Inside Disaster documentary crew films a Red Cross emergency response training session in a camp in Annexe de la Mairie. Photo credit Sophie Chavanel
Dorothy Giroux of Radio-Canada interview Braham Amintorabi, a water/sanitation delegate with the International Federation of the Red Cross about water distribution at make-shift camps. The Red Cross produces and distributes 2.4 million litres each day.
Claudia (right) and her eight brothers and sisters now live in a Canadian Red Cross shelter that protects them from the elements.
Stories from the field
Haiti Diary: Sophie Chavanel
Visitors
August 26, 2010
Naturally, we often have visitors who wish to see, learn, and sometimes film the work we are doing in Haiti. Earlier this month we were visited by Dorothy Giroux of Radio-Canada, who returned to Haiti to see progress towards reconstruction. She learned about what we are doing with shelter, water and sanitation, and our field hospitals, which treats approximately 2,000 patients each week.
We were also recently visited by a documentary crew, producing a film called “Inside Disaster”. They have returned to Haiti for their third and final filming. They were in Haiti just days after the earthquake, having travelled with the International Red Cross Field Assessment and Coordination Team. They returned in June, and again now, to finalize filming. I am eager to see the results of their trips. If you’re interested, you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InsideDisaster or visit their website: http://insidedisaster.com/.
Most recently, a video crew from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was here to film the results of the Canadian Red Cross shelter program, which is heavily supported by the CIDA donor-matching program. They are planning to publish clips on their website in the coming weeks. While they were here, they became acquainted with a woman named Gisele and her nine children. This is the first family in the area of Leogane to receive shelter from the Red Cross. This family is so happy and it is touching to see them.
“On January 12, 2010, the earth shook violently Haiti. I sat in the newsroom of Radio-Canada in Montreal when I heard the news. The days and weeks that followed were full of extremely strong emotions when I saw, like you, the images of a country of rubble. I then made a decision. I didn’t just want to report the events, I wanted to be there. I then started a new journey as a delegate of the Red Cross.” – Sophie Chavanel, Canadian Red Cross delegate, Haiti.
Sophie Chavanel is the senior communications coordinator for the Canadian Red Cross in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sophie is a former journalist and joined the Red Cross team in Haiti in August 2010, where she will remain for 12 months. Follow her activities through her field diary below or on twitter at http://twitter.com/SophieChavanel.
