Dezastrele naturale si comunicarea
(Later Edit) “For the past 3 days, Tahoma and Mohawk have had to make hundreds of decisions on how to help these people. We are all exhausted. We are all running on adrenalin. We are working in the heat, sweating. No one goes to the bathroom until be get back to the ship from 0830 to 1715 Hrs. Both Gomez and I have been ordered to take breaks. It is non-stop. Today, I had to ask what day it was. I had no idea. Thank God we are starting to get a few people out. Tomorrow we hope to get at least 12 of the worst out.”
HS1 Larry J Berman, United States Coast Guard
Ce invatam in materie de comunicare dupa cutremurul din Haiti?
Situatia dupa cutremurul din Haiti este foarte grea. Estimarile indica zeci de mii de victime. Dupa primele informatii este un dezastru comparabil cu tsunamiul din Oceanul Indan (2004) si cu cu Uraganul Katrina care a lovit New Orleansul.
Departamentul de Stat a estimat ca 3 milioane de oameni au nevoie urgenta de ajutor.
Principalele “hub”-uri logistice din Haiti sunt la pamant. La propriu. Turnul de control al Aeroportului din Port-au-Prince s-a prabusit, docul din principalul port al tarii este pe jumatate scufundat, macaralele inutilizabile. Soselele dinspre Republica Dominicana sunt blocate. TOATE spitalele sunt intutilizabile (multe s-au prabusit).(Later Edit: singurul spital care a operat pe 14 ianuarie a fost Spitalul Militar Argentinian; intre timp au fost desfasurate mai multe spitale mobile de catre Statele Unite, Israel, Rusia, Qatar, Franta, Iordania, Columbia, Brazilia, de asemenea si de catre Médecins Sans Frontières si Crucea Rosie). Crucea Rosie a ramas fara medicamente.
(Later Edit) Situatia prezentata de NY Times in 16 ianuarie:
(Later Edit) BBC prezinta care era ieri 17 ianuarie situatia din punct de vedere logistic. Titlul articolului spune totul cred: “Logistical nightmare”.
(Later Edit) Pe harta de mai jos, cu portocaliu si rosu sunt zonele afectate.
(Later Edit) Inagini din satelit luate pe 14 ianuarie (Unosat)
(Later Edit) Ca sa va faceti o imagine priviti setul de fotografii de pe TIME (inca un set aici atentie, imagini dure):
Intr-o situatie de urgenta de nivelul asta, cand nimic nu mai functioneaza, primii care ajung la fata locului sunt militarii. In cazul de fata, primii la fata locului au fost cei din fortele speciale ale U.S. Air Force, care au repus in functiune aeroportul (comunicatiile, balizajul, alimentarea cu energie etc). (Later Edit: “We arrived the first evening with three U.S. aircraft. Within 28 minutes we established command and control, airfield management, and were able to land aircraft that night,” said Col. “Buck” Elton, Joint Special Operations Task Force commander. “On a typical day, the Port-au-Prince airport lands about three aircraft. Since we landed Wednesday, over 600 aircraft have landed and taken off.”) Aeroportul are la dispozitie doar 2 cisterne pentru realimentarea avioanelor si din cauza asta dupa unele surse ieri erau 44 de avioane in asteptarea manevrelor pentru decolare.
(Later Edit) Conform U.S. Air Force Live:
“America’s Airmen hit the ground running here early this week as part of the U.S. Southern Command contingent associated with earthquake relief operations.
Combat Control Teams from Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., immediately established control of the airspace and have facilitated more than 125 landings here. Today Haitian air controllers returned to duty, providing long range control while the CCTs prioritized incoming aircraft, directed landings and take offs while balancing confined parking ramp space.
Special Operations weathermen kept incoming and outgoing aircrews apprised of real-time weather data enabling safe and smooth operations at this austere location.
Air Force pararescue jumpers waded into the fray of destruction, assisting civilian rescue agencies operating within the devastated capital. More than 20 people who were still alive were reported to have been removed from the rubble.
