Disaster response nonprofit Airlink and its network of\nairline and nonprofit partners have coordinated the first movement of medical\nvolunteers to Haiti in response to the recent 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Local\nhealth systems have reported being overwhelmed by demand. Official estimates\nhave reported 5,700 injured, on top of 1,300 confirmed fatalities. This is the\nfirst movement of what Airlink estimates will be a significant response that is\nlikely to last for months, and possibly years, in order to repair local\ninfrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airlink has experience organizing and delivering aid to\nHaiti following past natural disasters. In 2016, it coordinated flights for\nresponders and the airlift of humanitarian cargo in response to Category 5\nHurricane Matthew. Prior to that, in 2010, Airlink led the movement of\nhumanitarian aid and responders after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the\ncapital Port-au-Prince and resulted in an estimated 200,000 casualties. In that\nlatter response, Airlink, working with a network of airline and NGO partners,\ncoordinated the movement of 2,000 doctors and nurses and more than 40 shipments\nof aid totaling over 500,000 pounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are preparing for a sustained response over many\nmonths,\u201d said Airlink President and CEO, Steven J. Smith. \u201cAt this stage, the\ndisaster response community is assessing need, compiling an inventory of\nhumanitarian aid and forming teams of responders. We anticipate and are\nplanning for a considerable movement of aid, beginning over the next few days\nand weeks. However, equally critical to recovery will be support for the\ncountry over the medium and long-term, which we estimate could run over months,\neven years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airlink provides free and heavily subsidized flights and\nairlift for humanitarian cargo to a network of 120 pre-approved NGOs and\nnonprofits, as well as providing support for logistical coordination. In\nresponse to disasters, logistical management is a critical component. It is\nestimated that 60% of donated items arriving at disaster sites cannot be used\nimmediately, congesting transport hubs, with leftover goods having to be\ndestroyed at the host country\u2019s expense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCooperation, communication, and planning are critical.\nShelter, health, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) will be top\npriorities, especially in light of COVID-19 and the endemicity of cholera in\nthe country,\u201d said Stephanie Steege, Airlink\u2019s Director of Humanitarian\nPrograms.\u201cOf course, the global pandemic complicates any response and recovery\neffort, particularly in regard to keeping both displaced people and responders\nsafe. Where Airlink\u2019s work is most important is in coordinating logistics and\ntransport for international NGOs. We know from our response in 2016 to\nHurricane Matthew that last-mile transportation is a challenge following\ndisasters on the southern peninsula of Haiti, and this will become even more\ndifficult after Tropical Storm Grace has passed. We\u2019re already coordinating\nwith more than 30 NGOs to identify and fill gaps in transportation that will\nhelp them reach impacted communities and move towards recovery quickly.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Disaster response nonprofit Airlink and its network of airline and nonprofit partners have coordinated the first movement of medical volunteers to Haiti in response to the recent 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Local health systems have reported being overwhelmed by demand. Official estimates have reported 5,700 injured, on top of 1,300 confirmed fatalities. This is the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19274,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273\/revisions\/19274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}