The End of the World as We Know It? An Internal or External Shift?

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The Quickening

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Cholera Epidemic Kills Thousands in Haiti

Examiner

06 May 2011

It’s beginning to look like rain.

What’s good news for some is tragic for others.

In Haiti, the coming rainy season means more are likely to die from the spread of cholera via and increase in flowing, dirty water.

Since October, the United Nations said Thursday, more than 3,500 Haitians have died from the “severe, acute, dehydrating diarrhea that can kill children and adults in less than 12 hours.”

Nearly 300,000 other Haitians have been sickened by the bacteria, and the numbers of sick and dying continue to increase.

The first cases were reported on Oct. 22, 2010 and the disease began spreading rapidly.

On Wednesday, the UN released a special, 32-page report, the result of an investigation of how the epidemic started. The UN concluded  the epidemic is the result of a “confluence of circumstances, and not the fault of any group or individual.”

The death rate from cholera should be less than one percent, the UN said, but it is 1.7 percent in Haiti.

Part of the problem is cholera has not been seen in Haiti in almost 100 years, the UN said, and health workers did not know how to treat it properly.

“It is important to mention that cholera cots were not seen in any of the three hospitals visited,” the UN report states. “Cholera cots are designed to minimize fecal contamination in cholera wards and to measure fluid loss easily. All three cholera units visited were equipped with regular or small portable beds only.

Cholera patients thus defecated in the bed itself, or were asked to walk to the toilet. Asking cholera patients to walk puts them at risk of orthostatic hypotension, a decrease in blood pressure that can be fatal in cholera patients. Hospital staff reported walking on feces in cholera units. In addition, neither hand washing facilities with running water nor hand cleansing products for patients or relatives in these units were evident. Thus, intra-hospital transmission could have been a source of cholera for families, visitors, other patients, and health staff.”

Among the solutions for the problem in Haiti, the UN says, are:

• Training health workers, especially at the treatment center level;
• Scaling-up the availability and use of oral rehydration salts at the household and community level in order to prevent deaths before arrival at treatment centers; and,
• Implementing appropriate measures (including the use of cholera cots) to reduce the risk of intra-facility transmission of cholera to health staff, relatives, and other patients.
• To prevent the spread of cholera, the United Nations and the Government of Haiti should prioritize investment in piped, treated drinking water supplies and improved sanitation throughout Haiti. Until such time as water supply and sanitation infrastructure is established:
• Programs to treat water at the household or community level with chlorine or other effective systems, handwashing with soap, and safe disposal of fecal waste should be developed and/or expanded; and,
• Safe drinking water supplies should continue to be delivered and fecal waste should be collected and safely disposed of in areas of high population density, such as the spontaneous settlement camps.
• The international community should investigate the potential for using vaccines reactively after the onset of an outbreak to reduce cholera caseload and spread of the disease.

Haiti may not get what it needs.

“An appeal for $175 million launched by humanitarian agencies last year to respond to the epidemic has received only 48 per cent of the requested funding.” Sylvie van den Wildenberg, spokesperson for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, said in a news released emailed Thursday to journalists.

Nuclear Reactor Meltdown In Japan Fall-Out

Blue Star Chronicles

March 12, 2011

After the 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the world is watching the Fukushima nuclear plants that were damaged in the devastation following the events in Japan.

There is danger of a nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. Below is a nuclear fall-out map that shows which way the wind blows and where the fall-out will go.

As if there’s not enough to worry about in the world, we are now watching the possible (probable?) nuclear reactor meltdown of the nuke plants in Japan that were damaged in the horrendous earthquake and tsunamis that occurred on Friday. The Fukushima Daiichi plant had an explosion earlier today. I would think that ANY explosion at a nuke plant isn’t a good thing.

Even worse, there are several nuclear reactors side-by-side there. I would think if one goes, they all go. But I’m not a nuclear scientist and that’s just a guess. Perhaps there are some nuclear specialists around who can let us know if one of those reactors can withstand a nuclear explosion right next to it.

Whatever the case, as you can see in the map above, there is reason to be extremely concerned about the affects of a nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. The wind blows in this direction. Therefore, the fall-out from a nuclear event in Japan will blow our way.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan, and for the world if one of those nukes has a meltdown.

Haiti: Hope and Heartbreak in the Time of Cholera

AOL News
January 12, 2011


When the earth opened up under Haiti on January 12, 2011, it claimed more than lives, homes and livelihoods. It swallowed a nation's hope.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter just west of Port-au-Prince, left 316,000 dead, with an almost equal number injured – and one million homeless.

In all, some 3 million people were affected by the earthquake and its barrage of aftershocks.

That day, the earth would not stand still. On Wednesday, as Haiti marked the disaster's first anniversary, it was clear that the past still rattles the island of 10 million.

Within hours of the quake, United Nations peacekeepers were on the ground, tasked with stabilizing the tottering nation. In turn, they found themselves the focal point for its fury.

Last October, Haiti recorded its first cholera case – only to watch the disease sweep through much of the country, killing more than 1,000 people to date.

Haitians blamed the outbreak on UN's 12,000-strong contingent – a belief only strengthened by a report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The study suggested Haiti's particular strain of the disease hailed from South Asia.

Not a good time to be one of the many Nepalese-born peacekeepers stationed in Haiti.

Seemingly poisoned by the cure, Haitians turned on the UN force, rioting in the streets. Despite protests from Edmond Mulet, head of the UN mission in Haiti that all Nepalese peacekeepers passed medical exams prior to landing in the country, the rage only spiraled.



"It's really unfair to accuse the U.N. for bringing cholera into Haiti," Mulet told reporters. "We don't want to stigmatize any nation or any people."

While the riots eventually subsided, the damage had already been done. During the chaos, aid flights were cancelled, reconstruction projects delayed and vital food stores looted or burnt.

The gaping wound that was the earthquake only festered. Late last year, the country bid to hold national elections also came crashing down.

With no clear winners emerging from the contest, and charges of tampering from all sides, Haitians fell into what they've been doing a lot of lately – rioting.