Air Force security forces teamed with Navy relief flights to provide security at multiple humanitarian supply landing zones. Today’s flights marked a significant milestone as incoming supplies reached the many victims in need of life-sustaining support.”
“Our special tactics teams have three specific capabilities that will allow for them to provide the best possible combination of support to Haiti. We are scheduled to be among the first people on the ground over there and we don’t know the extent of damage done to the airfield. Our goal is to have the airfield ready to take on full traffic by tonight. We bring our own lights and communication equipment so we are prepared. Our members are trained paramedics and trained in trauma related to disasters like this. Since our airfield will be open, we will be able to treat and medevac victims if needed. Just like if we were deployed in combat, we are ready to conduct search and rescue missions to include rescuing members in everything from a collapsed building to an elevator shaft. Weather will play a huge role in air operations. Our Airmen will take on-scene observations so incoming aircraft will know what to expect and can plan accordingly.” Maj. Jason Daniels, 720th Operations Support Squadron director of operations
Cam in stilul asta se ghideaza acum avioanele la Port-au-Prince:
Iar comunicatiile internationale se desfasoara in mare parte prin satelit (fotografia nu e din Haiti):
Later Edit: Wall Street Journal:
“Less than a week after a powerful earthquake shattered the Haitian capital, Toussaint Louverture International Airport—the port of entry for millions of pounds in emergency aid—is chaotic but functioning. What was a dangerous aviation free-for-all in the disaster’s immediate aftermath, with aid planes jostling for space on the single runway, is now being tamed by a small team of Air Force special-operations troops who control air traffic from a folding table set up on a patch of dirt beside the runway.
“We’re trying to make order out of chaos,” said Chief Master Sgt. Tyler Foster.
The airmen have guided more than 819 planes in as of Monday morning, including 171 on Sunday night. On Monday, a cargo plane, from Charleston, S.C., arrived with 39,472 bottles of water and 31,256 packaged meals.
The airmen have been here since the evening after the earthquake, when they found that aid planes were landing randomly. They brought enough landing lights for the 10,000-foot runway, although the existing lights were still functioning. The control tower, however, was too badly damaged to be used. So the airmen put their table out next to the runway and, within 20 minutes of arriving, they began contacting airplanes with the message, “This is Port-au-Prince tower.” They have been there since, working and sleeping in 12-hour shifts.
They landed about 50 planes that first night, and guided 35 or 40 to take off. There were only 10 parking spots by the main terminal, so aircraft stacked up quickly, blocking each other’s movements. Small planes are sent to park on grassy fields. Helicopters are restricted to one side of the runway so that they don’t interfere with arriving jets.”
USA Today: “One day after the earthquake in Haiti struck, relief planes were coming in from all directions, landing on a first-come-first-served basis and getting too close to one another on the ground. Nobody was coordinating. Aid wasn’t moving.
The air-traffic control tower was damaged and unsafe. So Sgt. Chris Grove, whose expertise extends to calling in airstrikes from the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, brought his squad to a spot near the runway and set up what would become an air-traffic control center. They went to talk to pilots on the ground. “We told them, hey, we’re Air Force combat controllers. We’re taking over the airfield,” Grove said. From a dirt patch, two young American sergeants began directing air traffic for one of the largest humanitarian operations in history.”
Foto U.S. Air Force
Chief Master Sergeant Tyler Foster is the Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs deployed chief of operations at the Troussaint Louverture International Airport in Port au Prince, Haiti. He and his team are supporting U.S. Southern Command relief efforts in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the nation.
“There is no “easing” into the day here at the military encampment at the Port au Prince airport. Navy and Marine helos hit the deck here at 0630 sharp. There’s no snooze button on that alarm. You roll out of your cot, put the same uniform on that you’ve worn for the last 3 or 4 days. Does it stink? Who knows, everyone is in the same boat. This ain’t no formal dinner. These are bare base operations. Our focus is mission. Our mission is saving lives.
Bleary-eyed Airmen migrate toward the port-o-lets then off to their work space: a table, a steel chair, the flightline, the rubble of a building. There’s no complaining. You grab a cup of joe if it’s ready. Otherwise, it’s water. Water all day every day to keep hydrated.
