Produced by PTV Productions and commissioned by TVO, Inside Disaster Haiti offers a front row seat to the inner-workings of the Haiti relief operation through unprecedented access to the Red Cross’ international disaster response teams, and the individuals who dedicate their lives to saving millions of others in the largest relief operation in their history.
Conceived by Director/Producer Nadine Pequeneza as a project to document a large-scale relief effort, Inside Disaster Haiti was green lit in September 2009 after Pequeneza negotiated access to the International Federation of Red Crosses (IFRC). For six months the production team had two film crews on standby ready to deploy along with the Red Cross FACT team. The Red Cross Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) is the Red Cross’ international, multi-disciplinary team, trained to assess need, call in help, and oversee a disaster response.
An hour after the quake struck, Pequeneza was on the phone with her contacts at the Red Cross and plane tickets were booked that evening. Thirty-six hours later, Nadine and the Inside Disaster Haiti film crew crossed the Dominican border into Haiti along with the Red Cross FACT team. In the early days death is everywhere, but the unfolding tragedy in Haiti is shouldered by the quake’s survivors like Magalie Landee, a 37 yr old middle class entrepreneur who lost four children, her business and her house. In over 1,500 camps Haitians survive any way they can. Marcel Phevenun lives with his wife and son in one of the largest camps, Champ de Mars, opposite the crumpled National Palace. A mechanic by trade and a survivor at heart, Marcel can fix anything. In the aftermath of the disaster, he is determined to return to normal life. Louken Pluviose is a local Red Cross volunteer in a camp called Juvenat. Three weeks on, as a team of Nicaraguan doctors prepares to leave, he’s worried there will be no more help now that the emergency is over. The church owns the land where Juvenat is set up, and, after six months, in an effort to force people off the land, the priests erect a sheet metal fence around the camp to discourage aid distributions on their property.
Inside Disaster Haiti, the series, is a multi-platform documentary project that includes an interactive website (InsideDisaster.com) and first-person simulation (Inside Disaster Haiti Earthquake) that explore themes around the Haiti earthquake and humanitarian work. I had a chance to speak with Inside Disaster Haiti’s web director, Katie McKenna in order to learn more about the interactive website and first-person simulation.
InsideDisaster.com, the interactive website, combines content and themes from the documentary series with original photo, video and research created by the 16-person web team under McKenna’s leadership. They wanted to have content that was interesting, informative and that may make people want to help. Part of the idea behind the website was how to get people to “be critical thinkers about humanitarian aid.” Many people have the wrong understanding about humanitarian aid; it is certainly difficult but it works really well.
Inside the Haiti Earthquake is the first-person simulation part of the website. It combines jaw-dropping footage and stories from the Inside Disaster documentary with original video, photos and music recorded in Haiti. Through the simulations, users can experience the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake through three overlapping storylines: that of the survivor, the aid worker, or the journalist. I must admit, I tried the journalist role first, and I got sent home because I was not being an objective journalist. I also tried the role of survivor, it certainly is quite difficult to make decisions under such conditions. I have to try the aid worker simulation but I am sure it would be a learning experience as well. The clip seen here is only one point of view of the situation.
Inside Humanitarianism is the educational part of the website. Not only do we learn more about humanitarian work but there is a section on careers in humanitarianism, donor education and an interactive gallery. Many of us are not fully aware of what humanitarian work involves. This section provides us with some detailed information. McKenna and team also wanted to make the website useful to high school and post-secondary students. It is “an academic viable site” that is a resource to students who may also be studying humanitarianism.
Also the web team made social networking and Web 2.0. tools a priority from the beginning — we created Facebook and Twitter accounts, distributed all their web videos through YouTube, and photos through Flickr under a Creative Commons license that allowed others to use and adopt them for non-commercial purposes. They have built a successful Facebook community (4000 at its peak) using Facebook ads to reach Haitians around the world, as well as community members interested in the Red Cross and humanitarian aid in general.
Inside Disaster Haiti, the three-part documentary detailing the monumental humanitarian efforts of Red Cross relief teams in Haiti makes its World Broadcast Premiere on TVO on January 11th, 12th and 13th, 2010 at 9pm (est), coinciding with the one year anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake. SCN will broadcast Inside Disaster Haiti on January 16, 23, and 30th at 8pm, repeating at 10pm (mt). It will then repeat in Prime Time on 3 consecutive Wednesdays at 9pm: Wednesday January 26 (ep 1), Wednesday February 2 (ep 2) and Wednesday February 9 (ep 3).
Stay tuned for a possible public screen at Hart House, University of Toronto on January 26th. For more details visit Inside Disaster Haiti‘s Facebook page and on Twitter.
* Information provide by VKPR media release, Katie McKenna and Nadine Pequeneza.
