Tag Archives: natural disasters

Heifer Haiti Country Staff Reports Loss of Animals, Farms from Tropical Storm Isaac

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In the wake of Tropical Storm Isaac, Heifer International’s Haiti country team is reporting damage to several Heifer Haiti projects, including loss of animals, loss of and damage to farms and homes, as well as damage to one of the breeding centers.

Ewaldy Estil, northern field coordinator for Heifer Haiti, said the damage was greatest in the Southeast and Southwest departments, and that the country team is reaching out to Heifer project community leaders by phone, and is able to report the following thus far:

·       In the community of Gressier, where Heifer works with MOPLANDAH, 32 goats werekilled (eight from the breeding center and 24 that belonged to project families). The roof of the breeding center was also damaged.

·       In Petit Goave, where Heifer works with AIFO, one bull was killed and 86 smallfarms were destroyed. Irrigation canals were littered by debris.

·       In Montrouis, where Heifer works with Tet Kole, the water irrigation system for the forage crops around the breeding center was damaged, and one goat from the breeding center was killed.

·       In Ivwa, leaders reported that 50 houses were destroyed, and 10 homes built byHeifer had their roofs damaged or destroyed.

·       In the region of Artibonite (Lester and Marchand Dessalines), where Heifer is working with RACPABA, crops were lost.

·       On Lake Peligre in the center of the country, where Heifer is working with ACDELP on a cage-fishing project, fingerlings were killed by excessive sedimentation in the lake.

·       Information is pending from Gros Morne.

Tropical Storm Isaac swept over the island Saturday, dumping torrential rains on the country and destroying several tent cities where survivors and refugees from the January 2010 earthquake were living. Heifer country staff continues to assess the situation and communicate with project leaders and participants, so more information will be shared as it becomes available.

U.S. Drought Hurting Small Farmers, Too

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The United States continues to suffer worst drought in half a century. Most of the media coverage tells of horrible corn and soybean yields and the rising food costs we’ll be seeing in grocery stores next year.

U.S. Drought map

Often left out of the conversation, however, are the small farmers who grow for local markets, particularly those who can’t afford crop insurance or who raise livestock (which doesn’t have the same safeguards as staple crops). Despite being typically diverse in what they grow (generally a good strategy for mitigating disasters like weather or pests), the lack of rainfall and incredibly high temperatures are taking a serious toll.

One of these farmers is a personal friend of mine. In fact, we first met as volunteers at Heifer Ranch. Katie Short of Farm Girl Natural Foods raises pigs, cattle and chickens. She was recently interviewed by a Central Arkansas newspaper, Sync Weekly, about how the drought has affected her operations. She said:

Spring rains usually give us enough grass; it’s called stockpiling, and it piles up in pasture enough to get through hot dry months. But we did not get that spring rain, so we did not get the spring grass. So that’s been the number one concern — is there enough forage to feed our animals, primarily the cows? We supplement the chickens and pigs with grains, and they’re eating more grain than they would otherwise. With the cattle, we’ve had to make some hard decisions, and we’ve started to cull the herd to preserve grass we have.

And:

Think of the range in this drought; much of the grain fed to chickens and pigs is grown in the grain belt in the Midwest, and they’ve been impacted. I’ve seen some forecast of grain prices, and that’s terrifying. It affects the decisions we make in the long-term of our operation in terms of animals we can support sustainably.

 

Jersey-red angus cross cow

One of Farm Girl's cows. Photo by Adelia Kittrell.

Small livestock farmers like Short are being slammed in all directions as a result of the drought. Lack of rainfall dries out pastures; it’s too expensive to irrigate the fields; they can’t afford the supplemental feed the animals need in the short-term; they’ll end up selling their products sooner and at lower prices; the livestock feed costs for next season will be even higher, as this year’s grain harvests will be so bad; and there is little to no external assistance available (while President Obama’s announcement that the U.S. government would purchase $170 million in meat from farmers and ranchers, it is unclear what the qualifications for receiving this assistance will be) .

This isn’t happening only in Arkansas (though can I say we’re looking particularly bad on the map above?). And it’s not just small livestock farmers. So what can we do about it? Well, this is a great example of when buying locally really can make a difference. Go to your farmer’s market or nearest produce stand. Buy the ugly tomatoes, the smaller-than-desirable ears of corn, the cuts of meat you usually pass over. Meet the farmers, get to know their stories. Ask them how they’re coping with the weather. Offer your sympathy, and buy some of their products.