You learn to tune out the incessant and essential cacophony the ever-busy flightline offers. The word “noisy” doesn’t do this environment justice. At times it is deafening. The hum of the flightline means life saving supplies, equipment and personnel are on their way to the Haitian citizens who need them. One life at a time. That’s all we can do. Save one life at a time.”
Foto: U.S. Air Force
Apoi au ajuns primele companii civile, printre care DHL Disaster Response Team Americas, specializata in oferirea suportului logistic.
Later Edit: Crucea Rosie a trimis 3 unitati pe 16 ianuarie:
“Meanwhile, the first of three massive Red Cross Red Crescent basic health care emergency response units (ERUs) arrived on 16 January. The ERU is designed to provide basic and immediate health care to 30,000 people. So far, 14 ERUs have been deployed to Haiti, with most expected to arrive in the coming days. They include water and sanitation units, logistic units, IT and telecommunication infrastructure, and a massive 250-bed hospital.”
Later Edit: U.S Navy a anuntat trimiterea a doua unitati “Seabees” (unitati mobile de constructii):
“Eighty Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 7 are deploying from Gulfport, Miss., and 14 Seabee divers from Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 1 will deploy from Virginia Beach, Va.
NMCB 7 Seabees will help remove debris, clear roads, and provide construction support. The battalion received the tasking Jan. 14 and immediately began preparations to get the 690 short tons of cargo ready to roll.
Personnel from Construction Battalion Center Gulfport and the 20th Seabee Readiness Group began pulling more than 40 pieces of civil engineer support equipment and other items from warehouses and preparing them to fly out with the detachment late Friday or early Saturday. The heavy equipment includes graders, front-end loaders, excavators and dump trucks.”
Sunt 3 directii ale comunicarii pe care le discut in postul asta:
1. Comunicarea catre autoritati;
2. Comunicarea catre populatie;
3. Comunicarea catre public.
1. La capitolul comunicare catre autoritati intra primul lucru pe care l-au facut americanii cand au ajuns la fata locului:
“We’ ve focused on getting command and control and communications there so that we can really get a better understanding of what’s going on.”
Refacerea telecomunicatiilor este prioritatea numarul 1 (in afara de logistica- asigurarea apei, hranei, medicamentelor, refacerea comunicatiilor aeriene/maritime/terestre si evident salvarea celor aflati sub daramaturi-efort predominant in primele 72 de ore).
Deci primul pas este obtinerea datelor de la fata locului. Pentru asta, ieri Pentagonul a trimis un avion de supraveghere P3 Orion si o drona Global Hawk (care a transmis imagini real-time si a facut fotografii) pentru a se estima proportiile dezastrului.
(Later Edit- Zborurile au continuat si in zilele urmatoare)
2. Comunicarea catre populatia afectata de cutremur este esentiala. Oamenii sunt socati, trebuie informati si linistiti. Pe vremuri, cand se faceau instructaje in Romania despre ce trebuie sa faci in caz de cutremur, se recomanda ca dupa ce opresti gazele, te adapostesti sub tocul usii (o idee foarte proasta, solutia cea mai buna este sa va puneti pe burta langa pat) si daca imobilul e afectat, la parasirea lui iei un radio cu acumulatori cu tine 
. (Later Edit: se pare ca nu era o idee proasta:
“Much has been made about the role flashier technologies like Twitter, Skype and text messaging have played in helping disaster victims find loved ones and communicate with international aid workers. But it is worth noting that, when all else fails, the low-tech hum of a radio frequency is sometimes the only line of communication that’s open.”)
Pe-atunci mijloacele de comunicare erau televiziunea publica, telefonia (fixa), radioul, telegraful, ziarele, megafoanele (si eventual porumbeii zburatori si tobosarii la sate 
). Radioul era cel mai sigur pentru ca in situatii de genul asta, centralele electrice sunt afectate si atunci n-ai cum sa te uiti la televizor.
Ce s-a schimbat de atunci?
a. A aparut Internetul.
b. A aparut telefonia mobila.
c. A aparut televiziunea prin cablu.
