority of the surgeries were
performed onboard the hospital ship
USNS Comfort.
U.S. military forces delivered more than 2.6 million bottles of water, 2.2
million food rations, 17 million pounds
of bulk food and 149,000 pounds of medical supplies into Haiti.
Specialized units also improved and increased
the capacity at the south pier at the Port au Prince's main port facility.
Further, U.S. troops looked ahead by assisting the Haitian government and
the international community in
planning for the next stage of the humanitarian response. For example, JTF
Haiti assessments teams
evaluated public health requirements, the structural integrity of critical
infrastructure, and longer-term food and
nutrition needs throughout their tour.
Perhaps most renowned U.S. military contribution to Haiti's recovery was
the reopening and operation of
Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport in Port au Prince by the
airmen of the 1st Special Operations Wing.
Within 30 hours of the earthquake and less than 30 minutes after landing,
they controlled airfield operations
from a card table and used hand-held radios to safely land and take-off
hundreds of aircrafts.
"I am proud of Joint Task Force Haiti's accomplishments and the men and
women who filled its ranks," said Lt.
Gen. Ken Keen, the first commander of the JTF. "We could not have done our
mission, however, without the
collaborative support and interaction with the Government of Haiti,
MINUSTAH, other agencies of our
government; especially Department of State and USAID and numerous NGOs all
of whom were dedicated to
helping the people of Haiti recover from this disaster."
New Horizons missions began in the mid-1980s as an annual series of joint
and combined humanitarian
assistance exercises that Southcom conducts with Latin American and
Caribbean nations. The exercises
typically last several months, providing medical and infrastructure
projects. These missions give deployed U.S.
military forces invaluable training opportunities to work with partner
nations.
USS Iwo Jima is part of Continuing Promise 2010 which is an annual
humanitarian civic assistance exercise
supported by U.S. and international military medical personnel, U.S.
government agencies, regional health
ministries, NGOS and U.S. academic institutions. In addition to Haiti, USS
Iwo Jima will also visit ports in
other countries in the region over the course of the summer and fall.
- - -
leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you. If you wish to join or unsubscribe please click on this link:
//www.freelists.org/list/corbettlist
