Do you feel helpless when a disaster strikes far away? Does it seem too vast to help, when sudden heartbreak haunts the news?
Well, the fact is you can make a difference. Below, a few on our team describe some specific problems they want to tackle--in Haiti, India, and Nepal. You can see just some of the ways that your gift, this year, could protect thousands of people from the next disaster.
The Truth About Landslides: "Kerala, India, had the monsoon of the century in 2018. Huge landslides destroyed homes and stranded towns. Most occurred where construction had altered slopes."
-- Hari Kumar, GHI Regional Director for South Asia
(born and raised in Kerala)
Conditions for damage started years ago: people cut into hills to make flat sites, removed soil, cleared trees, built on unstable slopes. Then record rainfall kicked thousands of slides into motion. Hundreds died, and many are homeless.
"Kerala does not want to build back as it was. There is political will to make changes."
2018 heavy monsoon triggered this slope failure and road collapse in Kerala. Photo: Hari Kumar
With your support, we can help local engineers, policymakers, and geologists understand the science and strategies to reduce extreme landslide risk. Our progress with Aizawl, India's most populous hill city, is a model for how to do this.
An Emergency in Our Hospitals: “In North Haiti, doctors and nurses need to plan for a sudden, massive influx of patients in an emergency.”
--Garmalia Mentor-William, M.D.
GHI Haiti Representative
After Haiti's 2010 earthquake, medical buildings collapsed and supplies became scarce. Many health care providers died. Volunteers lacked experience with local conditions. Patients endured poor care and, for some, unnecessary amputations.
"Medical providers had to make wrenching treatment decisions.”
Pediatric Unit, Justinien Hospital Complex, Cap-Haitien. Photo: PFF Consulting Engineers
Hospitals aren't ready for Haiti's next big disaster. Your gift would help train doctors and nurses to manage in extreme conditions and test their readiness with simulations and drills--so they will be able to deliver care in a crisis.
Danger in Most of Our Towns: "In far west Nepal, we calculate up to 2/3 of buildings in strongly-shaken hill areas would collapse in an event the same as the 2015 Gorkha earthquake."
-- Dinesh Joshi, GHI Field Engineer Nepal
Most buildings, including schools, are made of unreinforced stone masonry or inadequately reinforced concrete. Local people do not understand that these are deadly in an earthquake, and municipalities need better resources to manage growth.
"Danger will grow, until people know how to make buildings earthquake resistant."
Typical rough stone and mud mortar construction, far west Nepal. Photo: Hari Kumar
With your gift, our local experts can provide technical guidance to local leaders at this critical time.
Your support helps us chip away at big problems every day, with big rewards. Because of you, people are better protected, better trained, better prepared. It's a story about resilience, not tragic loss.
Warm wishes to you for a peaceful and healthy 2019,
Brian Tucker, President and the entire team at GeoHazards International