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Emergency Management & Technology
One thing I've always been interested in is Disaster Management and Recovery. I think it can be attributed to my ability to stay completely calm in high stress situations. In some instances, I can seem rather cold as I try to filter the emotion and start searching for a solution to the problem. Often this is countered by my since-of-humor during wee hours of the morning trying to resuscitate a file or web server. My interest in emergency management matches my utter amazement at technology in general. I often wonder how it is that GPS, Radio, Mobile, and Wi-Fi connections all just seem to work. It just doesn't compute in my head, but I've learned to accept it.
Haiti was hit with a horrible earthquake yesterday and aftershocks continuing through today. Normally, I would look at this as any other major disaster in the world. However, this time my view is different. For one, I spent several years working as the Technology & Finance administrator for the Survivors' Fund Project (SFP) where I worked with direct staff assisting vicitim's of the 9-11 attacks at the Pentagon. Working for SFP, I saw firsthand how long the steps to recovery can take no matter how resilient someone is. The main reason I am paying more attention to the Haiti earthquake, aside from its magnitude, is that my brother-in-law, is in Deschapelles at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS). He is teaching in the Rehabilitation Technician Training Program. Deschapelles is about 40 miles and 2 hours away from Port-au-Prince. I found out about the Earthquake around 6PM ET and fortunately, we were able to receive an email from my brother-in-law about 2 hours later saying that he and the rest of the people at HAS were OK. Meanwhile, phone lines were down and cell towers were out. This is what amazes me about technology, that even in the midst of such a disaster in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, he was still able to get an email out to let us know he was OK.
Twitter, Facebook, and other applications have also played a part in keeping the rest of the world informed. I spent a good bit of today adding statistics to my brother-in-law's blog and while I was doing this, I could actually see that he was logged in to the site at the same time. Again, I found myself in amazement at this fact.
In emergency management, I feel we still have a ways to go and there must be some more ways we can utlize advancements in technology more. As I listen to the news tonight, I hear about logistical issues with getting aid from the airport to the people on the streets, no organization or plan for organization for the streets in Port-au-Prince, and delays in waiting for assistance to arrive.
I am thankful that my brother-in-law is safe and can assist with the patients coming into the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles. You couldn't ask for a better person to be there in that situation. I'm also glad that he has been able to update his blog every now and then to keep us in the loop. The people of Haiti are in my thoughts.
