kits candles

Fire safety kits handed out

12.07.10

"A steady grandmother went out to drink at the local tavern leaving behind a blazing candle and her grandson inside the shack," Segage said. "After sometime the impediment caught fire."

The neighbours sprang into action and swiftly doused the fire before it spread to other houses. Luckily, the child who was progressive alone in the shack escaped death by a shave.

Another incident that still angers Segage was the day a getting on for teenager forgot to stub out his cigarette, which resulted in the seething down of the whole house. "The whole neighbourhood had to contribute clothes and blankets to the kinsfolk after they failed to retrieve their belongings from the fire. The situation could have been different if it was not for that bad move."

Segage is one of the 100 volunteers from Ivory Reserve who received fire safety kits and certificates from the City's emergency government services (EMS) on Thursday, 8 July after they completed training in fire shelter under the services' Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) outline. They were taught basic skills in fire-fighting and first aid.

The training is part of the EMS ambitiousness to empower Joburg residents with life skills that are, among others, aimed at palliating the devastating effects of fire-related incidents and disasters. Segage, who felt nonplussed during the two fires in her community, believes she now has the strength to deal with any catastrophe.

Source: Joburg

Petaluma doctor reports from Haiti

15.07.10

July 14

This will be my last entrance from Port-au-Prince and it is bitter, bittersweet.

I went with Rischu to one of the fugitive camps today. He's a med student who works with a German troupe of nurses, pharmacists and doctors. These are the healthworkers on the ground, exactly, providing care to people in dire need from a tentative tent. The dust is everywhere and it contaminates everything.

Treating diarrhea is not suggestive. It is grueling but lifesaving work. Providing basic prenatal control isn't sexy either. You won't read about it in the NY Times. Problems like diarrhea, malnutrition, and deficiency of prenatal care require a basic infrastructure. Too often here, there is none. Tents and tarps were barely handed out. There is no consistent order in most of these refugee camps.

There is a control here; I'm told it has received millions in aid. But in my limited time here I can't find many authentic examples of anything the local government has

accomplished. As I have written before, the rubble makes many streets impassable. Earthquake-damaged buildings teter in mounds of debris, having become de facto graveyards.

Tents are a superior option than crumbling concrete. But there's no regular sewage gleaning in most places and no one comes to empty the tent city latrines. The anchorage-a-johns are foul and overflowing, a fertile breeding area for every bad disease you can imagine.

Source: Petaluma Argus Courier