Tuesday 19 January 2010
Australian man helps in Haiti
Australian-national Lasse Petersen is leading the charge delivering emergency aid to thousands of people in Haiti.
Lasse, who is currently in the island’s capital Port au Prince, is the General Manager of international disaster relief charity ShelterBox and one of the charity’s highly trained Response Team members.
He arrived in Port au Prince a week after the earthquake struck and joined up with the three-man ShelterBox Response Team who were on the ground just 48 hours after the devastating earthquake struck. He is now coordinating the relief effort and says the situation on the island is desperate.
‘I’ve delivered aid all over the world but I’ve never seen a situation like this,’ he said. ‘The need is huge. We’re working closely with the UN, with the French Red Cross, with French aid agency ACTED and with local Rotarians to distribute emergency aid as quickly, as effectively and as safely as we can.’
When the first boxes arrived in Port au Prince, Lasse and the team immediately put them to use as emergency field hospitals.
Speaking from outside Bernard Mews Hospital in the Petion-Ville suburb of Port au Prince, Lasse said: ‘Right outside the hospital there have been hundreds of people who have been laying in the sidewalks, on the streets and in blankets right on the ground in unbelievable conditions. They are bleeding, they have missing limbs and there are even women giving birth.
‘We felt this was a good use of the initial boxes that we had here on the ground and we’ll be bringing more here and using them as a transitional point to get people out of the elements while they are waiting for treatment at the hospital. Buildings have crashed down all around us here and people are just waiting and waiting to get in here for medical services.’
Lasse, who has a family home in Sherwood, Queensland. He is married and has one child. At present he does not know how long he will be in Haiti before but says this is a long term commitment for ShelterBox and he will be doing all he can to help the people of Haiti.
