Haiti Technology Community Situation Report (1/17/2010)

Again, thanks to the InSTEDD team for providing this technology situation report for Haiti. This is an overview of the last 24 hours worth of work within the community.

Download the Word Doc:
Haiti Technology Community Situation Report – 17 Jan 2010

Read it online below:

Technology Community Sit Rep: 17 Jan, 2009
Prepared by Luke Beckman, National Response Liaison, InSTEDD, +1-650-740-5853, Beckman@instedd.org

*** If info not on SitRep, it may be on prev. ones since I want to include the newest, most current efforts without making the SitRep too long, or I don’t know about the info***

Coordination is key. We must continue to work together and do a better job of it every day.

Great Aggregators

http://inventory.ict4peace.org/Haiti+Earthquake+-+January+2010

http://haiti.sahanafoundation.org/prod/

o Sahana looking for translation support http://translate.hfoss.eu/wiki/Translation
o Collaboration and to-do lists posted here #sahana irc.freenode.net for collab. Our TODO is hosted at http://bit.ly/sahana-haiti-todo

Ushahidi
o http://haiti.ushahidi.com/
o Real time situation room http://sitroom.ushahididev.com/

Open Street Maps (OSM)
o http://haiti.openstreetmap.nl/ Best map of the situation on the ground I know of. Hundreds of volunteers working around the clock doing mapping on the ground.

US SOUTHCOM online civ/mil coordination community. http://community.apan.org/

In Haiti? Text 4636 (If outside of Haiti: 447624802524) on Digicel with your location and need. Report emergencies and missing persons .

Lessons Learned

• The military needs a process of moving imagery from the previously classified national assets to the NGO community. APAN has many positive attributes but what has been suggested for faster speeds is an FTP site that can be turned on and off to make downloads as rapid as possible.
• The humanitarian community needs a robust way to rapidly outsource local knowledge.
• People can become extremely drained when they deviate focus away from their area of expertise to small tasks. There is an inflow and outflow of tasks they are dealing with. Focus on maximizing rate of outflow.
• Crowdsourcing the fastest way to get any information. It frees people in the field to put that info into a “mechanical turk” (task list that assigns things to people). Send critical, large requests to people with high bandwidth. They answer. Goes back to the field very fast.
• NGOs and the open source community need protocols for interacting with the government, military, and UN all together (there is no API for interacting with these entities as one).
• How do NGOs and “techies” word things and work within a system that the government is familiar with.
• May agencies have a single point of contact as liaison between their group and external sectors. This information is critical to all involved but often it is not made public within the community because those POCs will get more overloaded. Is there a way to multiply POC power? If a group is willing to share POC information, where is it located for people to see? Many suggest Sahana (open source). The Virtual OSOCC has that information but that is inaccessible to many. Certainly needs further discussion.
• We need a system to map human network dynamics. Who knows who? Who are the key information and information-sharing hubs? Who is not communicating? Can we put it on a map and have offline access. We are starting to work on this.
People Finder Update
• Ushahidi and HaitianQuake.com were some of the original databases for missing persons
• Pablo and others at Google helped set up a Person Finder system using the PFIF standard that was developed during 9/11 and Katrina: http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/
• Everything started to be merged to this central Person Finder repository, starting with http://www.haitianquake.com/ pointing there and making sure Ushahidi person reports were directed there
• The US. State Department is directing to the Person Finder: http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/earthquake/index.htm#finder
• Yesterday we worked with the NYTimes to help import their missing persons data into Person Finder and use PFIF
• Today work with CNN is helping to import their CNN iReport data into Person Finder
• We are also now pulling in the Red Cross Family Links data into Person Finder
• Person Finder has an API: http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/developers
• Facebook App is out and very close to feeding into the Google database. http://apps.facebook.com/haiti_survivors

Sahana

• The Sahana team has developed a Request Management System in Sahana. We currently have a beta system running at http://haiti.sahanafoundation.org/dev/rms/index. We can then structure these requests. Please assist us to move this to production ASAP.
• Note, the Request Management System for agency to agency contact. http://haiti.ushahidi.com/ is for individuals reporting what is happening on the ground. Agencies can send in SMS messages or use the web interface to make a request. Others can respond.
• We require feedback from end-user agencies so we can target our effort to meet your needs. Please refer tohttp://trac.sahanapy.org/wiki/HaitiRMSToDo. Feedback is best via IRC: #sahanarms irc.freenode.net.
Citizen Outreach
• Example of rapid crowd-sourcing. At 12:12 AM, the head of UNDAC came to InSTEDD FOB with information about how trapped people were sending messages to family and friends in the US and elsewhere in Haiti. The UNDAC leads had virtually no information other than a seemingly vague location. InSTEDD team outsourced this information to team at The Fletcher School in Boston. At 12:22 the team had location answers that had been first identified as specific places and addressed by Haitians in the U.S. who were working with the teams. This address was then translated into Lat/Long in multiple formats to the UNDAC and USAR teams. Second sources had confirmed the location in the message by 12:27. Because it was night time, the teams had to wait until this morning. At least one person was confirmed alive by these teams later on. LET’S LEARN FROM THIS!
• EIS system sent two broadcast messages out to about 700 people. One was about a hospital and the other about the Red Cross center for missing people.

