You forget, when you haven’t done emergency work in awhile, just how strange a scene these things can be. I;m at a hotel tonight after week of camping on a rooftop. And I’m camping here as well, in teh small yard in front of the hotel, which is filled to double occupancy with aid workers from around the world. I ran into several old friends already, which is always nice, especially in an emergency. I’m tired after 5 days, and people have been here for almost 7 weeks now, some of them. To say nothing of the Haitians, sleeping outdoors till, many of them, for fear of going back inside. It’s common after earthquakes – people are traumatized, an the thought of being killed or pinned by falling rubble is too much for weeks and months after a big quake like this one. Its hot and humid at night now, but mosquitoes are a problem. Malaria rates will surge in the coming weeks as teh rains come, and with them the standing water in the more than 300 camps will certainly breed disease. A woman died of typhoid in one of the camps today, but this far there is nothing like an epidemic, which is a rare piece of good news. Midnight now – off to my tent.
February 24th, 2010 | by David in Travel | 1 Comment
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February 25th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Hey Dave,
I’ve been thinking about you and hope you are ok. You are missing quite a snow storm..well at least in PA and NY. take care and keep up the good work! Lori