WSPA - Animals in Disasters Blog

ARCH in action: images of relief effort

The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) has been working hard to protect Haiti’s vulnerable animals.

When we join together, amazing things can happen. View the slideshow below on our relief efforts...

Restocking supplies for Haiti

I am back in Santo Domingo now, having completed what I think was a really successful first visit to Haiti. In the three days we spent there, we achieved a number of things: we had meetings with several people who could help us draw up our medium- and long-term plans for the ARCH effort in Haiti, and we made a first hand assessment of the capital and a few areas around as well.

We visited the towns of Leogane and Jacmel, both of which were also seriously affected by the earthquake.

As my colleague Juan Carlos Murillo, WSPA’s Disaster Management Veterinary Officer, has reported “In the short term, most animals seemed to have weathered the impacts of the earthquake with few visible wounds. But it is clear that the greatest challenge ahead of these animals, as for the communities dependent on them, is going to be the lack of food and the diseases that they will suffer as a result of being weakened.”

Although some of us have returned to Santo Domingo, a significant part of the ARCH team continues to be in Haiti, tending to the animals. Since the infrastructure in Haiti is still fragile, we returned here so that we could send back our reports and consult the coalition group to formulate plans. But more importantly, we are also restocking supplies. When we go in to Haiti, we need to carry absolutely everything we will need for us to be self sufficient – food, water, tents to sleep in, everything we are likely to need in the coming weeks, so that we are not a drain on the few resources the Haitians have.

Assessing the impact on Haiti's animals

Today in Port au Prince, the joint ARCH team began its field assessment to see what we can do to help the animals that are such an integral part of the Haitian community.

Pictured here is Dr Juan Carlos Murillo, WSPA’s longest serving disaster management veterinary officer and a member of the ARCH team in Port au Prince, as he checks a Haitian dog to determine the state of his health and treat any lesions he might have had.

As Dr. Murillo says, "The animal was as normal as can be expected for a dog that survives day by day. We can say our friend "Lucky" really honours his name as he became another survivor of Haiti's earthquake."

 

Picture copyright WSPA/IFAW

Ready to fly

Early this morning, as you can see, the ARCH team prepared to depart for Port au Prince. Picture copyright WSPA/IFAW

It has been fairly hectic, with preparations for departure taking up all our time over the last few hours. But now, we are finally ready to board this plane that will be flying us into Port au Prince today. Our next update will be from there.

At the Gateway to Haiti

Late on Thursday, we landed in Santo Domingo (in the Dominican Republic). 

Normally this city, referred to as the ‘Gateway to the Caribbean’, is a typical seafarers’ town. But now it is occupying news headlines around the world as the ‘Gateway to Haiti’, a far less romantic association perhaps, but a truly vital one. Aid agencies from around the world are gathering here, preparing to enter Haiti from this ‘safe corridor’, though we now hear that the sea port into Haiti has been opened and secured by the US military as well. Hopefully this will mean that the cargo ships full of aid that have been anchored off the coast will be able to push through even more aid.

One of the people we have met is a photographer who has just returned from a tour of duty in Haiti. This photographer, who is also a WSPA supporter, wanted us to have a couple of pictures that showed what an important part of Haiti’s social fabric the Haitian animals are.  

This is what the photographer said about this particular picture, "While taking pictures of the devastation in Haiti, I saw this group of children - camped on the pavement with no home to go back to, they represent the harsh reality that Haitians are faced with. But as the dog cheekily forced his way into the frame, the children burst out laughing… and I realized how these simple pleasures are part of their reality too!"

I wonder how many facets of this reality we will find when we finally enter Haiti. The ARCH team have now made arrangements for a plane to fly us in to Haiti, and we expect to be taking off for Port au Prince on Saturday.

Haiti government requests WSPA’s aid

Yesterday, I received an official communication from the Government of Haiti, requesting WSPA’s immediate assistance and asking that WSPA staff be deployed to help with the emergency relief operation ‘as soon as possible’.

The Director of Inspection and Vigilance for the Environment,  Environmental Department of the Government of Haiti, with whom I have been in touch over the last few days, wrote to me saying:

“After the information exchanges that we have been keeping and given the magnitude of the disaster suffered by Haiti, putting the country under great risk of infecto-contagious diseases spread and possible animal epidemic outbreaks; … both the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Department… have agreed that WSPA aid is very important… (and) suggest that WSPA should organise a trip to Haiti as soon as possible.”

As you know, over the last few days, our team of highly trained emergency relief staff have been ready and waiting for just such an opportunity. We have put together the equipment and medicines that we expect will be needed in Haiti and right this minute, we are preparing to fly in to Santo Domingo today. Once there, we will meet colleagues from the other organisations that are working as part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti and will proceed into Port au Prince together, at the earliest possible opportunity.

Since we now have an official request from the Haitians, I am even more confident that the ARCH team will be in Haiti without much further delay and that we will be able to complete a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground.

