Updated: Haiti: Africa and the Gulf States send aid

Updated: 22.01.10 Roundups on more African aid to Haiti here and here.

IRIN has covered aid sent from the Gulf States and Africa - how long before this is no longer newsworthy I wonder?

Psychological first aid following disasters

I've read a lot about this in various places in recent years, not that I can find it right now... but this blog post pointing out the advice of the US 'National Center for PTSD' (post-traumatic stress disorder) is useful and interesting:

There has been a lot of talk among mental health professionals about the psychological consequences of the devastating earthquake that struck Port Au Prince, Haiti, two weeks ago, and just what should be done right now. The answer, it turns out, is not what you might expect.

Check out the National Center for PTSD’s “psychological first aid” suggestions. Their list is comprised of primarily educational measures. Notably, nowhere on the list of things to do in the first weeks following a disaster is psychotherapy as we traditionally think of it. Indeed, nowhere on the list is anything that needs to be done by mental health professionals. The suggestions are pretty much good common sense: seek emotional support from friends, family, religious and other community groups; maintain as predictable a routine as possible for your kids; and although you should stay informed, stay away from sensationalized media coverage. If people are acting anxious, that’s because they are distressed — and that’s normal following a disaster. For most people this distress will decrease when basic needs are satisfied and some measure of stability is reestablished.

Read more on Andrew Rasmussen's blog.

Alertnet: Kenyans insured for herd losses in drought via satellite images

Pastoralists would get automatic payments for losses if satellite images of the region show vegetation fades from green -- shades of brown will gauge the severity of drought.

The use of satellites bypasses the traditional, more costly system under which insurers check reported livestock deaths before making payouts. That is almost impossible to judge in herds that wander over huge areas.

Still, risks include that some herders suffer bigger than predicted losses during droughts. In other cases, some herders might get payments when their animals have all survived.

Read more on Alertnet.

UPDATED: Web 101 series: Twitter and humanitarian responders

UPDATED 22.01.10: CNET writes about Twitter, all growed up, as a communications and information-sharing tool following the Haiti earthquake, and a great piece from the NYT illuminates why even sane people might like to give the thing a try.

This is the first in a series aiming to demystify some of the tools available to humanitarians on the web.

You're telling me I should think about joining Twitter? Really?

I'm afraid so, yes. A lot has been written about Twitter. You might have been wondering whether to dip a toe into the murky water of microblogging and been put off by all the hype and silliness - so here's a quick post on how to make the most of it and a few good links.

It's worth saying there has rarely been a better time to demonstrate the excellent use people are making of Twitter to discuss, promote, and further humanitarian work - the emergency in Haiti has been one of the most popular topics on Twitter all week, and not just for laypeople commenting on the news - humanitarians have been using it to help the response.

So why bother? Twitter isn't just about self-aggrandisement and navel-gazing, although there's a bit of that, of course. I use it mainly for the links people share, and increasingly for the information in their tweets. Fairly often, I hear of something on Twitter before it's on the more formal news channels. Also, you can talk to people, from the Today Programme to Amanda Palmer, directly - there's a personal quality to Twitter that you don't get anywhere else. It's nice to hear what people are doing working on the Haiti response in Geneva, London or Santo Domingo - but it's even better if you can write back and send a word of encouragement.



It's easy enough to sign up, at Twitter.com, so I'll leave that to you - although a word of warning - unless you're happy to post only work-relevant, party line stuff, don't name your organisation in your username or your bio! And if you decide to represent your organisation in that way, be prepared to get your output signed off by your Comms department.

Ok fine I'm sold. How do I do this? I've created a list of Twittering humanitarians which will give you a good starting point (you can also just use this as a webpage). Follow the people who seem interesting, then follow people they 'retweet', and you're off.

You can manage online, but there are also lots of applications which you can download for free to help you follow your Twitterstream and post, if you want to, although plenty of people just lurk. A good program is Seesmic, which allows you to follow your Facebook feed at the same time! Double trouble.

It's nice to give back - so if you see an article you like, post a link to it - don't forget to shorten the link using TinyUrl or through your Twitter application.

Let me know how this goes - I'll be interested to hear if people find this useful.

DEC and ODI: Lessons for Haiti

In case any of you missed it - ALNAP and ODI have rolled out their lessons learned papers on urbanisation and earthquakes, linked to from this op-ed from Ben Ramalingam. Meanwhile, a thoughtful look from CNN at the recent DEC report on lessons learned from the Tsunami response in Aceh through the lens of the Haiti operation.

Wall St Journal: on the ICRC negotiating UN access to children in Afghanistan

International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international organization that maintains regular communications with the Taliban command, acts as an intermediary every time a new letter of support is issued. That happened 10 times in 2009, each time a new vaccination campaign was launched.

Dr. Mir of the WHO says he decided to ask the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, for assistance after watching how that organization facilitated talks between the South Korean government and the Taliban that led to the freeing of 23 Korean hostages kidnapped by the insurgents in July 2007.

...Afghan insurgents generally respect the ICRC's neutrality, unlike their counterparts in Iraq, who blew up the organization's Baghdad headquarters in October 2003. The ICRC maintains first-aid posts in some Taliban-held parts of the country and runs special taxi-ambulance services that evacuate wounded Taliban fighters from the battlefield as well as Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire.

Read more on the WSJ website.

Meanwhile, a new intelligence report proposes that analysts should focus on deep analysis of local social and political structures in Afghanistan:

He also calls for a complete culture change in the intelligence community which will see them forgoing their much loved Power Point slides for "meaty, comprehensive descriptions of pivotal districts throughout the country" produced on word processors.

"Analysts must absorb information with the thoroughness of historians, organise it with the skill of librarians, and disseminate it with the zeal of journalists," the report says.

Read more on the Guardian website.

Beautiful panoramic pictures of homes in megacity slums

Some amazing images, linked from this post on the excellent Blood and Milk blog:


See more on the Foreign Policy website. IRIN recently reported powerfully on the problems facing urban slum dwellers in a globalised world; read that article here.