Sunt convins ca niciunul din aceste mijloace recente nu ar face fata intr-o situatie de genul asta in Romania.
(Later Edit In Port-au-Prince, Institutul de Telecomunicatii din Republica Dominicana -Indotel a instalat o legatura prin satelit iar Digicel Group, compania jamaicana care detine una din cele 3 retele de telefonie mobila din Haiti spune ca reteaua a fost afectata, dar e inca operationala, fiind insa congestionata din cauza apelurilor numeroase.)
Later Edit: Care era situatia comunicatiilor imediat dupa cutremur (informatie aparuta pe un blog haitian):
Later Edit: The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap – MSB) said on Wednesday it will be sending two people “as early as tonight” to support United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination (UNDAC) teams on their way to Haiti.
“It’s not uncommon for us to receive requests from the UN to help with IT and communications support when there is natural disaster,” MSB spokesperson Karin Wiklund told The Local.
“It’s one of the areas where we’ve proven ourselves rather capable.”
Later Edit: Pe 19 ianuarie, U.S. Air Force au distribuit 50.000 aparate de radio care nu necesita baterii:
“The small emergency radios are both solar-powered and hand-cranked and do not require batteries.
Radios are being distributed in order for affected citizens to receive news and important information concerning international relief efforts.
In close coordination with the government of Haiti, JTF-Haiti is currently broadcasting news, public health, safety and information regarding relief efforts via a military aircraft equipped with FM and AM broadcasting capability.
Public safety messages are broadcasting in the following frequencies: 92.4 FM, 104.1 FM, 1030 AM.”
“Phone lines that are working are: Haiti-tel and Voila.
Digicel (cell) tower is down.
No landlines are working. no radio broadcast, no TV broadcast, no electricity…”
Later Edit, USA Today: “After the Haiti earthquake hit, phones stopped working and e-mail was unreliable, so Terri Vruggink used a satellite Internet connection to tell family and friends back home in East Grand Rapids, Mich., that she was OK.
“Facebook is my lifeline right now,” she said in an interview via the site’s messaging system.
Vruggink, a photographer documenting a missionary group’s work in Saint-Marc, is among many people using social-networking sites to share news and photos, ask for help finding missing loved ones or seek donations.
“Facebook has been the only way that we could let people see what is happening,” says Phyllis Bass, one of five members of the Gateway Free Will Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, Va., who landed in Haiti an hour before the quake. She’s using the site to let people know they are safe and to post photos. Bass spoke to USA TODAY via Facebook-messaging.
There have been more than 1,500 Facebook status updates per minute containing the word “Haiti” since the quake, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes says.
In this crisis, says Michael Roberto, a management professor at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., “people are realizing the power” of social media by “truly engaging it” and spurring its evolution. Here’s how:
• People in Haiti used Twitter to share firsthand accounts and photos of the quake, and Twitter users spread requests that people donate to Haitian relief.
Singer Wyclef Jean is using Twitter to solicit texted donations to his Yele Haiti charity. Response was so heavy, says spokeswoman Zakiya Khatou, that its website crashed. By Wednesday afternoon, $250,000 had been raised.
Catholic Relief Services is communicating with its Haiti staff through Facebook and Skype, an online phone service, and sharing updates on Twitter and Facebook, says spokesman John Rivera. “Staff let their frantic families know they were OK through Facebook,” he says.
• Blogs written by people in Haiti are being used as online bulletin boards by those seeking missing people. One example:livesayhaiti.blogspot.com, written by Troy Livesay, based in Haiti for the non-profit group World Wide Village.
• Online resources were the quickest way for people in Haiti to communicate after the quake. Just as Christ The Rock Church in Menasha, Wis., was on Facebook and Twitter asking members to pray for a Kris Schneider, a church staffer who is in Hinche with his family, he posted on Facebook that they were fine.
“Without Facebook, we would be stumped,” church spokeswoman Amy Spreeman says.
Later Edit, BBC : “Minutes after the earthquake, as phone lines collapsed, Haitians tried to discover the fate of relatives and friends by using the web and social networks.