Medical

• USS Comfort about 24 hours out from 2030 hours Jan 18.
• HHS mission, to provide support for at least 8 severely damaged hospitals and/or health centers, is presently delayed, awaiting security and transportation from Port-au-Prince points inland to provide relief.
• Majority of medical equipment caches awaiting military transportation (in Martinsburg, WV); flights sporadic.
• Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT) setting up in country; coordinating with USAID/DART and US Embassy.
• Hospitals in the Dominican Republic are at capacity and no longer accepting patients.
Ground Truth- DHS
• The priorities are Security / Law Enforcement, evacuation, commodities distribution, debris removal, road clearing, search & rescue, and aid to the injured.
• Embassy Port-au-Prince reports security is “pretty good” with sporadic outbreaks of violence.
• Federal Aviation Administration officials arrived in Haiti and are conducting runway and air traffic assessments.
• FEMA reports the DHS Integrated Response Team is activated in Haiti; initial objectives are to refine communications in the Embassy compound, provide staff support to the USAID Director, determine status of resources, gather location information on 14 United Nation (UN) commodity distribution sites and facilitate efficient transfer of response efforts by US entities to UN led long – term recovery efforts.
• The CRIMSON CLOVER (roll on / roll off barge) is in PAP and has begun unloading operations. US Coast Guard (USCG) reports eight ports are fully operational, and two ports are partially operational.
• Department of State reports 904 American citizens (AmCits) departed PAP 17 Jan, with a total of 2,723 AmCits evacuated to date.

Logistics

• Santo Domingo (SDQ) is the main entry point for humanitarian cargo destined for Haiti by both sea and air, while Port-au-Prince (PAP) sea port is not operational and the airport is congested.
• The main issue is to organize onward transport from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. WFP is securing two landing craft and a fleet of trucks to support road and coastal solutions for onward movement of transport from SDQ and Barahona to affected areas.
• Receiving services will be set up in Port-au-Prince and replicated in all hubs, including set-up and management of mobile storage units (MSU) and cargo tracking.
• In response to dwindling fuel resources, WFP has signed a fuel contract with Shell in Santo Domingo to shunt 10,000 gallons into Port-au-Prince. A total of 10,000 gallons of diesel was dispatched from SDQ today. Organisations are reporting that the shortage of fuel is a major concern, also with regard to implementation of the Logistics Cluster ConOps.
• Search and rescue teams extracted 13 more live rescues on 16 January bringing the total by these teams to 71 people, a record amount. A small number of additional rescues were reported today.
• Fuel remains an issue for humanitarian operations. Fuel restrictions are now in place. Some 10,000 gallons were trucked in from Santo Domingo today.
• The port remains unusable; incoming vessels are being re-directed to Cap-Haitien.
• The Port-au-Prince airport is heavily congested.
• Four distribution sites will be established at Petionville club, two soccer fields in Delmas, and Place Dessaline on Champ de Mars.
• Tents and shelter material will be required for temporary shelter sites in the coming week. At least 20,000 tents will be needed with only 3-4,000 tents already in country.
• The Secretary-General, the Emergency Relief Coordinator and other senior UN officials visited the disaster affected areas today and met with Government and UN counterparts.
• Early on January 16, three USAID/OFDA water treatment units arrived in Haiti on DoD C-130 aircraft. The units have a combined capacity for providing 300,000 liters of safe drinking water each day. USAID/OFDA is arranging a second flight carrying an additional water treatment unit, as well as kitchen and hygiene sets for distribution to affected families.
• The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has authorized $20 million in overseas humanitarian and disaster assistance appropriations in support of the Haiti earthquake relief effort.
• In addition to the five clusters previously announced, the U.N. country team in Haiti plans to mobilize clusters in agriculture, protection, nutrition, education, emergency telecommunications, and early recovery, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
• Fuel for humanitarian operations will only last 2 to 3 more days before operations will be forced to cease. A fuel distribution mechanism is required urgently.
• USAID/OFDA has established an air bridge with DoD for daily transportation of emergency relief supplies on multiple flights of C-130 aircraft.