 

Heifer Staff Safe after Uganda Landslides

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Heifer International Uganda country staff are reported safe after heavy rains triggered several landslides in the Bugisu sub-region of eastern Uganda, burying the villages of Namaaga and Bunakasala. Work to determine the impact on communities we serve in this region is under way and will be shared as soon as we know details.

The Uganda Red Cross Society, which has sent a team of volunteers to assess the overall situation, has so far confirmed 18 dead and nine injured. Efforts continue today in search of survivors and to establish the number of people affected.

This is the third time eastern Uganda has been hit by deadly mudslides in three years. In 2011, Buududa district was declared a disaster area after landslides injured eight people and left 420 others homeless. In March 2010, at least 100 people were killed and more than 400 people displaced after a six-hour downpour triggered landslides in several villages on the slopes of Mount Elgon.

Uganda mudslide 2011

Photo by Shamim Okolloh from 2011 mudslide in Bulambuli, Uganda

 

Heifer Helps Flood Victims in Cambodia

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Heifer International helps its participants in many ways,but one thing we generally don’t take on is emergency aid. Groups like the RedCross are much more capable of organizing that kind of operation. But occasionally,when our projects are harmed by big natural disasters and we find ourselves inthe best position to assist, Heifer can help get people back on their feet.

Right now in Cambodia, Heifer International is bringingmuch-needed food aid to families affected by recent flooding. With funding fromthe World Food Program (WFP), Heifer is distributing food to 1,101 families,including many who were not current participants in Heifer projects.

Riem Kei and her children, from Kandol Village
The flooding in Southeast Asia during the rainy seasonkilled more than a thousand people and affected about 9 million more. Accordingto a rapid assessment in Cambodia, 967 Heifer project families were seriouslyaffected by the flood. They lost their animals, their rice paddies weredestroyed and 14 houses were damaged.

“Helping poor and vulnerable people is our priority. Wewere so sad to see the people whose living conditions had just beenimproved through our projects be devastated by the floods that almost washedaway their hope,” said Heifer Cambodia director Keang Keo. “Our staff is veryhappy to see their smiles return through this wonderful partnership with WFP.”

The first of several distributions was held in threeseparate locations in December and included education on hygiene andsanitation, so that flood victims can preserve their health after thefloodwaters recede. Each flood-affected family received rice, canned fish, vegetableoil, and high nutrition biscuits. The food will meet the immediate nutritionalneeds of vulnerable households.

36-year-old Heifer project participant Riem Kei saw herfamily’s tiny rice plot destroyed by the flooding, along with her home gardenand most of the family’s chickens. Kei has had to borrow money from herneighbor for food. Her family also has had flood-related health problems,including fever and diarrhea.

“I would like to express my gratitude to Heifer and the WFPfor providing me this food assistance,” Kei said. “I can feed my whole familyfor two weeks with this amount of food.”

The assistance, totaling about $165,000 in food aid, willcontinue to be distributed through February 2012.

On the Anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake, a Message from Heifer International

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Today marks the two-year anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake that hit the nation of Haiti. In this video, Heifer International president and CEO Pierre Ferrari and Heifer Haiti country director Hervil Cherubin discuss the progress our organization has made in the years since the quake and share Heifer’s vision for long-term programs to relieve hunger and poverty in Haiti.

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, Heifer provided assistance to more than 2,000 victims. Since then, Heifer has created a long-term strategy that will rehabilitate rural communities and provide food security and income opportunities to more than 20,000 families. This is a monumental undertaking that will take the support of many partners and individuals. To learn more about how you can help, click here.

Please watch the video below and share your thoughts in the comments.

Haiti Worker Recalls Sister’s ‘Resurrection’

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Hotteline Lozama heard the cries of other trapped and injured people as she lay stuck in a dark corner of a collapsed building after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, says her brother, Junior Lozama, a Heifer staffer. But after a few days, the voices went quiet, and that was the most frightening time of all.




Hotteline Lozama, recovered from her ordeal

Hotteline Lozama, 26, was one of the last people to be rescued alive after the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She had gone into a store to buy a birthday present for a work colleague when the shaking started.

