Shattuck of Riverside reports from ravaged Haiti

Carol Shattuck, of Riverside, is the chief of staff and senior vice president of communications and marketing for Stamford-based AmeriCares, a nonprofit international disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization. On Sunday night, she arrived at the beleaguered Port-au-Prince Airport on AmeriCares' first airlift of 25,000 pounds -- or $6 million worth -- of donated medical supplies for the thousands upon thousands of Haitian casualties of last week's horrific earthquake.

Her job was to oversee the AmeriCares team in Haiti and the distribution of the medical supplies, and to handle media relations. We met with Shattuck last Friday when she and her colleagues were building their relief supply list. She was calm and organized as her organization hummed with frantic preparations to pull in supplies from their 52,000 square-feet warehouse in Stamford. "We're flying in supplies from our Amsterdam warehouse," she said, "and also from our now two-year-old Mumbai warehouse."

The earthquake in Haiti is the third massive catastrophe that Shattuck has experienced in her eight years with AmeriCares. Her first was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami -- and then Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And now it's Haiti -- a country that Shattuck is familiar with.

AmeriCares has been supporting Haiti since 1984, Shattuck said. "We've had a lot of airlifts into Haiti. We feel very close to Haiti. Sadly, one and a half years ago in 2008, there were four hurricanes. The island was decimated and was just now coming back from that."

As for what they send in the way of aid . . . "We don't send anything until we hear our health partners tell us what they need," she said.

In Haiti's case, that is a lot.

"They need just about everything," Shattuck said. "Basic medicine, medical supplies, antibiotics, bandages, syringes, IV sets, gauze. On the second airlift, we'll bring water purification -- PUR. You mix it with the dirtiest water in the world and in 20 minutes it's drinkable."

"It's going to be a huge undertaking," she said, but added that the U.S. was up to the task of providing much-needed assistance."The way Americans, as individuals, corporations and foundations, respond -- their hearts are so huge -- it's a wonderful thing. It makes me very proud."

Shattuck's travel to Port-au-Prince was decided on Saturday. "We use a lot of chartered cargo planes," she explained. "They can't take a lot of passengers. They take away from the cargo. If we're lucky we have two or three seats on an airlift."

One of those seats would go to her.

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Following are e-mails from Shattuck from the front lines of Port-au-Prince via her Blackberry, the only artery of communication available to the Citizen.

Tuesday 9:50 a.m.

"Currently I'm in a truck on the way back to (the) airport to pick up final pallets of the medicines we brought in. It took nine hours to get the plane offloaded and then most of yesterday (Monday) to get the lion's share trucked to a secure warehouse. Because of the activity at the airport, with flights arriving with personnel and aid non-stop, everything takes a long time. The first meds will be distributed today to the central hospital and a second hospital. The biggest obstacles are logistics with so much relief activity plus scarcity of fuel. The worst scenes are the makeshift camps around town . . . so many displaced people. The best scenes -- so many people care and are trying hard to help. The devastation to the buildings is unbelievable."

Tuesday 3:47 p.m.

Right now I am at our warehouse where our meds are located. People are coming to pick up supplies for the central hospital now. I didn't go on the distribution because I did a live interview with MSNBC and then went to a meeting with the Haiti Minister of Health. There are many similarities with the tsunami -- just more concentrated in a large heavily populated area.

Tuesday 3:53 p.m.

"Our warehouse is about five minutes from the airport -- so not far from downtown. We have a photographer with us and he has been transmitting photos but had challenges last night and this a.m."

Tuesday 4:06 p.m.

"The major roads are clear but very congested. I was on a smaller road today where a bridge was closed because it was significantly damaged. Not sure what my schedule is tomorrow yet but will definitely visit some of our recipients."

Tuesday 4:55 p.m.

"We have electricity in the small hotel we're staying in, which is in central Port-au-Prince. It is powered by a generator. There is very little central power in the city that we are aware of. We have seen no incidences of violence but have heard of sporadic situations. With as many as 500,000 living in temporary tent cities and with the shortages of water and food, it is going to happen. We do not go out after dark."

Tuesday 6:38 p.m.

"This is a major humanitarian event. The early days are about search and rescue and trying to bring some stability to the survivors. There are a variety of medical teams working . . . lots of amputations. I can't emphasize enough the scope of the response -- governments, the UN, WHO, aid organizations of all sizes. It takes coordination, which is happening but will get better in the days to come. The teams running the hospitals, clinics and field hospitals are making the triage decisions. I will likely go along on the distribution tomorrow. There is much to be done and our team is dividing up the prioritized tasks. We now have a secure warehouse and access to trucks, which is critical. I have traveled the city in a car so haven't needed to cover my face. The Ministry of Health representatives said that folks are leaving the city and that aid will need to follow them. Additional airlifts are in the pipeline in a matter of days."

Wednesday 7:38 a.m.(After an early morning major aftershock shook the capital.)

"Business is as usual at our hotel. Definitely felt the aftershock but didn't last too long. We quickly got outside along with most of the other guests. The full distribution grid is still being finalized."

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This was our last communiqué from Carol for this front line report. Peggy Atherlay, director of communications at AmeriCares shared a final update: "Carol and team are working on getting our medicines delivered today and staying in touch with our office due to aftershocks. We are trying to get photos, the communications grids in Haiti are challenging to say the least."

Next week, the Citizen will meet with Carol Shattuck on her return from Haiti and get her first-hand impressions of her week in Port-au-Prince. AmeriCares has of this writing committed $15 million in aid to be delivered by air, sea and overland from the Dominican Republic in the coming weeks and months.