“I don’t know how, but most of the network infrastructure survived,” said Reynold Guerrier, a network engineer at the Haitian Association for the Development of Information and Communication Technology (AHTIC).
Mr Guerrier said they still needed diesel to run their data centre, and he has been using the web to ask aid organisations for help.
But as many were e-mailing, Twittering and checking Facebook, thousands of volunteers joined forces to build a tool to help those in need – a combination of web and mobile phone technologies, traditional media and the voices of people on the ground.
Project Ushahidi maps reports sent by people in Haiti.
They can use mobile phones and the web to inform about structural risks, lack of water and food, and missing persons.
“We translate it, map it, and structure the data,” said Ushahidi co-founder Erik Hersman.
“Then we pass it on to organisations on the ground which can then work with the specific needs reported by the people.”
Cel mai eficient mijloc de comunicare cu populatia este prezenta la fata locului.
3. Comunicarea catre public (public= audienta externa) s-a facut in Haiti prin mijloacele traditionale (televiziune, presa etc.), prin prezenta echipelor de salvare la fata locului, dar si prin siteuri de stiri, bloguri, Twitter si Ushahidi.
(Later Edit: Pana pe 17 ianuarie fusesera salvati 61 de oameni de sub daramaturi:
On Jan. 16, Air Force Special Operations Command pararescuemen along with Search and Rescue members from Arlington, Va., pulled a 25-year-old Haitian female from the rubble at the university. It took them 28 hours to rescue her. She was treated by 1st Special Operations Medical Group surgeons.
Joint international work has been the underlining theme in the Haiti humanitarian mission.
“International search and rescue teams have rescued 61 people as of Sunday afternoon,” Mr. Callahan said. “Out of the 61 people rescued 29 we’re rescued by U.S. joint teams.” )
Cum era de asteptat americanii s-au miscat foarte bine: au fost primii la fata locului si au avut grija sa arate asta.
Britanicii au facut o pagina speciala pe siteul Foreign Office
Israelienii au dat detalii despre ajutorul pe care il ofera. Profesionisti.
Francezii, canadienii, brazilienii si italienii s-au miscat de asemenea repede:
Pana si islandezii au trimis o echipa de salvare (n-am gasit fotografii cu ei).
(Later Edit) Imagini cu o echipa belgiana aparute pe Time.com :
We have treated more patients than we can count, then they go out to sit in the outer court yard.
The scene includes about 30-40 Coast Guardsmen and about 20 Haitian volunteers with various experience. A couple of Haitian nurses and doctors have joined us, but the leadership of the clinic has been HS2 and myself. I believe that the Haitians have recognized the discipline and order that the Tahoma and Mohawk have demonstrated. OS1 Sweetman, YN1 Winslow and ETC Frownfelter have lead the security for the compound. They keep order. The Mohawk has taken leadership over the supply room. I wish that I could tell you their names, but there is one Chief that has done a great job with the stock room.
For the past 3 days, Tahoma and Mohawk have had to make hundreds of decisions on how to help these people. We are all exhausted. We are all running on adrenalin. We are working in the heat, sweating. No one goes to the bathroom until be get back to the ship from 0830 to 1715 Hrs. Both Gomez and I have been ordered to take breaks. It is non-stop. Today, I had to ask what day it was. I had no idea. Thank God we are starting to get a few people out. Tomorrow we hope to get at least 12 of the worst out. ”
(Later Edit) Wikipedia prezinta un timeline al eforturilor de salvare , destul de “biased” in opinia mea.
Argentina
- Argentine Mobile Military Hospital is reportedly the only functional hospital in Port-au-Prince as of 10:49 on January 13th
- Argentine helicopters are evacuating casualties to Santo Domingo
- Argentine is reportedly sending a plane of aid to the area
Poland
- The Tu-154M airplane with a rescue team is arranged to depart in early hours of 15 January Warsaw time.
Qatar
Russia
Turkey
Portugal
Mexico
- As an emergency response the government sent three military aircraft carrying over 20 tons in supplies
- The government also confirmed the imminent departure of the Navy’s ARM Papaloapan amphibious lander and ARM Huasteco hospital ship.
