Wampum

One of my letters this afternoon after skyping with the NAP at Boutilliers, Port au Prince, Haiti, from Geneva, Switzerland. It has been 5+ hours. The taskforce-1@state.gov address has not generated a response.

ATTN DUTY OFFICER

The following SitRep is from real-time communications with the network engineer at the NAP in Boutilliers, Port au Prince, between 5:30pm and 6pm, Geneva time.

The generator at the NAP in Boutilliers is burning diesel at 8gal/hour. The Network Access Point is currently supporting all remaining governmental and NGO network traffic in Port au Prince, with microwave backhaul to the Dominican Republic.

The generator will run out of fuel in about 24 hours.

There is a 600 gal tank which obviously has been burned 2/3rds of the way through since the wireline infrastructure failed.

Getting 200gal/day of diesel to the NAP in Boutilliers is priority #1.

Because of existing conditions, the fuel will have to have an armed escort. There is no direct communications with the US or UN forces, and this communications path, from the North American Network Operators (NANOG) list, to a NANOG subscriber currently in Geneva, back to the NAP in Port au Prince, appears to be the "best path" at the moment.

The contact I've been skyping with is Reynold Guerrier, his cellphone is 509-3446-xxxx, and his title is AHTIC Treasurer.

The AHTIC is the Haiti Country Code DNS Registry.

Eric Brunner-Williams
CTO/CORE
skype: abenaki.wabanaki.net

In a follow-up mail to taskforce-1@state.gov I described the situation at the Maison des Infants de Dieu ("For His Glory") orphanage.

Separately, I'm trying to get assistance to an orphanage. The original address is below, I know the structure is collapsed and the children and surviving staff are in tents in a field adjacent to the collapsed structure. A helo LZ is operating from a nearby open space, but they are not receiving any assistance and are in dire need. The orphanage has "money", in the bank, but due to the collapse of everything, they are in critical need of cash. US dollars.

Their needs are: Formula, water, medicine, IV (one injured child) charcoal, diesel, help burying dead staff, and most importantly, cash. They have a few "Coleman style" tents, but mostly it is tarps on sticks, and vicks-under-the-nose is visible in the few photos, so decaying bodies are proximal.

Their conditions were reported to be "dire". I've just learned that looters have entered the orphanage, so "dire" is probably inadequate as a label of distress. One of MB's prof's is in the process of adopting twins, age 4, from this orphanage. 150 children, 30 surviving staff. No potable water. No food. Proximal to rotary wing aircraft. Not served. Yet.

I'm wicked pleased that people I think of as adults are responding responsibly, but I can only cross my fingers and hope.