Before I get to the good stuff, about what Steve's doing, I'm going to take a moment to do my own public service announcement. Wonderful for everyone supporting the Typhoon Haiyan response! It's a good thing in the world when people everywhere step up to help other humans in difficult times, no matter who they are. So, DONATE CASH. DO NOT COLLECT AND SEND STUFF. Enough said. If you need the footnotes as to why, let me know.
I had a chance to skype a little bit with Steve earlier today. He is with a team of 6 people from Save the Children International, and they're setting up a logistics center in Roxas, which is one of the top three hardest hit areas, as I understand it. They were able to find a few rooms to rent, but they are sleeping 4 to a room, with 2 beds. They were able to get extra cots in the room, though he said the word "cot" is a stretch. But it's better than sleeping in a tent outside, which is what they expected and went equipped to do. (they went equipped to work on the moon, if they had to!). There are a whole bunch of them working out of the conference room at the governor's office, and they're running a generator just for enough electricity to charge phones, use their laptops, and have intermittent internet, to do their work. He said there's no AC and it's hotter than hell, inside and out. He said they're trying to figure out how to receive a bunch of containers of relief supplies which are on their way there- where to get it, how to clear it with the government, how to move the supplies out and get them distributed, etc. One thing he did say is that the governor there is very well organized, and Steve was impressed. "Best I have ever seen!" he says. And that's saying a lot because Steve is a tough critic, especially in times like this. So that at least bodes well. He also said that the government did a pretty good job of advance evacuation, so that helped the situation. Which to me is incredible to think of how infinitely more horrible it would have been otherwise!
He also commented that there are so many little islands, and that's a problem- getting to them all, identifying what the situation is, and what the needs are. He said they're still finding areas that haven't been supported at all yet. I asked him about the violence I'm hearing about in the news and he said that it's mainly in Tacloban city itself, and the government just shut down access to anyone who's not already working there, because so many aid agencies were going there and the infrastructure couldn't support it. So now they're seeing more and more agencies arriving where he is. They haven't had any security problems where he is, luckily. Coordination isn't bad, he said, but information is just hard to verify. He also seems to have a cell phone connection, because he texted me once or twice (to remind me to cancel his doctor's appointment, of all things!) but I think it's very expensive.
From our side, LWR is buzzing like crazy with our own response. My role here is related to program design and evaluation mostly, so I'm not directly involved with the response. It's a little hard for me, after 5 years of blood, sweat and tears with the tsunami program, but I remind myself that my job is to go where I'm needed, and for right now, that's keeping it together at home, with Griffin, so that Steve can do his work in the Philippines. But soon I'll start working some with LWR's response, as we begin to look at really focusing in on the longer term strategy for our work, and what measures of success we want to set up, to ensure we're really having the impact we intend to. Today I went back through many documents from my time at the American Red Cross, when I was part of the 2004 Tsunami Recovery Team. We had a lot of lessons learned from that operation about a well-designed, long-term strategy with a good accountability framework behind it. It does make a big difference to stop and take the time to think these kinds of things through. After immediate needs have been met, of course.
That's all for now, this disaster single mama is headed to bed. I hope to have a few more notes from him in the morning, and when there's a lull I can tell you more about how we're doing. I'll leave you with a photo of Griffin getting his haircut today. I suppose I should post more stuff like this for Steve, as this is probably a good and easy way for him to keep up with news and information about Griffin, too!
I had a chance to skype a little bit with Steve earlier today. He is with a team of 6 people from Save the Children International, and they're setting up a logistics center in Roxas, which is one of the top three hardest hit areas, as I understand it. They were able to find a few rooms to rent, but they are sleeping 4 to a room, with 2 beds. They were able to get extra cots in the room, though he said the word "cot" is a stretch. But it's better than sleeping in a tent outside, which is what they expected and went equipped to do. (they went equipped to work on the moon, if they had to!). There are a whole bunch of them working out of the conference room at the governor's office, and they're running a generator just for enough electricity to charge phones, use their laptops, and have intermittent internet, to do their work. He said there's no AC and it's hotter than hell, inside and out. He said they're trying to figure out how to receive a bunch of containers of relief supplies which are on their way there- where to get it, how to clear it with the government, how to move the supplies out and get them distributed, etc. One thing he did say is that the governor there is very well organized, and Steve was impressed. "Best I have ever seen!" he says. And that's saying a lot because Steve is a tough critic, especially in times like this. So that at least bodes well. He also said that the government did a pretty good job of advance evacuation, so that helped the situation. Which to me is incredible to think of how infinitely more horrible it would have been otherwise!
He also commented that there are so many little islands, and that's a problem- getting to them all, identifying what the situation is, and what the needs are. He said they're still finding areas that haven't been supported at all yet. I asked him about the violence I'm hearing about in the news and he said that it's mainly in Tacloban city itself, and the government just shut down access to anyone who's not already working there, because so many aid agencies were going there and the infrastructure couldn't support it. So now they're seeing more and more agencies arriving where he is. They haven't had any security problems where he is, luckily. Coordination isn't bad, he said, but information is just hard to verify. He also seems to have a cell phone connection, because he texted me once or twice (to remind me to cancel his doctor's appointment, of all things!) but I think it's very expensive.
From our side, LWR is buzzing like crazy with our own response. My role here is related to program design and evaluation mostly, so I'm not directly involved with the response. It's a little hard for me, after 5 years of blood, sweat and tears with the tsunami program, but I remind myself that my job is to go where I'm needed, and for right now, that's keeping it together at home, with Griffin, so that Steve can do his work in the Philippines. But soon I'll start working some with LWR's response, as we begin to look at really focusing in on the longer term strategy for our work, and what measures of success we want to set up, to ensure we're really having the impact we intend to. Today I went back through many documents from my time at the American Red Cross, when I was part of the 2004 Tsunami Recovery Team. We had a lot of lessons learned from that operation about a well-designed, long-term strategy with a good accountability framework behind it. It does make a big difference to stop and take the time to think these kinds of things through. After immediate needs have been met, of course.
That's all for now, this disaster single mama is headed to bed. I hope to have a few more notes from him in the morning, and when there's a lull I can tell you more about how we're doing. I'll leave you with a photo of Griffin getting his haircut today. I suppose I should post more stuff like this for Steve, as this is probably a good and easy way for him to keep up with news and information about Griffin, too!
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