Two years ago, Haiti hosted the first-ever disaster-reduction meeting, which was attended by more than 120 representatives of 21 nations of the greater Caribbean and 18 regional and international organizations. The November 2007 conference in Saint-Marc, called the “High-Level Conference on Disaster Reduction of the Association of Caribbean States,” produced a 27-point action plan for disaster reduction, which included a plea to make disaster-risk reduction a national priority. Related Links: Haiti Quake Recovery Planners Wait in Wings “Costly investments in infrastructure built in hazardous areas need to be protected, while the time needed for disaster recovery needs to be reduced,”
The leaders of the U.S. earthquake response effort in Haiti say they expect it will be “several weeks” before the effort shifts from a first-response life- support mission to planning for recovery, but when it comes, that phase “will involve all the military and civilian subject-matter experts.” Slide Show Photo: AP/Wideworld An excavator clears rubble of the Electricite de Haiti building in Port-au-Prince. Image: Unosat/Meti&NASA 2009 Density of post-quake bridge, road blockages in Port-au-prince on Jan. 13, 2010 Related Links: Quake Was Too Much for Recent Disaster-Reduction Efforts But a week after the Jan. 12 quake, the answer to how
A contracting executive has set up a special fund to help Haiti and has pledged to match up to $1 million of contributions with his own money. James S. Ansara, chairman, founder and former CEO of Shawmut Design & Construction, Boston, has set up a new fund through The Boston Foundation in that city. The foundation has created The Haiti Fund, to finance immediate efforts to execute short-term relief efforts and for long-term rebuilding. About 25% of the total will be earmarked immediately to procure much-needed materials, fuel, equipment and personnel for infrastructure and for construction of needed medical facilities,
Located along a fault line, the capitol of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, was the heart of the island nation. Now the heart is broken and any attempt to restore the country must revolve around its rebuilding. Photo: AP /Julie Jacobson A man preaches for people to repent outside a cathedral Jan. 14, in Port au Prince. .“Port-au-Prince is Haiti, and Haiti is Port-au-Prince,” says Bryant C. Freeman, perhaps the leading expert on Haiti in the U.S. He says the city and the country were heading in the right direction in recent years as decades of dictatorial oppression and violence faded away under
The Jan. 12 quake that struck Haiti made a shambles of the cargo-handling facilities of the port of Port-au-Prince, a U.S. Coast Guard assessment team reported late Friday. The port, which faces the Caribbean Sea and the eastern tip of Cuba about 175 miles to the west, includes cranes, large berths, and warehouses. The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy are trying to see what will have to be done to get it back in service to assist in the delivery of aid. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Damage to Port-au-Prince’s port is extensive. The team said five cargo cranes are damaged,
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new standard for ground-level ozone, if enacted, would be the most stringent ever proposed. The measure would cost industry billions of dollars to reach compliance, by the agency’s own estimates. The proposal, signed on Jan. 6, would set the “primary” standard, which protects public health, at a level of between 0.060 parts per million and 0.070 ppm measured over eight hours. EPA also proposes a “secondary” standard to protect plants and trees. EPA estimates it will cost between $19 billion and $90 billion to implement the proposal. In 2008, the Bush administration revised the
The U.S. Dept. of Energy on Jan. 11 sponsored $187 million for the next five years to advance fuel efficiency for passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, which account for nearly a third of the nation’s energy use. The $375-million program includes $100 million in stimulus funds. The work is expected to result in so-called SuperTrucks and passenger vehicles that consume less energy using hybrid drivetrains and other methods. According to DOE, such technologies could eventually save 100 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day and cut carbon emissions 20% by 2030.
As rescuers in Haiti struggled to locate victims of a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the island at 4:53 p.m. on Jan 12, the U.S. government and construction industry mobilized to assist. Photo: AP Photo/Jorge Cruz Hillside homes affected by quake in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, Jan. 13 Photo: AP Photo/Jorge Cruz A man gestures behind a person trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince Wednesday. Related Links: BLOG: Can you help in Haiti? Let us know U.S. engineers familiar with the Caribbean also speculated that impoverished Haiti and its structures may have existed in a seismic
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 7 proposed tougher standards for ground-level ozone, saying that the stricter requirements will protect public safety and health. The new standards, if enacted, would replace the standards set by the previous administration and would be the strictest ever proposed. EPA says it is proposing to set the “primary” standard, which protects public health, at a level of between 0.060 parts per million and 0.070 ppm measured over eight hours. EPA is also proposing that a separate “secondary” standard be set within the range of 7-15 ppm to protect plants and trees. In 2008,
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 29 sent a letter to the District of Columbia and six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and outlining new penalties if they do not meet more stringent requirements for cleaning up water pollution. Bay advocates have criticized federal and state efforts to clean up the bay in the past because although states have been encouraged to meet certain milestones in reducing water pollution from point and non-point sources, they typically have faced no penalties for failing to do so—until now. Penalties could include expanding National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to
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