Hurricane Dorian - Update 8

I missed last week's blog opportunity due mostly to the chaos of getting between islands and preparing for a distribution activity. One of the dilemmas of a response in an archipelago is simply getting around, communicating and shipping items. Those of you that are Facebook friends of mine would have seen me on the "ferry" between Great Abaco Island and Moore's Island.

For those that know their Disney resorts, this trip took us straight past Castaway Cay. CC is an island (originally Gorda Cay) that was bought by Disney as an exclusive island for their cruise ships to stop at.

Back to the hurricane efforts though:

The point of going to Moore's was to distribute non-food items to the community. As their school has been re-established already, there are a number of evacuees from Abaco here. However, they only have food come in by ferry twice a week and their "shopping" is limited to the post office and a small grocer - both of which have not been able to restock since the Hurricane.

Of a population of 900 on the island (not including undocumented migrants or evacuees from Abaco), only around 30 are currently still employed, all by the government. There is only one nurse on the island and no doctors.

We were able to ship over a range of goods: clothes, toiletries, person hygiene items, baby goods etc and support 85 households (around 350 individuals). We concurrently had a team with us comprising personnel from The Salvation Army, the World Food Program and Samaritan's Purse, who registered people for inclusion in our vulnerabilities assessment and therefore future distributions. \

We are really grateful to the church at the International Grace Ministry that allowed us to use their church for the day.

Hurricane Dorian - Update 7

There has been a lot of frustration of late with the slow response progress. By now, even in some of the most difficult environments, we would be moving from the response phase to the recovery phase. This is not the case on Great Abaco Island.

Even today I sat in a meeting with the Ministry of Public Works where we raised the lack of debris removal. Some residents have returned to clean up their properties and are resorting to burning debris as it cannot be removed/ isn't being removed. Working through their database we found that 75% of the contractors tasked with debris removal have not yet mobilised (their term).

It was really discouraging.

On the other hand, there are some clear signs of hope. People will often take control of their own recovery and there are those that are cleaning up and rebuilding. There are others that are using their skills and talents to try and work for the benefit of the rest of the community.

One couple have been painting murals around the town of Marsh Harbour to encourage hope and life. It's small, but it's... well, not small. It's colour, it's positive and it's hopeful.

Hurricane Dorian - Update 6

This week we were initially able to ensure that people with particular illnesses, disabilities or young children that required electricity had generators. These will keep medicines, formula and other necessities refrigerated and ensure that those that aren't well are more comfortable than they would be otherwise.

The distribution was done in partnership with the Bahamas Red Cross who did the hard work of identifying beneficiaries while we sourced the generators and shipped them to Abaco.

Joan from the Bahamas Red Cross & Brad with a generator beneficiary.

Later in the week we gathered together all of the enumerators that are helping the agencies involved in the vulnerabilities and needs assessment (see last update). The team leaders from each agency were able to provide training in confidentiality, protection principles, data recording, the use of technology for data recording (we are using online forms on the Kobo Collect platform) and safety.

Training for enumerators

This assessment is being undertaken with the resources of all the agencies involved and is attempting to cover the whole of mainland Abaco in a week so that we can evaluate the assistance provided so far and then ensure we are working well together on future assistance plans.

Finally, for those that have read other updates, all the health concerns have taken care of themselves (or been taken care of through medication and intervention!). Thank you for your prayers and support. 

Hurricane Dorian - Update 5

This week has been a bit up and down.

The ups relate mostly to when aid/ response and the relevant NGO, inter-government agencies and other actors are all at their best.

When we assist people, we need to determine the best beneficiaries of that assistance, which is usually done through an assessment process. This is done across communities and either performed by one NGO in a geographic area, or with a particular speciality, who then works through data sharing agreements with other actors to ensure that there is neither duplication or gaps in services.

Alternatively a group of NGO and inter-government actors can get together and do the assessments as a team.

In the Abaco Islands, the Bahamian Government's Department of Social Services decided to conduct the population assessment, but we are now 8 weeks past the disaster and they still are not completed. This is hindering direct assistance to many individuals.

As a result, those of us that want to get assistance out more efficiently have grouped together to do a more comprehensive, but also more expedient assessment that should cover the whole of the island region in the next two weeks. This consortium includes WFP, IOM, IFRC, ADRA, Samaritan's Purse, Heart to Heart and The Salvation Army. In one really productive workshop yesterday, between us we had come up with the assessment tool, logistical means, communications pieces, budget and funding and enumerators necessary to complete the task. Collaboration at its best.

