Reuters AlertNet: Water arrives at Impasse Fouget
March 16, 2010: Written by Oxfam America's Kenny Rae
EXCERPT: “At Impasse Fouget, our first task was to build a large platform with rubble, rocks, and earth on which the bladder could rest. A bladder like this filled with water weighs ten tons…. A flexible pipe running to a set of five outdoor faucets carries the water from bladder down to where people can draw it. Chlorinating water ensures its safety. Oxfam is working in camps of many sizes. Our team’s focus is on 35 smaller encampments in the Delmas district. Working at this scale makes our community-based approach for chlorination effective.”
Reuters AlertNet: Working with communities to rebuild Haiti
March 15, 2010: By Marcel Stoessel, Head of Oxfam in Haiti
EXCERPT: “But the most important and admirable humanitarians are the Haitians: they have shown incredible courage, resilience and solidarity: many have rescued people with their bare hands and many are still housing strangers. And these are not middle class families: most lived on less than $2 (US dollars) a day before the quake. Some of our Haitian staff do not even have a place to stay, yet there is no day of the week when they do not come to work.”
The Christian Science Monitor: Aid after Haiti earthquake: President René Préval sees need for shift
March 10, 2010: Quote from OA’s Mark Cohen, a food-aid specialist in DC
EXCERPT: “What Préval probably means, Mr. Cohen adds, is that seeds and fertilizer should be provided quickly, and that food aid ‘already in the pipeline’ be allowed to ‘taper off’ so that Haiti’s next harvest early this summer is bountiful but does not encounter a glutted market. Longer term, Cohen says, Préval’s plan will require more than seeds and fertilizer and can work only if better job opportunities, schools, and services are provided so that rural areas become as attractive as the capital as a place to live.”
Reuters AlertNet: Haiti: The healing has begun
March 9, 2010: By Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America
EXCERPT: “Everywhere you turned, there were processions of hundreds of people marching, singing and waving leafy green branches. Men in suits, women in their finest, children in fluffy dresses of all colors. Renaissance on the streets of Port-au-Prince. The work goes on but the healing has begun.”
Los Angeles Times: As rains approach, a scramble to get latrines and hygiene supplies to Haiti
March 6, 2010: Quote from Nicholas Brooks, an Oxfam sanitation and hygiene specialist
EXCERPT: “Groups such as Oxfam are scrambling to get 30 more toilet-sanitation trucks shipped in from abroad. Sanitation specialists are exploring more exotic methods, such as toilets that can separate liquid and solid refuse. In the short term, plastic bags may have to suffice in certain places -- but with a more reliable system for collection, said Nicholas Brooks, an Oxfam sanitation and hygiene specialist.”
Associated Press: US rice doesn't help struggling Haitian farmers
February 26, 2010: Oxfam America's Paul O'Brien quoted
EXCERPT: “Paul O'Brien of Oxfam America says the lessons of the harm of flooding a country like Haiti with subsidized rice should have been learned a long time ago. ‘The days are gone when we can throw up our hands in terms of unintended consequences; we know now what these injections can do to markets,' he said. 'The question we want asked is what is being done to guarantee long-term food security for Haitians.’”
The Huffington Post: As New Leaders Emerge From the Camps in Haiti, Will Their Voices be Heard?
February 24, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “The persistence of the committee members paid off. First they got water delivered to the site. Then, when it started to rain, they appealed for tarps, and got some of those, too. Deliveries of kitchen supplies--pots for cooking, utensils for eating--followed from Oxfam, with the committee organizing an orderly distribution the following day. And soon, Oxfam was also digging latrines at the site and setting up a more permanent water supply in the form of a large collapsible bladder.”
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Rebuilding Efforts Need to Tap Haitian Civic Leaders, Plus More: Wednesday’s Roundup
February 24, 2010: Coco McCabe’s Feb. 23 entry for Oxfam America’s blog is featured
EXCERPT: “The earthquake has turned some Haitian citizens into civic leaders, who are helping individual neighborhoods recover, writes Coco McCabe, a writer with Oxfam America. On the aid group's blog, she says these people should be an integral part of the country's rebuilding.”
