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INDONESIA: Project Sungai Geringging!

On Sunday, October 25, 2009, we opened our doors to volunteers to join us as we live and work with the people of Sungai Geringging to recover and rebuild from the recent earthquakes.

We are assisting survivors of the 7.9 earthquake which rocked Western Sumatra on 30 September, 2009, and was followed by a separate 7.0 earthquake the following day. The earthquake damaged over 200,000 homes and survivors now struggle to remove rubble and erect shelter as the rainy season quickly approaches. We anticipate working for four months, with the possibility of month-to-month extensions as needed. (If you watched this video of the assessment, you can catch a glimpse of our new base in Padang Pariaman, Sumatra, Indonesia!)

The HODR assessment team has been on the ground since 11 October, 2009, identifying key areas where volunteers can support the community’s mid-term recovery. For specific details of the project and how to get involved take a look at the Volunteer Info section of this site. Please contact Tom at info@hodr.org if you are interested in joining us for Project Sungai Geringging (please put project name as the subject)!

HODR previously worked in Jogjakarta, Indonesia following a 6.3 earthquake in 2006.

Thank you for your support. Donations to our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund will go towards Project Sungai Geringging. You can continue to follow our progress via Twitter (@HODRops).

We hope to see you soon!

INDONESIA: Earthquake Assessment Announcement

On September 30, 2009, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Sumatra, Indonesia. In addition to severe damage in the cities of Padang and Pariaman City and surrounding areas, heavy rains and landslides that followed the earthquake resulted in additional damage and displacement. The government of Indonesia reports over 200,000 homes damaged; the majority of earthquake survivors have remained at their homes, struggling to remove rubble and erect shelter as the rainy season quickly approaches.

HODR is sending a team to Indonesia to assess whether we can establish a volunteer response project. International operations director Marc Young and project director Stefanie Chang will arrive in Jakarta on Sunday, October 11, 2009 and continue on to Padang.

HODR previously worked in Jogjakarta, Indonesia from May-October 2006 following a 6.2 earthquake.

If you’re interested in volunteering at a potential Indonesia response project, we encourage you to email Tom at info@hodr.org. If you have Indonesia contacts that you’re able to share, please send them to stef@hodr.org.

Thank you for your support. In addition to watching this space for updates, you can also follow the assessment team on Twitter: @HODRops. HODR is also accepting donations for our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund here.

PHILIPPINES: Assessment Conclusion

After a one-week assessment in the Philippines, we have decided not to launch a HODR volunteer project in response to tropical storm/typhoon Ketsana. (Local name: Ondoy).

During the course of our assessment, we visited the most critical areas in terms of people affected and homes damaged/destroyed. (Local term: ocular inspection.) In the National Capital Region (NCR), Rizal, and Laguna provinces we observed wide swaths of area that were flooded, but once the water receded there was little structural damage. Government and the local population quickly moved forward with the short-term cleanup. Some neighborhoods are still flooded and are expected to remain so through the end of the year. These areas may need rehabilitation work in the months to come, but at present they are inaccessible, susceptible to further flooding, and the extent of damage is unknown. Riverside communities clearly suffered the most devastation. The rivers, swollen by heavy rains, jumped their banks and powered through whatever stood in their path. Sadly, these areas are primarily inhabited by “informal settlers,” non-landowners who have made their homes in flood-prone areas. Instead of supporting rebuilding in the same place, the government and NGO community seek to relocate these families to safer areas. The issue of exactly how to go about this procedure of relocation is complex, long term, and beyond the scope of traditional HODR programs.

When HODR looks to establish a project, we try to identify opportunities that leverage our unique strength – you, our volunteers. As a result, our programs produce tangible recovery benefits for affected communities and rewarding work experiences for volunteers. There has been suffering and damage here and there is even an ongoing need. However, the remaining needs are not in an area that HODR is well-suited to address.

We’d like to thank all of our friends and partners on the ground in the Philippines. Your valuable time and generous assistance allowed us to conduct this assessment quickly and effectively.

Next up is our “on the ground” assessment of the Sumatra earthquake in Indonesia. We hope that you will continue to follow our progress there.

As always, thank you for your support!

PHILIPPINES: Assessment Video Update

HODR dispatched an assessment team to the Philippines on Oct 3, 2009 in the wake of record flooding from tropical storm Ketsana/Ondoy. Here, the team reports on their findings during their first three days on the ground.

You can continue to follow the assessment team’s progress via Twitter and flickr.

HODR is accepting donations for our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund.

PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Assessment – On the Ground

A HODR assessment team is on the ground in the Philippines following severe flooding from Typhoon/Tropical Storm Ketsana (local name: Ondoy). International Operations Director Marc Young and Project Director Stefanie Chang arrived in Manila on Sunday, October 4. The team is visiting the affected areas, meeting with local government units, and seeking to build partnerships within the NGO community. We are also monitoring the earthquake and tsunami situations in Indonesia, American Samoa and Western Samoa, and will determine further action in response to those disasters over the next several days as information becomes available.