The downs this week are more personal. I had experienced an insect bite a few weeks ago that developed into a significant cellulitis. Just as the treatment for that was underway, a new pharyngitis behind my adenoids stuck and meant I was having shocking fevers and couldn't swallow. Thankfully I believe that is also on the mend now, but for those of you that are pray-ers, our whole team could do with prayers for health and wellbeing while we are here!

Hurricane Dorian - Update 4

Strictly speaking, I suppose that this isn't a Dorian update. However, on days when you feel like your wheels are spinning and you're not making progress it's nice to get some encouragement from previous work.

This week, in Indonesia, some toilets were opened:

Lt.Cols Lyn&Ced Hills, leaders of the #SalvationArmy in #Indonesia open new toilet blocks built for schools damaged by the earthquakes in #Sulawesi. All toilets have a ramp for children with mobility issues&are constructed according to #SPHEREstandards. @Legerdesheils @SpherePro pic.twitter.com/bFs2KAPSDU

— IHQ-ReliefDev (@TSA_Projects) October 29, 2019

I was the lead on the project discovery, research and development around 10-11 months ago. A lot of work went into these toilets that are going to support 16 schools. They are a big deal because not only do they have water (!), but they are accessible, they have change and cleaning facilities for girls and they have separate teacher's facilities for best child safe practice and teacher's morale. 

The toilets mean girls will go to school even if they are menstruating. They mean that kids will stay healthy because they can wash. They mean that kids are safe and teachers are supported. They mean that disabled kids can go to school. 

You may have guessed - I'm really proud of these toilets and so glad that our hard work last year has paid off. 

On a day like today, which I spent at a coordination meeting followed by training in a hot tent on how to use the new IOM and NEMA* reporting tools, stories like this are so good and uplifting. 

(*IOM are the International Office of Migration and NEMA are the Bahamian National Emergency Management Authority). 

Hurricane Dorian - Update 3

Tonight just a brief update to give some good news following Monday's post:

We received our food box the next day and have been able to supplement our MRE with coffee, tuna and a few other non-perishables! Very grateful. Our car also arrived on the ferry. I use the term 'car' lightly - it's more like a truck; a Dodge Ram utility. While I'm grateful for having the wheels, driving in the left hand seat AND on the left hand side of the road is taking some time to get used to.

We have had intermittent power the last few days, and we've been blessed by the disaster tech team from the US who have donated to us a wifi hotspot for our accommodation. It's dependent on the phone towers working, though... which is proving to be another thing altogether.

Most importantly our work has been going on. We've organised distribution of 10 pallets of water and 8 pallets of bleach so far. This will enable people who are actually able to repair their homes to start the work of mould remediation and clean up.

We connected with a baptist pastor who has had 6 families from his church return to the island. They are staying in tents outside his church and he was so grateful that we had water for them, as well as the potential to get them some cooking stoves.

Back in Australia, the Salvation Army refers to transformation 'one life at a time'. We saw that very much on the weekend. When we were going through the warehouse I found a wheelchair; Doug, a colleague, had met someone in a borrowed (and broken) one, so we set this new one aside for him.

When we put it in the corridor at our headquarters ready to be delivered it disappeared. Those of you down under will know that we are still skeptical about whether or not the Thrift Shop manager sold it... even though she denies this.

So we went back to the warehouse where we found another. On Sunday evening, Doug took it to the address of the intended recipient, a double amputee, only to find that he wasn't home.

A man came running over to Doug and said, "God has told me to send you to the church down the road". Doug... being skeptical again.... almost turned around but thought "why not". He drove down to the church where the pastor's wife flagged him down. She asked Doug why he was in the neighbourhood and he told her the story. As it happens, the pastor of the church was on his way to pick up the amputee and bring him home... while the church was praying for both his recovery and the supply of a new wheelchair.

You can only imagine their surprise when Doug pulled one out of the back of the ute!

Finally, another nice note. We were sitting in our first coordination meeting the other day. I always like to sit at the back and observe and listen at first. The emergency administrator for the island saw me there and (in a slightly embarrassing move) pointed out that The Salvation Army were in the room and asked me to come up to the front working table. The shield does open doors!

