Report of first phase of work
Rob Hamrick11 Nov 2005 1:00 PM
This is a brief summary of what I accomplished during my trip to Santa Catarina (17 Oct - 9 Nov). I devoted my funds and energies to performing a needs assessment survey, providing support for families in materially vulnerable positions, and facilitating the distribution of aid from other sources.
MATERIAL SUPPORT
I channeled cash and building materials to families in materially vulnerable positions through:
- employment of laborers
- distribution of cash
- purchase of construction materials for a temporary shelter
The employment of laborers accomplished two ends: it contributed toward removal of debris from property devastated by mudslides and it provided short-term employment at fair wages to unemployed Catarinecos. Most those employed had themselves suffered significant losses of property and livelihood.
The distribution of cash is not ideal--I prefer to distribute cash by employing people at fair wages to perform constructive tasks of use to them or the community. However, given restrictions on my time, I elected to distribute cash to a number of families that they wanted for such purposes as buying clothes, foodstuffs, medicines, employing people to help clear debris from their property, or paying the interest on loans they incurred before the storm. Different families typically had slightly different needs and distributing cash was simply the most efficient way of addressing the diversity of needs.
I focused a relatively high porportion of funds on a family living in a structure that was literally crumbling down on them. Their home was not destroyed by the mudslides, but it had lost a good part of one wall and a smaller part of another; and this had made the house so unstable that it was clear that it would eventually fall--which would kill them if they were inside. I employed labor to speed up the clearing of a place where they could build a temporary structure--in coordination with another American independently working with them--and purchased materials so that they can build a temporary structure to live in.
Married couple stands in the remains of their house, three weeks after the mudslides. Water, mud, and rocks rushed through the house, toppling two walls--the wall visible behind the couple and the wall behind the camera--and damaging the house below. Incredibly, two walls (right and left) were left standing. Working with family and friends, they had already cleared out three feet of mud from inside. |
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COORDINATION
I set up the means to coordinate relief work with others working in Santa Catarina.
- Provided logistical support for a local effort to distribute groceries to Catarinecos who volunteered their time to help clear debris from the main road that runs through town.
- Set up a list of poor Catarineco families to receive government milk and arranged for its distribution in the coming weeks.
- Arranged for distribution of household water filters from a Dutch NGO to families likely to use them.
- Established connections with other foreigners working in town so as to coordinate relief work over the next 6 months.
Volunteer laborers worked for more than two weeks to clear the main road once heavy machinery was sent by the government.