The Huffington Post: Lots of Priorities, Little Time
February 22, 2010: Written by Oxfam America's Kenny Rae
EXCERPT: "I have a tentative plan for the next two weeks: to identify priority sites for additional water tanks, and start to set these up, to have one of the engineers trained in how to properly chlorinate and test water, to continue assessments to identify priority sites for more toilets and have these built."
Chronicle of Philanthropy: U.S. Charities Turn Their Attention and Their Funds Toward Haiti‘s Long-Term Needs
February 21, 2010: Quote by Oxfam America's Jacobo Ocharan
EXCERPT: "Port-au-Prince will need 18,000 latrines by the end of April to beat the rainy season, says Jacobo Ocharan, disaster risk reduction manager at Oxfam America. So far his group has built about 5 percent of that number."
Boston Globe: In devastated Haiti, a wary look to the sky
February 20, 2010
EXCERPT: "Oxfam officials in Haiti also fear diarrhea and other waterborne diseases could spread because of the poor drainage, crowding, and lack of latrines. They urged the government to quickly decide when and where to relocate the homeless, and called on the United States to provide stronger leadership for the hundreds of nonprofit agencies with operations in Haiti."
Associated Press: Haiti's quake survivors don't wait for gov't plan
February 18, 2010: Quote by Oxfam Great Britain's Ian Bray
EXCERPT: "The government has said for weeks that they have identified sites, but time is getting short and there has been little progress."
The Huffington Post: With Rain, Urgency Grows for Shelter and Sanitation in Haiti's Capital
February 17, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “But the need remains enormous, especially as the rains approach and threaten to slop human waste into temporary settlements and crowded camps where there is little room to improve the drainage."
Reuters AlertNet: Haiti quake survivors play by rules in golf-course camp
February 16, 2010: Oxfam media officer Ian Bray quoted on the latrine situation in camps within the context of the coming rainy season
EXCERPT: "I dread to think what would happen if we had an early sustained tropical downpour. There's a great risk of flooding. If there's a lot of run-off, the latrines would overflow…People use alternative means. Some go back to their homes, they use plastic bags and throw them away or they just find somewhere else to go."
Reuters AlertNet: Haiti: Honoring the lost, rebuilding from the rubble
February 12, 2010: By Helen Hawkings, a health advisor for Oxfam helping to re-establish basic water and sanitation services in Haiti
EXCERPT: “As well as providing latrines and water, we also distribute hygiene kits, buckets, basins, soap, sanitary towels and underwear so that people can maintain at least a basic level of personal hygiene. We are starting our distribution in one of the first camps we visited. Security at distributions takes a lot of organizing so our strategy is to concentrate on distributing our kits to the smaller camps and communities where there are less people to manage who are less likely to receive aid from other organizations.”
Associated Press: UN slams Haitian hospitals for charging patients
February 10, 2010
EXCERPT: “Justine Lesage, an Oxfam relief worker, said the group recently removed 7,000 cubic feet (200 cubic meters) of waste created by 45,000 people at one of the city's camps in just a week. ‘We're also working very hard to make plans for relocating people, but the Haitian government's plan for this is not clear yet.’”
The Huffington Post: In a Camp in Haiti, a Pillowcase of Books Feeds a Dream for the Future
February 9, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: "For kids not affected by the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January, schools re-opened the first of this month. But few students in the North-West and South departments have shown up -- not a promising sign for the government's intention to open the rest of the country's schools by March 1. What's been interrupted now is the certainty, order and measure of opportunity that the school day brought to the lives of Haitian kids who had managed to secure themselves a place in a classroom -- even if that classroom lacked both amenities and rigor."
Inter Press Service: HAITI: U.S. Lawmakers, NGOs Call for Debt Cancellation
February 4, 2010
EXCERPT: "'(While) the international community has acted rapidly and generously to provide for Haiti's immediate emergency needs,' said Emma Seery, Oxfam's campaign manager, 'The G7 must now also make sure that Haiti is not left saddled with crippling debts as it recovers and rebuilds. They must agree to all new financial support being in the form of grants, not loans, and commit to a clear plan to cancel what remains of Haiti's debt.'"
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers propose trade bill to help Haiti
February 2, 2010: Sound byte from Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response department for Oxfam America
EXCERPT: “Oxfam America, an international relief and development agency, said quickly renewing the trade benefits would give companies the confidence they need to reinvest in Haiti.”
