Haiti as a Developmental Bellwether: A Multi-Disciplinary Design

BY Ari, January 15, 2010

Haiti has my brain spinning at untold RPMs: the initial shock at the
magnitude of destruction; the frustration of feeling helpless; the
melancholic embarrassment that comes from knowing we should have been
caring all along. What has occurred is unfathomable, unintelligible,
and maybe for some, even unforgivable. For most of us, it seems like
the underlying tragedy is how neglected Haiti had been all along.

We have learned, in a flash, how vulnerable our poorest communities
are, and almost as quickly we are learning what we could have done to
at least mitigate some of the carnage we witnessed from afar.

This post is an attempt to aggregate information that may be of use/
interest to all of you. Since many of us work in areas where
confronting these problems is or had been part of our professional
practice, I thought it would be helpful to survey the Haitian response
efforts:

1. What happened
2. What is being done
3. What tools are being employed
4. What we should do
5. What we can do

In essence this is a diary of how I have experienced the day’s events
through the media, through technology and through the efforts of aid
organizations to reach out. Obviously this is a hasty draft so you’ll
have to forgive me if it isn’t very polished, but please feel free to
use it and distribute it as you see fit.

I found the following resources to be the most poignant, helpful,
interesting and actionable.

1. What happened

By now, most if not all of us have become pretty familiar with how
social networking tools, Web 2.0 and the Internet at-large have
influenced the dissemination of information during times of crisis.
First-hand accounts seem to trickle down from Twitter and facebook
statuses, then media accounts are linked to, then dialogue and
response emerges (case and point this posting).

In terms of documenting the devastation, I found one particular source
to be the most provocative, informative, and viscerally jarring, The
Boston Globe’s Big Picture blog:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html

We could wax poetic about the power of high resolution photography to
capture devastation in its most potent rendition, but more importantly
this is what compelled me to act. The images truly give you a sense of
the gravity of the situation.

2. What is being done

Lord knows I have an uneasy relationship with aid organizations,
international development bodies and policymaking processes. Having
worked for or with Unicef, UNDP, One Laptop Per Child, Oxfam America
and other local partner organizations, my frustrations with these
organizations is often rooted in the feeling that more can always be
done. That being said, it is in times of crisis that we see these
organizations shine.

Partners in Health is essentially the only large-scale health
infrastructure currently up and running in Haiti. It is transforming
on the fly from a preventative operation to a widescale disaster-
response medical effort:
*http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14kidder.html
*http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/americas/14scene.html?hp

Doctors Without Borders also has a sizable presence:
*http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

My friend Julie, a med student at Mt. Sinai, pointed me towards Direct
Relief International which provides raw supplies to these relief
efforts with minimal administrative overhead: *http://
www.directrelief.org/

My friend Sue, who I used to work with at Oxfam America, reminded me
that Oxfam has had an on-the-ground presence in Haiti for years and
has been using this network to provide expeditious aid:
*http://www.oxfamamerica.org/emergencies/earthquake-in-haiti

I decided to support Architecture for Humanity in their efforts to
bring awareness to the need for affordable, problem-solving design
that responds to the plethora of problems affecting the poorest
populations, which will hopefully help Haiti rebuild itself in a more
sustainable, safe manner: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/americas/14construction.html?hp

3. What tools are being employed

Though Twitter, facebook and other live updating services have once
again proven invaluable in dissemination of information, their impact
on fundraising has been the major tech story and development as
organizations scrambled throughout the day to raise money over social
networking sites, cell phone networks or even iPhone applications.

The Red Cross raised over $2 million yesterday via text messages
yesterday: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/1-million-in-donations-for-haiti-via-text-message/?src=tptw

One conspicuous absence from this tragedy, and perhaps an indicator of
Haiti’s poverty in real world terms, is first-hand accounts of the
damage on the ground. Unlike the political upheavel in Iran last year
or the tsunami of 2007, there has been little in terms of the on-the-
ground citizen reporting we have become accustomed to in these major
events. That means no cell phones, no cell phone networks, little
access to information, etc. We are almost entirely reliant upon the
major news outlets for information, which is a reminder of the
prescience of these organizations.

For those of us working with network infrastructure in development,
this is a painful reminder of the true limitations of poverty. Even if
cell phones are somewhat present in Haiti, the infrastructure that
supports them has been decimated.

4. What we should do

Again, I am most drawn to Architecture for Humanity’s mission of
focusing on the rebuilding as many organizations and governments are
focusing on the most immediate need. To use their words, “once the
dust settles, the real work begins.”

Joe linked to a great article on what rebuilding should mean, in terms
of design considerations. For one, maybe it’s time to start building
structures that actually withstand natural disaster: http://j.mp/6QaSnY

I know for myself, design can sometimes seem like nitpicking over less
than significant (or worse, contrived) details, but it is in moments
like this that I am reminded of the power of design to quite literally
save lives. And I know that every person tagged in this note has
something to offer in terms of designing solutions that address the
aforementioned problems, and the myriad of other problems that often
precede or accompany a disaster of this magnitude.

5. What we can do

As a designer with interest in the developing world, one productive
outcome of this tragedy is that it helps to be reminded of immediate
needs. I firmly believe in pie-in-the-sky thinking like One Laptop per
Child and many of our Design for Unicef prototypes that were developed
at ITP over the last couple of semesters, but disaster helps us to
remember what is most urgently needed from us.

An article on the tragic loss of more than 140 UN peacekeeping workers
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/americas/14nations.html?hp)
yielded one particular line that stood out to me as an ITPer, a
technologist and a development professional: “There were no sensors in
Haiti to detect movement or heat in the mounds of broken masonry.”

Inexpensive heat or movement sensors to detect survivors in the
rubble? Last year, Zoe, Estee, John, and Sonaar managed to get the
price of a water-pathogen detector down to a few dollars. These
challenges seem well within reach, even if the solutions are not going
to be easy.

Thanks for hearing out my hasty manifesto. I’d love to talk more about
it individually or in groups, or to collaborate on any projects that
might help us accomplish something productive out of this great
tragedy.

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3 Comments »

1. 

   HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, MAN?!

   I am not yet through the fist media source [Bos Glob], before writing this. Perhaps I am a bit sensitive this mo(u)rning. But who the fux stops to take pictures whilst a woman, or any living creature, lay trapped under rubble? What type of individual takes a photograph while you lay suffering, dying feet from their grasp?

   Comment by FrankTalk — January 16, 2010 @ 10:30 am

2. 

   YO ARI-
   cool to see World Up, sweet project.

   I’d recommend donating instead to infrastructure that will get Haiti out of this mess, donate to the Permacorps!

   http://www.permaculturehaiti.org/permacorps

   Comment by Mathew — February 4, 2010 @ 6:36 pm

3. 

   Matt, thanks so much for the comment. Looks like an amazing project. This is going to be a great way to get involved.

   Comment by Ari — February 7, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

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