AUGUSTA, Ga. – One month after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck his country, Haitian Ambassador to the United States Raymond Alcide Joseph toured his homeland to view the devastation.
“Although I am not usually an emotional person, I cried as I viewed the destruction,” he told a gathering of emergency managers from around the world during the Sixth Annual WebEOC User Conference, held May 17-21 in Augusta, Georgia. “And then something made me smile,” he recalled. “In the midst of all the devastation, all the traffic lights were working, because at the top of each light was a solar panel. So it struck me – Haiti has to go green, because we have enough sun to sell power to the whole world.”
The earthquake only affected one-fifth of the country around the capital of Port-au-Prince, but the country suffered an economic loss of 80 percent. “The silver lining in the disaster is that nature has done for us what city planners and politicians could not do – disperse the population from around Port-au-Prince,” Ambassador Joseph said. “Decentralization is key to the reconstruction plan, which will take the pressure off the capital.”
Half of all the households in the United States have contributed something to the Haitian relief effort, the Ambassador said. “The solidarity with Haiti that was seen in the first days after the disaster is continuing today." The Haitian government requested $3.9 billion in aid, and to date, they have received over $5.3 billion in pledges from around the world. “Haiti has suffered greatly, but the earthquake has created new opportunities and prompted us to look for new solutions,” the Ambassador said.
Ambassador Joseph was a featured speaker at a weeklong conference presented by ESi, the global leader in crisis information management technology. The company created WebEOC, the world’s first Web-enabled emergency management communication software, which was used in the Haitian Embassy Command Center to track missing persons, manage volunteers, and accept donations.
ESi helped establish the Embassy’s Command Center within 48 hours after the earthquake hit. “We were able to train over 300 volunteers to use WebEOC in the Embassy within seven weeks and establish functions like a missing persons board that gave families the ability to search for information on their loved ones,” said Jerome DuVal, ESi V.P. for Federal Services. “Our Mapper GIS product added satellite pictures of the tent cities, destroyed buildings, and closed roads to give the Haitian government situational awareness so they could make informed decisions.”
“Haitian ownership of the reconstruction process is the key to sustainability,” added Youri Emmanuel, Counselor, Alternate Representative of Haiti to the OAS. Haiti will focus on rebuilding its infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, and tourism. For business development, it will concentrate on services, manufacturing, real estate, construction, and telecommunications. Partnerships between Haitian local businesses and international enterprises will be encouraged. “During the reconstruction process, Haitian institutions, may they be from the public or private sectors, should be strengthened through partnerships, emphasizing technology, resource and knowledge transfers. For at the end, the sustainable development of Haiti is the responsibility of Haitian institutions,” Mr. Emmanuel noted.
About ESi Augusta, Georgia-based ESi®, the global leader in crisis information management technology, pioneered the market with WebEOC®, the world’s first Web-enabled emergency management communications system. Recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in Americain 2007, 2008, and 2009, ESi connects crisis response teams and decision makers at national, state and local agencies, healthcare providers, airlines and corporations worldwide, providing access to real-time information for a common operating picture during a crisis or daily operations. By offering a solutions package from initial design and installation through training, implementation and maintenance, ESi sets the standard for crisis information management. For more information, please visit www.esi911.com.
For more information, contact: Norm Viksna ESi Phone: 706-262-2516 Email: nviksna@esi911.com