The Huffington Post: Cité-Soleil: Oxfam at Work in the Heart of the City's Most Notorious 'Hoods
February 2, 2010: By Caroline Gluck, Oxfam's field-based press officer for Oxfam's humanitarian team
EXCERPT: “Every day, around 1,000 kits are assembled and distributed to needy communities. Oxfam buys the items from local companies to try to help the Haitian economy; and around 50 people displaced or affected by the earthquake have been hired by Oxfam to help get the kits ready and out to communities as quickly as possible."
The Christian Science Monitor: Haiti: US ramps up 'cash for work' to create jobs, help recovery
February 2, 2010: Quote from Alex Yiannopoulos, emergency food security coordinator for Oxfam
EXCERPT: “'We’ve learned from experience that people prefer money to goods or food. That way they can buy what they need, and who better to decide that than the people themselves?'"
NPR: Haiti Rebuilding Effort Looks to 2004 Tsunami
February 2, 2010: Sound byte from Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response department for Oxfam America
EXCERPT: “Mike Delaney, director of humanitarian response for Oxfam, says there are practical reasons why it’s important that Haitians oversee the reconstruction plans, including specifics, such as the design of houses. '…I’ve seen housing projects in many places where in the end houses are built for people after an emergency and they don’t end up living in it. They end up putting their farm animals in it just because it wasn’t the kind of housing they needed.'"
The Huffington Post: A Thin Silver Lining
February 1, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “Dario Arthur, an Oxfam staffer leading part of the emergency response, says he could have ordered pre-assembled kits to distribute in the camps. But that would have been a missed opportunity to give people jobs. The assemblers, who need to work fast and will be employed for just two weeks, are earning 500 gourdes (about $12.25) a day: a rate substantially above the local minimum wage. Warehouse workers will likely stay on the job for two or three months, as different supplies pass through."
NPR: Amid Spotty Aid, Groups Try Hiring Haitians For Cash
January 31, 2010: Interview with Alex Yiannopoulos, emergency food security coordinator for Oxfam
EXCERPT: “'We're not only looking at the now and present,' [Alex Yiannopoulos] says. 'We're also looking at four years down the road and further. So these activities have to be linked into our longer-term effort. And we're trying to be creative about making sure there's an overlap in our immediate response and our more long-term programs.'....Oxfam already has a few hundred people earning cash for clean-up work, and hopes to eventually hire 5,000 Haitians. Other broom-and-shovel brigades are cleaning up trash, debris and rubble for other aid groups throughout the Haitian capital, and even more cash-for-work programs are ramping up this week."
Huffington Post: Seeking Shelter From the Coming Rain
January 30, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “So far, good shelter is in short supply. Oxfam has distributed some plastic tarps and more are on the way. We're negotiating with an orphanage in Port-au-Prince that has the space to allow us to cut large pieces of plastic down to a household size. People can use the tarps in a variety of ways to meet their individual requirements--and our goal is to get those tarps into the hands of people before the wet season arrives. But still, the need here is enormous. The Haitian government has appealed for 200,000 tents."
Huffington Post: Haiti's Entrepreneurs Keep Life Going, Part 2
January 29, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “'There are people who have lost five children,' [Pharisien Marcaise] said quietly above the hum of the camp around him. 'I have to keep going with my life.' For now, that means keeping a small generator chugging so he can charge the batteries on the cell phones everyone here carries. Without a regular source of electricity, people depend on small vendors like Marcaise to keep them connected with their friends, their families, and the world."
Huffington Post: New Life in a Shattered Community
January 28, 2010: By Caroline Gluck, Oxfam's field-based press officer for Oxfam's humanitarian team
EXCERPT: “Oxfam worked in the neighborhood before the quake, helping people access food when prices sky-rocketed. It has now begun a new project this week -- paying community members to start cleaning up the area; removing rubbish and waste. The cash-for-work programs mean that not only do communities begin to improve their living conditions, but people can earn desperately -- needed money so they can buy food and other necessities."
Huffington Post: Haiti's entrepreneurs keep life going
January 28, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “Many of those who have set up shop along both sides of the road that runs through this teeming camp have lost everything--homes, small businesses, and worst of all, family members. But there is a tenacity and determination here that, with the right support, could be the foundation for a thriving economy as Haiti begins to rebuild itself. But what's needed, said many, is money--money to rebuild homes, make communities stable, and invest in small enterprises so they can grow."