If this link works (!) it's some photos from our work here that are on the IHQ Relief & Development twitter feed at the moment:

Brad from @salvos Australia has now taken on the responsibility of the relief distributions on #Abaco island, #Bahamas. He is also making sure that relief & recovery plans and activities there are coordinated with the government & other stakeholders. @TSACARTHQ @saworldservice pic.twitter.com/MnfZQ7oCr9

— IHQ-ReliefDev (@TSA_Projects) October 24, 2019

Hurricane Dorian - Update 2

I'm taking time to do an update this morning, using my phone hotspot, as there's not much else we can do at the moment. We have no power, no water and no vehicle.

I am in Abaco, but fuel is rationed and we are waiting for the availability of our taxi just to go back to the aiport and hopefully pick up our food box (it didn't arrive on our flight). Last night we were very grateful to Team Rubicon, another NGO, who shared some of their MRE ("Meals Ready-To-Eat", similar to Australian Army Ration Packs) with us.

Once we've got food (!) for ourselves, the plan is to start the networking so that we can complete a more thorough community assessment and progress our work here. We're really late to the party in Abaco, but that said, the need is so great that I'm sure there will be plenty for us still to do. 

This picture, taken from weather.com is a few weeks old, however there has still been no debris removal on much of the island, so it's pretty representative:



It's hoped that debris removal will be done by hand, or at least with some care, in case there are bodies underneath still, but you would appreciate that the government are far more keen to use heavy machinery for the sake of efficiency.

The drama around deportations continues also. UNHCR delivered a stinging attack on the Bahamian government the other day, claiming that people are fleeing shelters and not seeking critical food or medical support because they fear deportation. The government have had this reported to them by many, including in meetings I have been attending, but they blatantly lied in their response to UNHCR saying they've heard no such reports.

Sadly, it's becoming such an issue it's also impacting aid delivery. A pastor of the Haitian Baptist Church in Nassau that was providing over 250 meals a day to displaced people was arrested during a government meeting and has not been seen since. As a result, the meals program is suspended.

Hurricane Dorian - Update 1

Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas as a category five hurricane in early September, killing scores of people and displacing many more. The Salvation Army has been operating in the Bahamas since the 1930's and have been working on response activities since day one.

Having arrived in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday - after 36 hours in transit - I've spent the last two days being orientated to the overall programme we are offering. We are operating range of response projects over three key locations: Nassau (New Providence), Freeport (Grand Bahama) and the Abaco Islands. At the moment they are still concentrating on support for those that have been displaced to New Providence and distribution of necessary shelter and non-food items to those in Freeport.

We have three teams being established. Carolynn Barkhouse (Canada) is leading the team in Nassau, Zach Hodgeson (USA) is leading the team in Freeport and I will be responsible for the team in Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands.

A key challenge that we are facing is identifying and locating people that need assistance. The worst affected communities were on Abaco, but consisted primarily of undocumented immigrants from Haiti. The government figures (61 dead and 860 missing) ONLY include Bahamian citizens. No undocumented people are included in any official figures or supports and this is despite 5-10,000 Haitians being in the worst affected area. It is possible that there are many bodies still under uncleared debris in this neighbourhood, but they are not government priority.

Also, the government are using the displacement of undocumented people as an excuse to conduct deportations. Some of these families have lived in the Bahamas for three or four generations but are now being placed on planes and sent to Haiti where they know no-one and have no means of support. It is also costing places like Abaco significant amounts of willing labour.

The rest of my week will be assisting the team in Nassau with community assessments in areas that were flooded, to see if we can utilise some of the many in-kind donations we've received to assist them. Then I will head to Abaco for the first time on Saturday and start to establish our next projects there.

The in-kind materials have been donated by Norwegian Cruise Lines and the Government of Puerto Rico, along with some United States organisations. We have somewhere between 800 and 1200 pallets of mixed donations that arrived with no inventory that we have had to store, sort and prepare for distribution. While the donation appears generous, it is costing a lot of time, storage and money just to sort through it and find out whether we can use it. Currently we have some of it stored at the local Coca Cola bottling plant (thanks to an advisory board member who works for CC) and some of it in a warehouse at the local Bacardi distributors.

We are staying at the Divisional Headquarters in Nassau, and it's pretty comfortable on our fold up cots. The warmth is welcome after a cold Tasmanian winter and the team we have of local and international staff is working well together.