Typhoon Ketsana inundated central Luzon on Saturday, September 27, 2009, and an extensive area has experienced unprecedented flooding. The National Disaster Coordinating Council reports that nearly 2 million people have been affected as authorities work to assess damages to thousands of homes.

If you’re interested in volunteering at a potential Philippines response project, we encourage you to email Tom at info@HODR.org. If you have Philippines contacts that may help in our assessment, please send them to stef@HODR.org.

Thanks for your support! In addition to watching this space for updates, you can also follow the assessment team on the ground at Twitter at HODRopsIN.

HODR in San Francisco! Thursday, July 30 2009

Join HODR on Thursday, July 30 in San Francisco! Executive director David Campbell is in town and we’ll be hanging out at The Royal Exchange for drinks and food from 5PM to 8PM. Volunteers, friends – everyone’s welcome! We hope to see you there.

Unfortunately Marc and his mom won’t be there, but David, Jeremey, John, and Stefanie will be! The Royal Exchange is right in the financial district and is just a few blocks from BART. Street parking is available.

HODR at The Royal Exchange Thursday, July 30, 5PM – 8PM 301 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA View Larger Map & Directions

Please RSVP to stef@hodr.org

HAITI: Project Gonaives Final Report

On 28 March 2009 HODR’s five-and-a-half-month project in Gonaives, Haiti drew to a close. Over the course of this project we expanded our technical skills, built new partnerships, and continued to shape the direction and spirit of this organization. Project Gonaives drew 151 volunteers from 14 nations to join hands and dig in. These volunteers contributed 32142 hours of work and directly benefited 5490 families. We estimate that we indirectly served 15000 families through our partnerships and the technology that we developed and transferred to other organizations. Here is a summary of our last month of work.

Mud Buddies
HODR was the only organized group that worked alongside individuals to clean out their homes. Without any machines, we moved more mud than anyone would have thought humanly possible. A simple task, humble work, but absolutely necessary. We helped people take a first step towards restarting their lives. We even created a mud taxonomy and whether it was marpet, slud, memud, meese, or highly desirable clud, it all ended up out on the street one bucket or one wheel barrow at a time. During our last month, local volunteers led almost all of the work crews, with almost everyone taking a turn at least once. In total, HODR volunteers completed 110 sites, allowing 310 families to return home.

CRS CFW (Catholic Relief Services Cash-for-Work)
Following a successful month-long cash-for-work program collaboration in February, CRS invited us to continue our work on a second program in March. Our team of field coordinators (HODR local alumni volunteers hired by CRS) and David E. assessed, hired, and managed 220 local residents in a cleanup program that re-established road access and drainage canals in the neighborhood of Assifa. This program, benefiting 440 families in total, also capped off months of successful collaboration between CRS and HODR, starting with our assessment back in September 2008. We are proud of our partnership with CRS and the work we did together to help the people of Gonaives.

International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) Latrine Slabs
This project was a HODR partnership with the IFRC to install 300 latrines in the village of Badjo, a rural community whose sanitation facilities were damaged in the hurricanes and subsequent flooding. HODR volunteers and local residents, lead by Aaron S., poured 330 latrine slabs over two weeks as the first step of a multi-phase project. We also prototyped and made design recommendations for the wood and tin privacy cabin, which sits on top of the slab to complete the latrine. As part of this program, we trained local workers to produce the slabs on their own. The challenges of operating in this rural community was offset by the warm people, beautiful scenery, and tasty food prepared by a local resident.

Well Masonry
In March we continued to implement the contamination-mitigating well masonry that we prototyped with UNICEF. In addition to 40 masonry installations for Oxfam Great Britain and 20 for Action Again Hunger, we closed out this program by installing on 21 wells for the families of our local volunteers. It was with great pride that volunteers worked on the wells of their peers. The skills gained over months of work were on display in our final weeks, as almost all volunteers worked on or led a well crew during this time.

Out with a Bang
In HODR tradition, we closed our project with a party to say thank you and goodbye to our friends. Our local volunteers and staff and their friends and family joined us to reflect on our collective work as well as the friendship and community that grew around us. We had amazing musical performances by creative HODR volunteers – who will ever forget Djemson’s karaoke? Neil, Keely, and Charise also performed a medley in tribute to all of our local volunteers. Kirsty put together a HODR photo slideshow, which was a bit hit. There were clearly two stars up on the screen – the volunteers, and the mud. We capped off the evening with a feast prepared by Norma and dancing to live music.