Huffington Post: Many hands help to bring aid to those who need it
January 26, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “…But how do you distribute tons of goods to small camps scattered across a city snarled by traffic, earthquake debris, and roads more pothole than pavement? With human sweat. Lots of it. That's the awesome thing about all of this: The flood of good will, pouring in from round the world for the people of Haiti, stacked next to the tangle of challenges in making sure the help gets where it needs to go--as fast as possible."
PRI's The World: Forgiving Haiti’s Debt
January 26, 2010: Interview with Raymond Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America
EXCERPT: “At a time when a nation is facing such a dramatic calamity, and is, in effect, faced with rebuilding its national institutions, its state institutions, as well as its civil society institutions, debt forgiveness is a first step and an important step. We’re hoping the IMF will lead and others will follow."
WUNC North Carolina Public Radio, American Public Media: Grief and hope in Haiti
January 26, 2010
EXCERPT: One of the main worries in Haiti now is health and sanitation. One agency that works directly on those issues is Oxfam. Yolette Etienne is Haiti's country director for Oxfam. She has been working long hours to just to make the places around the tents clean. At the same time Yolette is dealing with her own tragedies. Her mother was killed, her house was destroyed, and now she's responsible for two orphans. Yolette joins Dick Gordon to talk about the realities of living and working in Haiti after the quake.
New York Times: Radiohead does big things for Haiti at small venue
January 26, 2010
EXCERPT: Radiohead raised more than $500,000 for Haiti earthquake relief at a special weekend concert that attracted celebrities and die-hard fans... Attendees bid online for tickets, with proceeds going to Oxfam International, a group that works with developing countries.
Los Angeles Times: US and other nations say Haiti must lead effort to rebuild after devastating earthquake
January 26, 2010: By Rob Gillies
EXCERPT: "If we move too quickly, we fall into the trap of rebuilding the Haiti that existed two weeks ago. The Haiti that existed two weeks ago we do not want to rebuild," Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam, said. "It was a country of inequality, and of poor infrastructure."
News RX: Oxfam team in place for Haiti earthquake response
January 26, 2010
EXCERPT: "The first step in an emergency will be getting clean water to people who need it as we know from experience that shocks like this disrupt water lines, and transportation is completely broken down," said Michael Delaney, director of Oxfam America's humanitarian response department. "As we've seen time and again, in emergencies the poor are hit the hardest… Given the severity of this earthquake and the poverty of the country, our response will be long term."
EXCERPT: Oxfam America organizer Sophia Lafontant has been in touch with family and friends in Port-au-Prince. She said, "The scene described was something out of a movie or war zone. Gray filled skies, dust debris, and broken structures and bodies."
Huffington Post: A day of rest in Port-au-Prince
January 25, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: "It's going to be hard to recover, but hopefully we will," says Rooby Pierre, who lingers briefly in the shade of a tree, recounting the urgency of the minister's sermon: to help people find a place to sleep, food to eat, medicine to get better. "We have to do anything we can to rebuild our community--and our country. It's our job as a church to give hope back to the people."
Democracy Now: Oxfam calls for international community to cancel Haiti’s $890 million debt
January 25, 2010
EXCERPT: Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others will take part in closed-door talks today in Montreal to map out key priorities for rebuilding Haiti. Oxfam is calling on foreign ministers attending the talks to cancel Haiti’s outstanding $890 million international debt.
New York Times: Haiti’s homeless are short hundreds of thousands of tents, aid groups say
January 24, 2010: By Ginger Thompson
EXCERPT: “The camps must not become warehouses of people waiting for permanent homes that never materialize,” said Rick Bauer, a shelter expert for the international aid agency Oxfam.
Bloomberg.com: UN urges Haiti coordination as supplies flood airport
January 23, 2010: By Chris Dolmetsch
EXCERPT: “It was probably easier in the first few days, then it got a bit complicated in sense of the logistics especially with the airport,” said Claude St. Pierre, Haiti country director for the aid group Oxfam, in a telephone interview from Port-au- Prince. “We’re now sort of better at this so a lot of the material and the resources that we need and a lot of the people have been coming through Santo Domingo over the border and in from the border to Port-au-Prince.”