I cannot be sure what we will find when we are out there (at last!) but having seen far too many disasters in regions less troubled than Haiti, I know it will not be easy...

With all our supporters’ prayers and hopes behind us, we are finally off!

Exploring options for Haiti

Gerardo and his team in Central America are working almost non-stop these days, following up on every lead, meeting every contact that could help us get in to Haiti and deliver aid to the animals trapped in the traumatic post-earthquake situation. It continues to be a great challenge to get information out of, or aid into Port au Prince, as communications infrastructure and other facilities are yet to be restored.

 

The picture being painted by those news reports that do make it out of Haiti is heart-wrenching: this appears to be the worst disaster that the world has faced for a long time, and even though humanitarian aid is beginning to trickle in now, the sheer need is simply overwhelming. The death toll is mounting, and people are fearful for surviving members of their families, struggling to protect them not only against starvation, disease and injuries from the earthquake, but also from the violence that has erupted in many parts of the town.

 

As the United Nations Security Council and US military send troops in to help stem this violence, we hope the situation will be brought under control over the next few days, making it possible for us to send in our contingent of aid for the animals.

 

While there is an urgency to meet the Haitian’s immediate needs, we also need to consider the lengthy road to recovery that lies ahead of them. Time and time again, our work in natural disasters around the world has proved that communities return to normalcy much quicker, and far more sustainably, if the entire community is included in the plan – including its animal population. With all the support we are getting, from our supporters and our allies in the ARCH coalition, we are certain that we will be able to help make this happen.

Joining forces to help animals

As I followed news about Haiti for the last two days, I was struck by how many people from around the world have started coming together, offering to help in any way they can. And animal welfare groups have shown that it is equally possible to work together to help the animal victims of this disaster – who are equally distressed by the destruction all around them, and equally in need of emergency aid – with a similar show of solidarity amongst groups.

 

Together, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will be working on the ground to help the animals in Haiti. We have come together to form the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) so that all animal welfare organizations involved in response efforts can work together and make sure we get aid to as many animals, and in as short a time, as possible.

 

Our teams will be working out of a mobile clinic which has been donated to us by the Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society. WSPA and IFAW have pledged funds to fully outfit this mobile clinic, and it will be shipped from Antigua to our member society, Sociedad Dominicana Para la Protección de Animales (SODOPRECA) in the Dominican Republic for them to drive across the border into Haiti. We are inviting other animal welfare groups to join ARCH and direct their support to the coalition.

 

Once again, this proves a simple but powerful truth: when people join together, amazing things can happen.

 

Please, join us now and donate to help animals in disasters.

Helping out in Haiti

 I am deeply moved by readers’ comments offering to donate their time and money to help us help the animals that have been affected by the disaster in Haiti – and I feel extremely proud of my brave colleagues who are trying so hard to get into this tricky situation and help the animals.

Just like yourselves, our team here at WSPA headquarters is waiting anxiously to receive an update from Gerardo or Jorge but yes, it might be a while before we hear anything. For one thing, the main priority of the team on the ground will be to focus on providing immediate aid and emergency relief while staying safe themselves. But also, we are told that power lines and most communications infrastructure in Haiti are down, so it will be quite a challenge for an already-stretched team to send us the first hand information and pictures we would like to share with you.

In the meantime, WSPA is deeply grateful for all your offers to help us raise funds. When you donate to WSPA’s Animal Disaster Fund (by clicking that banner on the right) you make it possible for us to respond to natural disasters as soon as they happen, and allow our brave colleagues to launch rescue operations without worrying about whether we will be able to raise the funds for this specific disaster. Every small donation is meaningful – because it means you give us the power to act on your behalf, sending professionally trained people to areas not everyone can venture into, and saving as many animals as we possibly can.

Take pride, WSPA supporters worldwide – you make this possible.

Earthquake in Haiti: Preparing to respond

My team and I have been closely monitoring the situation in Haiti since the devastating earthquake hit the capital, Port-au-Prince, last night. With most communications infrastructure down, it meant we had a long night waiting for information that beyond sketchy news reports.

Since this morning, we have been in talks with the United Nations (under serious stress themselves since their office in Port-au-Prince has collapsed, with 15 staff members dead and 20 still missing) and the local Red Cross Chapters to gain a further understanding of the impact on animals caught up in the situation.

Our Disaster Liaison Officer from Panama, Jorge Alcidez Gonzalez who also works as the Head of the K9 unit of Civil Defence, is now travelling out of Panama with a team of specially trained staff and will assess the destruction and welfare needs of the animals. Jorge and his brave team will be treating as many animals as they are able to help.

I have also arranged for him to feedback the extent of the damage and let us know where we can be of most help as quickly as possible.

Do look out for more updates from us, as we relay on the information we get from Jorge and the rest of the team. Considering the troubled security situation in Haiti at the best of times, my primary concern at the moment is Jorge’s safety; we will be paying particular attention to this in the next couple of days while planning our disaster relief operation in greater detail.