Amazon CARES deals with mini-disasters every few years, and especially in 2012 when massive flooding destroyed our entire animal shelter. This is a regional event, and one would not expect for a group such as World Vets to be involved.
As Dr. Vogelsang wrote in a blog post
"...March 11, 2011 happened. That day, Japan was forever changed. As I sat in horror, Dr. King was putting together a team to send to Japan. “I didn’t know World Vets was doing disaster relief too,” I said to her.
“Oh, we just started,” Dr. King replied. And how: World Vets was the first animal relief organization on the ground in Japan - within 72 hours if you can believe it - and immediately put together multiple pallets of supplies for local rescue organizations, helped set up emergency shelter and decontamination stations, and assisted with the evacuation of the pets of military personnel who were not allowed to bring their beloved pets along during mandatory evacuations and were forced to leave them behind."
The Blogger Disaster Response Network is so vital. I wish it had existed in August of 2007 when Peru suffered a devastating earthquake that reached 8.2 on the Richter scale, and which also resulted in a tsunami that destroyed coastal communities.. For the first time, Amazon CARES changed gears and re-located to the stricken areas of Ica and Pisco where we were the first animal relief organization on the ground. We had an organized Amazon trip arranged with the Canadian Animal Assistance Team (CAAT), but they also agreed that the greater need existed in the Peruvian disaster zones. At the time, bloggers were not as connected, nor as common. We struggled to reach out for help to the ASPCA, HSI, WSPA and others. Another rescue group, ARNO (Animal Rescue New Orleans) soon arrived to assist. Despite trying to gain some large-scale assistance, only Best Friends Animal Society answered our call and sent a team to evaluate conditions.
Every day we worked in areas that looked like war zones. Many people were hostile to our actions to care for animals when people were also suffering. We stationed ourselves in Ica, approximately a five hour drive along the west coast of Peru. The terrain is desert, with mile after mile of sand and the occasional tent or mud-brick house.
En route to Ica, we were forced to take a detour around the city of Pisco, which was 90% destroyed by the earthquake. Upon arrival in Ica we were welcomed into our home for the next three weeks, the family home of Amazon CARES' Vet Esther Peña.
The family very graciously offered to house and feed our large team during the time we were working here. We were given the entire upstairs of the two storey home. Wall to wall beds on the floors (air mattresses and sleeping bags) as far as the eye could see. The one and only bathroom posed a few small problems at the beginning but everyone adapted and cooperated and we all learned how to be quick at whatever we did in there.
Our work days would start early, usually awake and getting ready by 6:30 a.m., and off to work on the bus by 8:00 a.m. The first three days of this week were spent working in a large room on the main floor of the San Andreas Municipality building, a suburb of Pisco. For the remainder of the first week and well into week two we worked in the tent cities. The military which was stationed at the tent cities were very good to us. They rounded up tables which we could use for surgeries, the brought us a tent for shelter from the hot sun, and they provided us protection, especially as darkness began to fall. The Ministry of Health from time to time brought us mandarin oranges, apples and buns to eat and soda to drink (Inka Kola, Sprite, Coca Cola and bottled water).
Our efforts were probably a small drop in a large bucket of need, but we did our best and learned a lot. Amazon CARES has a mission to help animals and people in the Amazon region of Peru. Our foray into disaster response left us penniless. This was not an era of "Chip-In's" and Facebook was relatively new and unnoticed to non-Ivy-Leaguers. Sadly, I do not see us doing disaster relief in that way again, except those that directly affect our region of work. I am extremely grateful for organizations such as World Vets that are capable of fulfilling these needs.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder