Recent mass death incidents in Japan and Haiti have again focused attention on the challenge of dealing with large numbers of dead. Focusing on mass death incidents involving large numbers of Canadian victims, including the Titanic, Halifax explosion, Air India bombing and the 2004 Tsunami, the paper researches incidents dating back to the beginning of the 20th Century. By examining each stage of the process including initial response, identification, funerals, communication, religious services and inquests, the paper identifies key changes in the way that mass death incidents are handled.
Examines how post-earthquake conditions in Haiti have left women and girls in a heightened state of vulnerability as well as the ineffectiveness of the U.N. and government to uphold obligations under international law to include grassroots women's leadership in the planning and implementation sessions to address sexual violence in displacement camps.
Discusses the imperative to establish a functioning education system and explores how the earthquake exacerbated perennial challenges to the Haitian education system, while also perhaps offering some hope. Analyzes reconstruction efforts involving the Government of Haiti and such organizations as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, arguing that an education system premised on local ownership and focused on sustainability is Haiti's best hope.
Three poems by Claudine Michel. "Unequal Distribution." First Line: Unequal distribution that forces; Last Line: to throw away her whistle and dream of a new Haiti? "Darkness." First Line: It is; Last Line: comes. "Brigitte." First Line: Did your mother call you Brigitte; Last Line: Child?
This paper provides a cross-cultural analysis of the experiences of Oxfam GB in supporting urban community-based disaster risk reduction in Haiti, Guyana and the Dominican Republic. The paper focuses on the efforts of Oxfam GB and its local partners to overcome the determining influence of local governance on who benefits from interventions, and the longevity of positive outcomes.
The author's thoughts on service work during a summer 2010 travel course to Haiti with a group from Saint Mary's College of California and reflections on the complexity of service learning and disaster relief work. A dilemma concerning the installation of a rainwater capture system on a house brought to light the issue of what the family thought they needed versus what the group thought they needed. The decision making process is discussed.
