Haiti Earthquake

"So we are driving in there and you start to see these signs, 'Help! Help! We need water and food',spray painted on the side of things with arrows, leading to where people are injured."

Radio and TV host Kerri Kasem tells about her disaster relief trip to Haiti beginning of February 2010 (Podcast).

 

Barbara Albert, New York State paramedic, gives a personal first-hand account of her work in Haiti on "Youth Radio" of Youth Media International:  "My mission began Saturday the 16th.  It was three groups that joined together as one: Bedstuy Volunteer Ambulance Corp. (made of New York State EMT's and paramedics), The Haitian-American doctors and nurses abroad, and the volunteer ministers of the Church of Scientology. Together we formed the Haiti Rescue Team. ..."

A 4.7 magnitude quake hit the south-west of Haiti during last night. It is one of a series of aftershocks since a catastrophic magnitude 7 quake hit the island on January 12. Our Volunteer Ministers, the medical and construction teams, are well. Damage was minor.

 

Many Volunteer Ministers who come back from Haiti share the observation that Haitian people are astonishingly resilient and, despite  the misery and even despite heavy injuries, they keep finding solutions to improve survival.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers share this way of life and their motto--Something can be done about it!--resonates with the Haitian population. One month after the earthquake it is now time to help rebuild the infrastructure of the country and get people to work.

Update: From today on regular commercial flights are permitted again to land at the Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture International airport. The first routine flight since 12 January 2010 landed this morning.

NEW HAVEN (February 18, 2010)-Medical professional and Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman, who was working on the earthquake getting volunteers to go and handling logistics shortly after the earthquake after the January 12 earthquake and then went to Haiti on the 21st of January, is keeping his promise today to a Haitian man whose leg was amputated to save his life.

This excerpt from Google Maps shows Scientology Volunteer Ministers main camp at Port Au Prince airport (yellow tent and surrounding smaller tents). It was set up there on 17 January 2010.

Port-Au-Prince airport is planned to open for commercial flights again in the next couple of days. Because of that our camp is currently being moved.

On Sunday, February 14, CBS 4 in Miami interviewed Austin Eastlee on his way to Haiti as part of the Scientology Disaster Response Team.  The 20-year-old Pasadena City College graphic design student from Glendale, California, said he sees this as a critical point in the Haiti relief effort and this is the reason he is volunteering now.  It is the one-month anniversary of the earthquake and many aid workers and medical professionals have had to return ho