Volunteer Engineers Will Fly to Haiti Throughout the Year

Teams of volunteers will fly to Haiti throughout the year to help rebuild. Photo credit: UNDP

[Note: updated March 2, 2010]

A new relief organization founded in response to the earthquake in Haiti is coordinating trips there for volunteers. Engineers, first responders, clergy and others traveled with Flight to Crisis from Miami to Port-au-Prince on Friday. A similar group left two weeks prior, and such flights may leave every three weeks. The organizers seek donations of supplies and money, and new volunteers. Please see below for a list of professional disciplines needed.

To fill the gaps in its on-the-ground capacity, Flight to Crisis works with an established partner in Haiti called the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians and with Mercy Corps. Both groups told Engineering for Change that the country needs volunteer engineers. Engineers Without Borders heard the call and a member of EWB's New York professional chapter joined the team on the next flight to Haiti.

We need an army of engineers
Sixty million cubic meters of rubble are strewn throughout Port-au-Prince and 200,000 families there are homeless. Standing buildings await inspection for structural integrity. Some will be destroyed and others approved for use. Workers have begun clearing the debris, building temporary housing and flagging buildings for approval or demolition. And they need help.

“This has impacted 3 million people and the work is quite a lot,” said Pierre Rudolphe, NOAH's emergency response coordinator, speaking from his office in Port-au-Prince. “We will need an army of engineers and other scientists. There will be work for the next 10 years,” he said.

In Rudolphe's view, the priorities now are building inspections and housing. NOAH will build refugee villages with temporary shelters, possibly tents, that will house families for the next two to four years. Haiti's government also appointed NOAH to lend technical support to the municipalities around the capital. “The mayors will need help with recovery,” Rudolphe said. “We will staff municipalities with technical assistants – engineers, architects, urban planners and so on.”

You're coming out to camp
Flight to Crisis volunteers pay roughly $1,500 for a nine- to 12-day trip that includes nearly everything they will need, minus a flight to Miami. Founder Laz Pujol asks volunteers to take 50 to 100 pounds of supplies to donate. He posted a list of the equipment needed on a page at idealist.org. There is also a Q&A and discussion forum for volunteers and donors. NOAH accepts tax-deductible donations for Flight to Crisis at its website.

Those considering the trip should know what to expect, said Alix Baptiste, one of NOAH's directors. “You're coming in an area that has been totally destroyed. Most of the buildings are not standing. Most volunteers are in tent cities. Basically, you're coming out to camp,” he said, speaking from Port-au-Prince in a conference call to the Flight to Crisis group that will leave Friday.

From a Craigslist ad to a NGO
Flight To Crisis got its start as an advertisement on the Rhode Island Craigslist. Laz Pujol sought partners to share costs for relief work in Haiti two days after the earthquake. He was unimpressed with the response. But then someone posted his ad on tonic.com and idealist.org. Soon it was swept up in a current of social media and deposited in 400 blogs, he said. People who wanted to volunteer clogged his in-box with emails. Instead of a ride share, he decided to found a non-profit. Now, Pujol directs more than 100 volunteers in a handful of countries.

For More Information
Those interested in donating to Flight to Crisis can help by sponsoring part of a volunteer's costs. Professionals who would like to volunteer or donate supplies should contact Laz Pujol at relief@FlightToCrisis.org. The supplies needed are listed below.

Short list of volunteers sought:

• Engineers of all disciplines
• Water specialists (potable and waste)
• Urban planners
• Land surveyors
• Seismologists, geologists
• Architects
• Firefighters
• Healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, students, social workers, psychotherapists with PTSD and grief-counseling experience)
• Others, please contact Laz Pujol at Flight to Crisis with questions

Supplies needed (posted at idealist.org):

Engineering Supplies:

• Hard hats
• GPS equipment
• Two-way radio equipment
• Satellite phones
• Boots, gloves
• PVC pipes and accessories
• Field Laboratory kits for basic physico-chemical tests (chlorine, chloride, nitrates, and pH) and bacteriology tests (E. coli)
• Welding equipment
• Tractors, motorcycles
• Measuring laser tapes
• Instrument to detect problems in beams and columns
• GPS

Medical Supplies:

• Basic X-ray film and developer
• External fixators
• Bovie 220V
• Mobile Anesthesia Unit
• Portable X-ray unit
• C-Arm
• Antibiotics (Amoxicylin, Erithromycine)
• Antibiotic Ointment OR meds (Forane, Ketamine, Prophyfol, Lidocaine)
• Dermatome (Plastic Surgery/ Wound Closure)
• Ortho plates and screws
• Betadine and Betadine Swabs
• Antacids
• Pregnancy Tests
• Water Filtrators
• Vitamins
• Pedialite
• powdered milk/ baby formula/baby food
• Anesthesiology equipment
• Anesthesiology material and supply
• Cardiac Surgery Material “
• Defibrillators
• EEG Equipment
• EKG equipment
• Endoscopy apparatus
• Beds
• Tables
• Laryngoscopes
• OB/GYN equipment
• Microscopes
• Fetal Doppler equipment
• Ophthalmology equipment
• Otoscopes
• Ophthalmoscopes
• Respiratory equipment
• Pulse oximeters
• Stethoscopes
• Pediatric equipment
• Portable X-rays
• Ultrasound machines
• Crutches
• Sterilization equipment
• Urology equipment
• Procedure trays
• Surgery
• Clippers
• Drains
• Tincture
• Electrodes
• First-aid equipment and supplies
• General Medical supplies
• Gastro-intestinal equipment and supplies
• Dental chairs
• Dental equipment and supplies
• Incubators
• Gloves, blouses and other material
• Medical Laboratory equipment and supplies
• Intravenous equipment and supplies

Author: Rob Goodier

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