Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Day 1

Tuesday was unproductive. Other than getting SIM cards for our phones, we honestly weren't able to do much. It takes time to get communication going, setting up meetings and learning more about the situation.

When I was in the wireless store next to our hotel, a woman overheard my conversation with the sales rep and jumped in, saying she had a house in Ica (confusingly, this is the name of the region, the province, and the city, but in this case she meant the city) where we could stay if we needed. She had just returned to her home in Lima a day ago, and was so appreciative of the "work" that I was doing and the "help" I was giving. Humbling, as I ... haven't done anything yet. Also an amazing level of generosity to extend to a complete stranger. However, it's not so different from what happened in the beginning in the Philippines as well. Sometimes HODR feels like a beautiful exercise in serendipity and humanity.

So, what exactly are we doing? After getting ourselves oriented and establishing communication (I don't know how we'd do this if we couldn't send text messages!), we research the situation and make contact with the coordinating agencies and other relevant organizations. Reliefweb.int is the main information clearinghouse; it lists constant updates from all of the agencies working in the area. The UN OCHA Situation Reports give the best general overview, and I scour the other postings to find out if NGOs are doing things that we could help with. Yay, intarwebs.

We're also figuring out transportation and logistics for when we go tour - no commercial flights to the area, roads and bridges damaged, where do we stay, how do we get around once we're there, do we need to be self-sufficient with food and water, etc. I'm also trying to learn Spanish. Que lastima.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home