CHF International Report on PaP and areas OUTSIDE of PaP

Within PaP
• Water trucks delivering water – many companies open for private delivery (to homes and such); smaller trucks along the road giving free water to Internally Displaced People (IDP)
• A lot of “agua gratis” – Dominican company – stopping at random places giving free water
• Small water distribution centers are open for business
• Transportation to the Dominican Republic (DR) running
• Not a lot of traffic on the road – public transport running as usual
• Market ladies on the street on the street cooking and selling
• Haitian National Police out in larger numbers today than before
• People on the street – people still in shock; blank stares; – going about daily business
• Rescue efforts by private citizens still ongoing
• Many people at US and Canadian embassy gates
• Another observation: one of our staff hear said that he observed a distribution of essential items by UN soldiers on Place Boyer – one of the public squares in Petion Ville turned into an IDP camp. He said he has never seen such an orderly distribution in Haiti. Everyone in lines. No hostility. No violence. No fighting.
We are all encouraged to hear that there is food and water reaching an increasing number of people, and that the private sector is still functioning on both the formal and informal level to some degree – a key to getting Haiti back up and running. Also incredibly encouraging, in spite of media reports of violence, are reports of quiet and orderly aid distributions.

Areas beyond Port-au-Prince
CHF received a huge number of information of areas beyond Port-au-Prince from our Field Director Bob Fagen. Bob and his entirely Haitian team based in Petit Goave have been supporting the Boy Scouts and Red Cross with a donation of tools such as wheelbarrows and shovels, plus loads of facemasks, shirts, hats, and gloves. The Boy Scouts have been key to rescue efforts in the city and showed an impressively organized response to the earthquake in Petit Goave. CHF is proud to be partnering with them.
Bob was able to travel beyond Petit Goave to Grand Goave and Legoane. Some of his observations are below.

Grand Goave
• The main Catholic Church on the Place Publique in the center of town and its rectory were both destroyed. We were able to speak to the priest who had survived and he is in good spirits, in spite of the destruction
• A tent city has been erected on the Place Publique. At night it swells to 5,000 people. There are 5-6 similar tent cities throughout Grand Goave, each with 3,000-5,000 people at night.
• Grand Goave, while battered by the earthquake, is not as visibly devastated as either Petit-Goave or Leogane. However, Grand Goave depended on Petit Goave for much of its potable water, and the shortages in Petit Goave have significantly affected Grand Goave. Considering the tent city phenomenon and the lack of water, it is only a matter of time before disease becomes an issue in Grand Goave.

Leogane
• MINUSTAH (UN mission in Haiti) were undertaking g a protein cookie distribution in front of Leogane City Hall to mostly women and children.
• Much of Leogane, both downtown and the surrounding area, was flattened by the quake and unconfirmed estimates put the death toll as high as 100,000. We sincerely hope this is far higher than the reality.
• Between Leogane and L’Acul we passed a destroyed water pump that is indicative of the below-the-surface damage that has crippled many wells and reservoirs in the region. Potable water is and will continue to be a major issue for the region until water supplies can be repaired or replaced.
• The Ecole National Anna Karina, a high school in the city center of Leogane, was flattened completely. Tragically class was in session at the time.
• Churches appear to have suffered extraordinary damage from the quake, with most crumbling, especially the larger structures.
• The financial system in affected cities has been paralyzed by the earthquake. While some supplies are available, prices have skyrocketed and people simply do not have access to what little money they have in the bank.
• We saw collapsed wooden houses on stilts, common in historic Leogane, a city of approximately 134,000. Many of the multi-level Leogane homes fell to the ground after the stilts and supporting beams collapsed underneath them. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 80-90% of Leogane was destroyed by the earthquake.
CHF plans to work with relief agencies in these hard hit areas and wants to draw attention to the plight of the Haitian people outside of Port-au-Prince, who are suffering the same privations and tragedies.

Mapping

• ESRI Overview of all GIS http://www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/earthquakes/resources.html
• Early collaboration around all data sources http://geonode.org/
• Google Repository http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/geoeye.html
• Crisis Commons Wiki http://crisiscommons.org/wiki/index.php?title=Haiti/2010_Earthquake

For coordination/collaboration questions or issues, please contact Luke Beckman, National Response Liaison, InSTEDD +16507405853, Skype: lukebeckman, Email: Beckman@instedd.org.
Coordination also is ongoing in conjunction with STAR-TIDES (linwells@gmail.com,+1202 436-6354)