Red Cross prepares Camps in Haiti for Hurricane Season. by American Red Cross 4:35pm 15th May, 2010   As part of its largest international response since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the global Red Cross network has helped almost 2 million Haitians.    In six months, the American Red Cross has spent and has signed agreements to spend $148.5 million to meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors. It will continue to support hundreds of thousands of additional survivors in the next several years until the last donated dollar is spent.    The global Red Cross network is providing: Semi-permanent shelters to house 165,000 people. Cash grants and microloans to help nearly 210,000 people. Water for 280,000 people each day. Disaster preparedness activities to protect 500,000 people. Medical care and/or health education for 435,000 people. Emergency shelter materials for 625,000 people. Latrines for 238,000 people. Emergency supplies for 125,000 people for use during hurricane season. Food for 1.3 million people for one month.    Red Cross prepares Camps in Haiti for Hurricane Season.    Camp Sitron, Port-Au-Prince — Jean-Michel Flaurae and a dozen other young Haitians are hard at work on a steep hillside in Camp Sitron, a cluster of tarp-covered shelters and shacks, in a race against time.    As meteorologists predict one of the most active hurricane seasons in recent years, the group is digging drainage ditches and laying sandbags and gravel through a disaster-preparedness program developed by the American Red Cross. They are working to make the camp safer for some 300 families who settled here after their homes were damaged or entirely collapsed. “It’s hard work, but it’s a good project,” says Flaurae.    The American Red Cross is directing similar programs at 9 spontaneous camps around the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, expanding to 25 camps by late June and targeting 100 camps within six months. These work teams, armed with picks and shovels, are trying to limit the damage of pounding rains that will send torrents of water rushing through the camps during the rainy season.    Trained as an artist, Flaurae designed womens’ sandals before the earthquake hit. Like so many people he knew, within a few minutes, his life had changed forever: he lost his home, his job, and two younger brothers, who died when their house collapsed.    Flaurae to the bottom of the valley as buildings crashed down around him and when the shaking stopped, he raced back up the hillside, pulling neighbors from the wrecks of their homes. Some had only minor scratches, but many others – too many to count, he says – were already dead. When he reached the house he shared with his 18- and 20-year-old brothers, he found nothing but rubble. Their bodies are still buried under the debris, which is still painfully visible on the hillside directly opposite where his team is digging a drainage ditch.    Now Flaurae lives at Camp Sitron in a makeshift tarp shelter with his cousin and aunt. They are the only family he has left.    Flaurae says the American Red Cross project is the first positive activity he has been involved with since the earthquake struck. Being part of a work team allows camp residents to earn much-needed cash – they are paid $5 a day in a country where many people live on $2 a day – and make a contribution to their new community.    With Red Cross training, residents are also learning to administer basic first aid, manage fires, operate walkie-talkies, use a set of colored flags to warn fellow residents of impending threats, and evacuate the camp for a safer location if necessary.    To complement this preparedness work, the American Red Cross is shipping seven large, disaster-resistant warehousing tents (33 ft x 75 ft) and fifty mid-size tents to store relief items, such as blankets, tarps, hygiene and first aid items. The American Red Cross is also shipping 75,000 blankets to be stocked in these warehouses.    “Now I’m not scared about hurricane season,” says Flaurae, taking a break to lean against his shovel. “I hope we will be ready.” Visit the related web page
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