Giving it Away
The other half of HODR closedown tradition is to give the tools and materials that we’ve accrued to the community that has hosted us and taken care of us. We held a raffle in 3 stages, one each for local volunteers, staff, and then the general community. The grand prize of the raffle was the HODR generator that was won by long-term local volunteer Gilbert. Always fun is the actual give-away day, when the recipients come to our base to carry away their winnings. We saw fans carried away on the knees of motorbike drivers, beds carried away atop heads (the generator left in a wheelbarrow), and smiles, smiles, smiles.

HODR? No… IFRC
Although HODR no longer inhabits the former Hotel Sterling, we are happy to report our base continues to nurture and facilitate productive work. In recognition of the challenges of finding and establishing a base of operation, the IFRC decided to take over our facility upon our exit. We negotiated an agreement and turned over our base to the IFRC, equipping them with basic work tools and household infrastructure to continue their work in the area. IFRC plans to work through August 2009 on shelter and distribution programs, continuing the long and gradual process of recovery.

*****

Project Gonaives was the most collaborative effort to date for the international operations of HODR. It is in part because of these relationships that we (and they) were able to help so many survivors of the 2008 hurricane season. We are thankful for our partnerships with the wonderful people of CRS, UNICEF, Oxfam Intermon, Oxfam Great Britain, IFRC, UN OCHA, OIM, and Action Against Hunger.

We would also like to thank our staff for their steady support throughout our project. Thanks to Jacob for his unflappable guidance and impeccable translation. Thank you Norma, Anata, Oranitte for keeping our bellies full with the best of Haitian cuisine and taking care of us at the base. Thanks to Michelet and Cadem for their watchful presence in our yard. Thanks to Raoul, Noel, Gerard, and Sylvain for keeping our teams moving around town. Finally, thanks to Gedeon for shuttling our volunteers to and from Gonaives.

We owe tremendous thanks to all of our volunteers. An early turning point of Project Gonaives was when a young man, a local resident by the name of Luckner, asked if he could help. He was the first of what would grow to a 30-person local volunteer program, contributing 7112 hours of volunteer service. In the past we actively engaged the beneficiary community to participate in our programs. We have had hundreds of community members do everything from cut down trees to help us build schools, but this time was different. This group of local volunteers worked with us every day, all over the city on all of our projects. Their strength helped us move mountains of mud, their cultural knowledge helped us navigate complex societal norms, and their language skills helped us daily on the worksites. Finally their passion, desire, and drive won our hearts. It was through their efforts that we came to understand and love Haiti. Mesi ampil! We were also joined by 120 foreign volunteers from 14 different countries. It is the energy, creativity, and willingness to help of all our volunteers that moved this project from its beginning to its ultimate success. It is because of you that we exist, it is because of you that people receive help, and it is because of you that we will continue our work.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to John Hancock, Project Gonaives project coordinator who worked with me from assessment to closedown. John’s valuable insight and experience were critical in establishing partnerships, shaping the local volunteer program, and ultimately in ensuring the success of Project Gonaives.

In five and a half months, we shoveled mud , cleaned a school, played games with children, managed distributions, assessed homes, wells, and families, trained NGO staff on GPS, built latrines, and installed well masonry and much, much more. We worked, laughed, ate, hurt, shared, grew, loved, sweated, and when it was over, I cried. Thank you to all of our volunteers, donors, and HODR family for your support throughout Project Gonaives.

Until we meet again,
Stefanie Chang
Project Director
Project Gonaives – Haiti

ITALY: L’Aquila Earthquake Assessment

Hands On Disaster Response will dispatch an assessment team to the Abruzzo region of Italy in the aftermath of the powerful 6.3 earthquake that struck Monday, 6 April 2009. The damage to schools, churches, and homes is significant with an estimated 28,000 people left homeless. HODR executive director David Campbell and international operations director Marc Young will meet in Rome on 20 April 2009, once the emergency phase has ended, to begin an assessment and evaluate the need for a HODR project.

If you have local contacts in Italy that may assist in the assessment (e.g. area residents, translators or community leaders), please email Marc at Marc@HODR.org. If you are interested in volunteering in Italy, should a project develop, please email Tom at info@HODR.org.

Watch over the shoulder of the assessment team by following us at twitter.com/HODRopsIN and click here for the most recent updates.

ITALY: Earthquake Monitoring

We’re closely watching the aftermath and response to this past Sunday’s tragic 6.3 magnitude earthquake centered in L’Aquila, Italy. At this time Hands On Disaster Response is monitoring the situation, staying informed, and reaching out to past NGO partners in order to make a decision regarding a possible assessment.

If you would be available in the next 1.5 months and are interested in participating in a potential HODR earthquake response project, please contact info@HODR.org now. In the meantime, we ask you to turn your attention to ReliefWeb, where you can stay updated on reports from L’Aquila.

Please check back with www.HODR.org for our updates.

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