Emergency

Imagine you are working in a setting affected by a natural disaster, conflict, or both.  How would you determine the number of liters of water per day beneficiaries need?  How many calories of food per day?  How many latrines for how many people?  What level of malnutrition signals an emergency? Look no further than the Sphere Handbook, a set of minimum standards and indicators that represents the strong consensus of the international humanitarian community on these and other issues.  The handbook is a useful tool for planning, carrying out, and evaluating humanitarian assistance programs.  As of today, it is available in Kreyol.  Please share with your Haitian counterparts. 

Search and rescue operations in response to the Petionville school collapse have concluded and there are no more survivors. In the Miami Herald article below, Jacqueline Charles notes that 89 individuals were killed and 150 survived, although many were badly injured. Thank you to Martinique, France, the United States and other countries that contributed equipment, search and rescue teams, or financial support. For the families, the mourning process begins. For the Haitian government, the pressure is on as they try to develop a strategy for preventing a similar tragedy from happening again. Nationwide school inspections would be a good start.