Huffington Post: Nous vivon
January 23, 2010: By Coco McCabe, Oxfam America's features editor
EXCERPT: “I don't know much French, but I know enough to hear gratitude and the thrill of being alive. A man dashing across the street had spied our driver--a friend--and a smile of wild joy shot across his face. ’Nous vivons!’ he shouted. We live!”
Fox News: Haiti telethon raises $57 million... and counting
January 23, 2010
EXCERPT: Organizers for the all-star "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon say the event raised $57 million -- and counting... Among the organizations who will receive funds from the telethon include Oxfam America, UNICEF, and the Clinton-Bush Haiti Foundation.
AP: Help finally starts to get to Haiti nursing home
January 22, 2010: By Michelle Faul
EXCERPT: "What can you say?" said Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam Great Britain. "It is very often the case that the strongest and fittest get help. ... Those left behind are the elderly and the women with children, so we are working hard to make sure aid is coordinated."
The Washington Post: Aid agencies, hit hard by earthquake, struggle to cope in Haiti
January 21, 2010: Interview with Yolette Etienne, Oxfam's country director in Haiti
EXCERPT: As buildings crashed to the ground around her after Haiti's earthquake, Yolette Etienne reacted as any longtime relief worker would.
"I had the idea to say to people: 'Don't panic. We are Oxfam. We help people,' " the group's Haiti director said …
But about 7 p.m., when she finally walked home, she found it a mountain of rubble. In the back yard, she came upon her mother's body.
Etienne grieved for two hours. Then it was time to try to find out what had happened to other family members and friends.
"I said: Tomorrow I have to inform my children, bury my mother -- but find out what happened to my colleagues," she recalled.
Etienne was at work by 8 a.m.
"I know, as an Oxfam worker, an aid worker, I can help people. I've got the resources to help people," she said in Haitian-accented English, fighting back tears.
PRI’s The World: Rebuilding Haiti
January 18, 2010: Interview with Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response department for Oxfam America
EXCERPT:
MARINA GIOVANNELLI: … activists point to a similar disaster not long ago as an example of what’s possible. Mike Delaney of Oxfam says that parts of the Indonesian province of Ache have made remarkable progress in the five years since it was pummeled by a tsunami.
MIKE DELANEY: Many of those communities ended up with new homes and water actually going into their homes for the first time.
MARINA GIOVANNELLI: Delaney says the progress in Ache was the result of collaboration between local and foreign governments, the United Nations and private aid groups. But he says that only worked because local people had a say in key decisions. Of course Haiti is not Ache and Haiti faces its own challenges. But Delaney says if done right, the attention suddenly focused on Haiti could help make the disaster a turning point in its unhappy history.
MIKE DELANEY: We’ve said it countless times this week: you know Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Well, you know, maybe it won’t be in a couple years.
BBC News: Aid effort tougher than tsunami, Oxfam says
January 17, 2010: Interview with Charl van der Merwe, a project manager for Oxfam.
EXCERPT: "The infrastructure in Haiti is, more or less, zero. We are, for all practical purposes, planning on the basis that we're starting from scratch.Our staff can be fairly resourceful. When you're in that situation, you think a little bit more outside the box than you'd normally do..."
"We're making sure we have secure distribution points where we can give out supplies in an orderly fashion. People have been heavily affected by this; they are traumatized, they are hungry, they are tired..."
"Initially we'll make sure we get the right life-saving materials to people in Haiti. From then on, we'll start a massive rebuilding process, coordinated by all of the people on the ground."
The New York Times > Arts Beat blog: Details of ‘Hope for Haiti’ Telethon are announced
January 15, 2010: Update | 1:16 p.m.: By Dave Itzkoff
EXCERPT: Eleven broadcast and cable networks will show a two-hour telethon next Friday night to benefit the victims of the Haitian earthquake, MTV Networks announced on Friday ... The telethon will be hosted by Mr. [George] Clooney in Los Angeles, the Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean in New York and the CNN newscaster Anderson Cooper, who will be broadcasting from Haiti ... Donations raised during the telethon will benefit the organizations Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, Unicef and Yele Haiti Foundation.