Jamaica
United States
- The U.S. Air Force is flying an RQ-4 Global Hawk out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to provide overhead views of the situation in Haiti, and is providing the images over the unclassified Internet to anyone who needs them.
- 1/14/10 @ 11:59 PST: More than 300 U.S. military personnel are in Haiti now, helping the aid effort, according to military officials. More than 5,000 are expected there by early next week, including 3,000 soldiers and 2,200 Marines, the officials say.
- 1/14/10 @ 5:02 EST: P.J. Crowley, U.S. State Department spokesman, says U.S. military air traffic controllers are running the Port-au-Prince airport through an agreement with the Haitian government.
- 1/14/10 @ 11:00am PST: DEPLOYING: USS Carl Vinson, USS Underwood, USS Bataan, USS Normandy, USS Higgins, USS Fort McHenry, 22nd MEU, USNS Comfort, IN HAITI: USS Higgins, SOUTHCOM assessment /C2 team, AF Special Ops personnel
- 1/14/10 * 10:16am PST: Air Force Special Operations Command sending C-130Es, MC-130P, and MC-130Ws to transport aid to Haiti
- 1/14/10 @ 10:14am PST: MEU is 22nd out of Lejeune aboard USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall and USS Fort McHenry
- 1/14/10 @ 9:52am PST: 2,000 Marine MEU is prepping for 90day deployment to Haiti
- 3,5000 900 82nd Airborne Division brigade paratroopers deploy to Haiti via C-17.
- US military secures main airport.
- Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing deploying to Port-au-Prince to provide emergency air traffic control.
- Navy P-3 Orion surveyed earthquake damage.
- USS Carl Vinson deploying to Haiti to provide airlift capacity.
- SOUTHCOM considering sending flat-top amphibious ship with a MEU to provide disaster relief and possibility security.
- Coast Guard Cutters and Navy Destroyers headed to Haiti.
- One 82nd Airborne Division brigade put on alert for possible Haitian deployment.
- SOUTHCOM deploying 30-man team to Haiti to examine damage and coordinate military relief response.
- Air Force C-130s are delivering civilian search and rescue teams to Haiti
- USNS Comfort, a USN hospital ship is preparing to deploy to Haiti
- Coast Guard Cutters Valiant, Mohawk, Tahoma, and Forward are deployed or deploying to Haiti
- Haitian refugees could go to Gitmo.
Brazil
- Immediate aid will be dispatched as two C-130 Hercules aircraft carry, in total, 28 tons of food (sugar, powdered milk, sardines and ham), bottled water and other supplies to help the affected people.
- In addition, the Brazilian Navy will deploy a ship to Haiti with equipment capable of producing drinkable water.[31] This is Brazil’s largest foreign aid contribution in response to a natural disaster.
- The Brazilian army is currently doing its work on foot due to the amount of debris on roads. With the largest contingent of foreign troops in Haiti, Brazil’s servicemen are providing help in the search for survivors.
- The Brazilian Army is also sending 18 detection dogs to help with the body search.
- The Brazilian government said on Thursday that it is sending another two C-130 planes loaded with aid supplies to Haiti after a devastating earthquake hit the small Caribbean nation on Tuesday.
- At least two field hospitals will be built by the Brazilian Air Force and Navy in Port-au-Prince, as many local health workers were killed or injured when the three largest hospitals in the Haitian capital collapsed in the 7.3-magnitude earthquake.
- Ministry of Defense has ordered its troops in the country to do whatever they can to provide assistance.
Canada
- Canada sending military Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).
- Two navy frigates on standby in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Canadian helicopters being flown over to provide airlift and evacuate Canadians if necessary.
France
- France is sending ships and a hospital ship to Haiti.
- Two ships, the Siroco and the BATRAL Francis Garnier were dispatched.
- 400 French civil guard and security personnel will be in Haiti
Italy
Dominican Republic
Colombia
150 JDF personnel, armed with technical expertise in a variety of areas, would be participating in the search-and-rescue mission, the paramount exercise to be executed in the aftermath of the earthquake.