Hotteline rushed to the second story of the structure, just before it collapsed into the first floor. She didn’t know it then, but she would be the only person from that building to survive.

Hotteline’s story comes to us through her older brother, Junior, who works as Heifer Haiti’s accountant. The day of the quake, he was about 95 miles outside Port-au-Prince, at the Heifer offices in Les Cayes. He said the search for Hotteline was “terrifying.”

The family called her cell phone, and it seemed to ring. But the prepaid phone didn’t have any minutes on it, so Hotteline could neither send nor receive calls.

Hotteline, trapped in a space perhaps eight inches tall, could hear other victims, as well as looters outside. But when she called out for help, her voice was too faint to be heard.



Heifer Haiti employee Junior Lozama

Junior Lozama tried to remain hopeful and brave for his family, which included four other siblings. “I wouldn’t cry in the day. But at night…” he shakes his head. “On Tuesday (a week after the quake) I was becoming hopeless. But that’s when they found her.”

Looters had finally heard Hotteline and alerted rescuers. French aid workers dug her out of the rubble, dehydrated and with an injured ankle, but otherwise unharmed.

Junior received the call he was no longer expecting; a French voice told him his sister was all right and asked if he wanted to speak with her. “I’m alive!” she told her brother.

Junior deems his sister’s survival inside the crumpled building for eight days ”miraculous.” And he says it only strengthened his faith in aid work. Junior worked with the rest of Heifer Haiti staff in the days after the quake to provide any assistance possible to quake victims.

“The whole time I’d be helping people I didn’t know, all I could think was, ‘Where is my sister?’ But then I thought – maybe some stranger is helping my sister right now, just like I’m helping these people.”

Hotteline Lozama doesn’t want to return to Port-au-Prince to work anymore. She’s afraid of the city and the dangers of its buildings. But her family embraces her like never before, and Junior has continued his work with Heifer Haiti, helping strangers to move beyond poverty and risky conditions into security.

Monsoon Floods Can’t Break Thai Village’s Spirit of Sharing

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Every year, monsoon floods create more damage in one of Heifer Thailand’s targeted project villages, Pha Sam Yod. The village is settled in a valley with a stream running through it.


One late night in mid-October, while all villagers of Pha Sam Yod were sleeping deeply, a voice from the loudspeakers announced that a massive flood was rapidly approaching the village. Residents rushed to gather their belongings, move their livestock to higher ground and save their own lives. They weren’t able to save everything before the village and road became submerged by water.


Two Self-Help Group (SHG) members, Bubpha Phupewnak and Nares Mulkate, each received one sow and two piglets from the Heifer project. Luckily, with help from fellow villagers, they were able to save their livestock from the massive floods. Since their families live close to each other, they put their pigs in one small pen that was away from high water.

In addition to being a challenging situation for humans, the flooding was no picnic for the animals. Sharing one small pen was uncomfortable, causing the animals to fight with each other, and Bubpha’s sow died. Losing her belongings and beloved animal made Bupha very sad, but neighbors and Heifer Thailand staff comforted her and plan to help her find a new sow.


Before the flood, other SHG members and villagers lost their chickens from a pandemic disease. Unaffected families willingly gave chickens from their healthy flocks to their neighbors who lost poultry.

The Pha Nok Kao people have to cope with natural disasters, but their compassion for each other is visibly increasing. Also, the disasters have provided lessons to be better prepared for the future and minimize their losses.

International Day for Disaster Reduction

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Today is International Day for Disaster Reduction, the purpose of which is “to raise the profile of disaster risk reduction and encourage people and governments to participate in building more resilient communities and nations.

In several of Heifer’s program countries, Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) is an integral part of project design.

Elmer Maboloc (2nd from right) of the Social Action 
Center of the Diocese of Butuan facilitates the Hazard 
Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments during the 
CMDRR workshops, January 2011. (Photo by Jun Ayensa)

At the start of 2011, the Caraga Region in northeastern Mindano, Philippines, experienced continuous torrential rains. Effects included flooded thoroughfares, inundated rice fields, destroyed bridges, grounded transport services, landslides and other hazards. People evacuated to safer places, even as local governments and non-governmental organizations scrambled to provide relief operations. At the time of the disastrous rains, Heifer’s Southern Philippines Regional Program was in the midst of conducting a series of village-level CMDRR trainings.

