UN Foundation - update from TSF
by UN Foundation
Tags: UNFoundation, Haiti, Telecom Sans Frontieres
My name is Myriam Annette. I am with the Telecoms Sans Frontiere emergency team in Port au Prince, Haiti. Our emergency deployment to Haiti was sponsored in part by the UN Foundation-Vodafone Partnership. I am standing right now in the middle of the UN coordination base - it has been on the ground since the day after the earthquake, assisting survivors and emergency responders. We have three teams covering three survivors’ camps a day. Each team sets up satellite calling and provides a free international three minute call. 90% of the calls go to the US. Most of the other calls are the first contact survivors have had with their relatives. We are serving 100’s of families a day. What is reported that there are 600 camps with no place to live and no accessory sources the calls are often rough. Many ask relatives to somehow get them money so they can buy food and water. We hear stories of huge loss, purses and wallets full of pictures of family killed. Unimaginable choices like the men forced to save either wife or daughter when only one could be pulled out and bought to makeshift medical facilities in time. At other times we hear people let somebody know for the first time that they survived, those are good calls. And more and more UN responders and resources arrive every day. The job is just so big and the resources and organization needed enormous. More than a million homeless, hungry and thirsty and spread out in pockets across the city so we continue to see people who have not yet seen any support at all. TSF are also assisting the UN in this job by setting up at UN Locations coordination centres for UN and NGO responders and trouble shooting IT issues for anyone who needs help. I will be providing updates on this website as frequently as possible but as each day extends in the camp there is not much opportunity. Thanks you. For more on TSF please visit www.tsfi.org
My name is Myriam Annette. I am with the Telecoms Sans Frontiere emergency team in Port au Prince, Haiti. Our emergency deployment to Haiti was sponsored in part by the UN Foundation-Vodafone Partnership. I am standing right now in the middle of the UN coordination base - it has been on the ground since the day after the earthquake, assisting survivors and emergency responders. We have three teams covering three survivors’ camps a day. Each team sets up satellite calling and provides a free international three minute call. 90% of the calls go to the US. Most of the other calls are the first contact survivors have had with their relatives. We are serving 100’s of families a day. What is reported that there are 600 camps with no place to live and no accessory sources the calls are often rough. Many ask relatives to somehow get them money so they can buy food and water. We hear stories of huge loss, purses and wallets full of pictures of family killed. Unimaginable choices like the men forced to save either wife or daughter when only one could be pulled out and bought to makeshift medical facilities in time. At other times we hear people let somebody know for the first time that they survived, those are good calls. And more and more UN responders and resources arrive every day. The job is just so big and the resources and organization needed enormous. More than a million homeless, hungry and thirsty and spread out in pockets across the city so we continue to see people who have not yet seen any support at all. TSF are also assisting the UN in this job by setting up at UN Locations coordination centres for UN and NGO responders and trouble shooting IT issues for anyone who needs help. I will be providing updates on this website as frequently as possible but as each day extends in the camp there is not much opportunity. Thanks you. For more on TSF please visit www.tsfi.org
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