The Washington Post: New technology speeds donations for Haiti relief efforts
January 15, 2010 : By Susan Kinzie
EXCERPT: Although it's too early to do more than estimate the dollar amounts, aid officials agreed that for a variety of reasons -- including the extent of the devastation, the depth of poverty in Haiti before the earthquake, the proximity of the country to the United States and the large number of Haitians with family members who live here -- Americans have responded with swift generosity.
"You would not have any idea that we're in this economy," said Stephanie Kurzina, a vice president at Oxfam America.
Boston Business Journal: Boston charities, businesses scramble to raise funds and relief for Haiti quake victims
Thursday, January 14, 2010, 4:27pm EST | Modified: Friday, January 15, 2010, 2:42pm: by Mary Moore
EXCERPT: Headquartered in Boston, Oxfam America has a staff of about 200 people on the ground in Haiti and a 15-member emergency specialists team that is responding to the public health, water and sanitation issues that are unfolding as a result of the crisis. In addition, the organization is taking more donations and gearing up in the event more Oxfam staff need to fly into Haiti and assist with relief efforts.
"There’s been a nice trend in the donor community over the past 20 years around understating the importance of cash over goods," said Mike Delaney, director of humanitarian response, Oxfam America. "Ten or 15 years ago, there was a trend of people gathering old clothes and canned goods and shipping it somewhere. And what that did was clog up ports and no one was there to accept the donated goods and sort them out. Now people understand the importance of cash donations, so we can buy the right materials and the right goods and get them to the right places."
MSNBC Transcript: "Hardball with Chris Matthews"
January 14, 2010: Interview with Louis Belanger in the Dominican Republic
EXCERPT: … "what we're trying to do now is assess the situation as best as we can, bring our best people together to make sure that the assessment needs right away, so that we can move as quickly as possible … It's the poorest country on the Western Hemisphere. And the regions, especially some of the slums that have been hit around Port-Au-Prince, are extremely poor. You‘re talking about people are living on a dollar day, and colleagues have told me that everything has collapsed. And it's a very, very difficult situation, not only of human suffering, but of, you know, the level of—just a level of chaos that is happening right now in some of the parts of the cities."
"And last night, he was telling me that people were just standing around with no shelter and nowhere to go, just looking for some fresh water, looking for someone to take care of them, whether they had injuries or what not. So it's a very desperate situation."
MSNBC VIDEO: "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"
January 14, 2010: Skype interview with Louis Belanger in the Dominican Republic
EXCERPT: "Right now what we’re trying to do, Keith, is just regroup, make sure that, you know, we talk to one another, make sure that the aid is delivered in the most efficient way. I think your reporter was right, if it’s not done in the right way, it can be chaos and that’s what we want to avoid. So once we have that communication system fully back on, we can talk to one another, coordinate."
"I mean, we all know what we have to do. Oxfam, you know, is an expert in delivering water. The World Food Program is obviously an expert in delivering food. I mean, we all know our roles. We have the staff. We just need to sort of coordinate it better and just get in on the way. I think you can expect the next 48 hours to improve drastically."
New England Cable News: Oxfam America sends relief team to Haiti
January 13, 2010: Interview with Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response department for Oxfam America
Watch the complete interview.
EXCERPT: "We're mostly focused on the issue of water and providing clean water. We know, even prior to the earthquake, in many communities there was no access to clean water. The earthquake has devastated even the existing infrastructure around water ... Initially we're going to be providing stations where we can have water [accessible] to communities. People can go to these stations and get clean water for their short term needs. That's going to be vital in these next few days. And time and time again, in these these types of emergencies, it's the poorest of the poor that are hit the hardest."
Kanye West Blog (www.kanyeuniversity.com): Help the Haiti Earthquake Victims
January 13, 2010
EXCERPT: As you know, there was a terrible earthquake in Haiti yesterday evening. Oxfam has a staff of about 200 people on the ground in Haiti and a team of 15 highly-experienced emergency specialists based in the capital that are responding with public health, water and sanitation services to prevent the spread of waterborne disease.
"The first step in an emergency will be getting clean water to people who need it as we know from experience that shocks like this disrupt water lines, and transportation is completely broken down," said Michael Delaney, director of Oxfam America’s humanitarian response department.
..."Given the severity of this earthquake and the poverty of the country, our response will be long term."
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