Showing posts with label Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Show all posts

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dogs make great heroes, don't you think?

Anna Zizi (69) lay trapped under the ruins of the catholic cathedral ‘Notre Dame de L’Assomption’ in Port-au-Prince for 167 hours – without food or water. No one heard her cries for help.
She was finally detected by rescue workers with the help of a search tool.
But the hero of the hour was a German dog from North Rhine-Westphalia called Pablo.
The four-year-old Portuguese waterdog, the same breed as the Obama’s dog, had just finished his schooling in Germany before being sent on his first mission to Haiti.
After arriving in Haiti on Saturday with a team of 14 people from the ‘German Earthquake Rescuers’ he was immediately ordered to come to the cathedral.
His dog handler Anja Fiedler (42) said: “Pablo barked straight on the spot where we then found the woman.”
A Mexican rescue team dug for five hours in order to free the woman. As she was carried to an ambulance, she said: „I’m OK. My leg hurts.“ Her doctors discovered that she had a broken leg, was nearly totally dehydrated and had damaged her hip.
The German rescue team are proud of their “wonder dog Pablo”. Anja Friedler said: “Pablo never tires. It’s great to work with him. As a treat he got a dog biscuit.”
But how many miracles will there be in Haiti? Nine days after the earthquake first hit, rescue workers are still working hard against the clock to find survivors.
Their persistence was rewarded earlier after two children were reunited with their mother after being found alive under the rubble.
Kiki (8) and his sister Sabrina (10) managed to survive without food and water for over a week. The boy winked and smiled as he was freed by jubilant rescue workers and was greeted by his ecstatic mother.
So far 120 people have been rescued alive from under the rubble in Haiti, reported the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Around 75,000 people are estimated to have died, 250,000 more wounded. Around 1.5 million people have been left homeless.
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Please visit the original link here and click on the same picture of the dog.  You will see 60 photos of the devastation and ruin that is now Haiti.  These are disturbing pictures, but they are a true depiction of what these people are going through right now.  I think it is necessary for us to see this tragedy and feel something, even if it is only a minimal fraction of what these people are feeling. 
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