Earthquake

Support Services Manager
The British Red Cross Society
Location: Port au Prince, Haiti

Location: London, UK Closing Date: Monday 21st November (at midnight GMT)

Location: Haiti Closing Date: Friday 23rd September (at midnight GMT)

This blog is written by Simon Levine, Research Fellow for the Humanitarian Policy Group, part of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Alguns Links:

I'm trying to go to Haiti this summer. I would love to help out an NGO by producing stories on the lives of those (local population to aid workers) living in the post-disaster environment.

Should Haiti earthquake donation be subject to UK deductions? NGOs, field workers & all involved look at http://www.nodeductions4haiti.org/ - let friends worldwide know.

Launch of The India Food Banking Network is a giant step towards the eradication of hunger which will surely enhance our strength in the fight against hunger.

By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: August 31, 2008

The Active Learning Network on Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) has updated its publication "Learning from earthquake relief and recovery operations.

We're trying to design a septic tank that deals with 30 families waste in Peru. We have a design which is a standard type of septic tank but are unsure of how to construct it.

(forwarded announcement)

The 7th ALNAP Review of Humanitarian Action (RHA) is now available online. (ALNAP = Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action_

Sahana is a Free and Open Source Disaster Management system. "It is a web based collaboration tool that addresses the common coordination problems during a disaster from finding missing people, managing aid, managing volunteers, tracking camps effectively between Government groups, the civil society (NGOs) and the victims themselves."

I found this site recently and thought others might be interested. The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, "provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world and tools to facilitate response coordination, including media monitoring, map catalogues and Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination Centre". Don't sign up for the SMS alerts unless you need it though (We don't want to overload their SMS gateway). One nice feature is the RSS feed which can be loaded into your favourite RSS reader. I was interested to know if there are any standby emergency aid workers out there who use a similar notification system. If so let us know. Also for those computer nerds out there they are using a standards based XML messaging format for emergencies called CAP .

Proposals for designing road bridges in rural Rwanda, ensuring housing in Nepal is more resistant to earthquakes and making better use of waste water from olive oil mills in the occupied Palestinian territory are among the biggest winners of awards co-sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Hi

There is a concern about the specific tools to meet the minimum disaster requirement.
A booklet is to be wriiten about the use and types of tools for a humanitarian disaster.
These will be tools that would include specific tools for diiferent types of cultural burials, basic tools for the livelihoods and use for general repairs.

The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) are a set of international guidelines for livelihoods-based livestock responses to humanitarian crises. Following the process and format of the Sphere guidelines, LEGS is being developed through consultation with a wide group of interested organizations and individuals. LEGS covers a range of livelihoods-based responses, including destocking, accelerated offtake, veterinary services, supplementary feed, water, shelter and restocking. A ‘consultation’ draft was placed on the LEGS website during July and August for comment and feedback. Based on these responses, a ‘field test’ draft is now being produced, which will be tested in real-time emergencies as well as through a series of simulation workshops. The draft will then be finalized and LEGS is due to be published during 2008.

Hi!
I have been asked to do some research into the distribution of EMERGENCY AID (Raw materials), Humanitarian Assistance (Basic Needs), and Humanitarian Aid for example : The wrong type of Aid can hamper the relief effort and can end up in the wrong hands. So how do agencies communicate, prioritise and make assessments? I would be grateful for any information on the above.

Hi!

It has been brought to my attention that the cost of shipping for Humanitarian Assistance is extremely high and each shipping organisation calculate their costs in various ways. some do not include customs or taxes and others go either per weight, or per zone per shipment.