The training series aims to capacitate communities to survive hazards and redue their vulnerabilities to hazard events, thus reducing disasters. These trainings are part of Heifer’s Increasing Resiliency to Climate Change through CMDRR Project, funded in part by the Canadian International Development Agency through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives.

The Sangay River in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte
obliterated a large part of the land during the floods in the
village in February 2011. Heifer participant families were
conducting the CMDRR workshop at the height of the
flood. (Photo by Jun Ayensa)

Training facilitators, consisting primarily of Community Facilitators of the seven Heifer project partners reported that at the end of the course, village participants developed a shared understanding of the concepts, principles and practices of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and understood the causes and effects of various hazards, including climate change. Experiencing flood hazards during the training series certainly focused the attention of the participants during the training.

They certainly developed and felt the sense of ownership of the CMDRR training and accountability to implement their plans. “We would rather be survivors than victims of these hazard events,” said one of the participating community leaders.

A key part of reducing communities’ vulnerability to disasters is increasing the overall resiliency of families within the communities. If you consider vulnerability and resiliency along a continuum, it could be described as this:

Group A–Highly Vulnerable
Don’t own land
Low level of education
Highly malnourished
May or may not have access to community land
Live in a remote location
Are on non-productive land
Can only meet their food needs through their own production for less than a year
May work as laborers
Often have men who must migrate to cities for work
Do not have access to support services such as financial and extension
Tend to adopt subsistence farming practices

Group B–More Secure, But Still Vulnerable to Disasters
May have small plots of land
Produce a small amount of surplus
Have enough food, but the food may not be nutritious enough
Vulnerable to external shocks
May be selling to local markets
May be organized (formally or informally)
Have informal savings
May have access to formal financing
Lack access to appropriate technologies
Have fewer men who migrate to cities

Group C–Resilient
Able to access formal markets
Have secure, productive land
Produce in a market-oriented way
Have organized cooperatives or associations
Are food secure
Have stable incomes
May do low-level processing of products
May have a household business
Are able to access and use support services such as financial and extension

By working with communities and families with training, education and livestock or other agricultural inputs, Heifer is helping families become resilient. For example, the Building a Sustainable Way of Life Project in the Piura region of Peru seeks to turn the threat of El Niño floods into a major opportunity for families living in Peru’s dry forest. During the wet years, the project will replant trees, bushes and pastures, build grain storage sheds, and improve housing conditions to protect against heavy rains. Communal wells will be improved, and equipment will be provided to ensure the availability and quality of water in wet years and dry. To protect the forest that is so central to livelihoods in the area, the project will implement the Communal Forest Management Plans in the five project communities to conserve and sustainably use the forest.

Heifer in Haiti: Rabbit Addition

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Enithe Luxius gives proper credit to her rabbit Jaqomy.

Image byGeoff Oliver Bugbee
Story by Katya Cengel
Enithe Luxius pulls out a smallnotebook inside of which she has charted a family tree. There is Mr. Sedye andGermaine and their descendants Osnel, Rony and Osny. On another page is Jakoband Jacqomy and their seven descendants.
The four rabbits HeiferInternational supplied Enithe on May 12 have already multiplied to 17.
Enithe was surprised by howquickly the rabbits reproduced.
“Any time we finish a cage for oneof them we have to build another house because we know it’s going to multiply,”she said through a translator.
That is a good thing, because themore rabbits Enithe has the more money she can make by selling them. Enithe’shusband works in construction in France, while she lives with their 12-year-oldson, Richardson Tinius, in a valley in the Saint Louis du Sud region of Haiti.It is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains and crossed by rivers, but whenit rains it floods and the crops and animals are destroyed.
Last time it flooded Enithe lostsix goats. Six months ago Heifer International partnered with a localorganization to deliver 400 rabbits to 100 families in the area. Because therabbits reproduce rapidly and can be kept in cages high off the ground, thegroups felt they would provide a feasible economic opportunity for thecommunity.
Enithe seems to agree and isexcited about raising more rabbits and maybe one day saving enough money tomove to an area less prone to flooding. Of course one rabbit she won’t beselling is the prolific Jacqomy.