Part One:Part TwoWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of drones used in the story below?On a football field in the Haitian town of Jeremie, children gather to stare at a drone. The small, remote-control airplane is preparing to take off. Once in the air, it will document damage to the area caused by Hurricane Matthew.
The powerful storm, which crashed ashore on October 4, packed winds of 145 miles per hour. It was especially damaging to southwestern Haiti, where this coastal city of about 31,000 people is located. At least 546 people were killed during the hurricane, and more than 175,000 people lost their homes. Nearly three weeks later, many people in Jeremie are still waiting for help to arrive. Relief workers now have a powerful new tool to determine where aid is most needed. Getting A Bird's-Eye ViewHaitians with the group Potentiel 3.0 traveled to Jeremie with a fleet of four drones. The drones would be used to document the town's damage. Before, satellite images were used for this purpose, "but the resolution was not perfect," said Presler Jean. Resolution is how sharp and detailed photos are. Jean is one of Potientiel 3.0's "pilots." He controls the drones remotely, from his laptop. "With the drones, one has absolutely all the details of the covered area," he said. No detail escapes the eye of the drone. It can capture images of homes reduced to matchsticks, buildings with blown-off fronts, and even rooftops that are missing just two or three shingles. Drones can gather enough information to develop three-dimensional images that are detailed down to four centimeters (1.6 inches). This is a giant improvement from the roughly 50-centimeter (19.7-inch) detail that satellite images provide. Aid Will "Flow A Bit Faster"Thanks to drone images, engineers were able to quickly repair Jeremie's storm-damaged harbor. The work allowed the first aid ship to dock 72 hours after the hurricane hit, said Fred Moine, head of Potentiel 3.0. Within a few hours, heavy-machine operators knew how much sand was needed for harbor repairs, Moine said. Drones are faster and much cheaper to operate than helicopters, and can be piloted from the ground by Haitians like Jean. He has been working with the devices since 2012. Jean remembers the devastation caused by the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. He also recalls how much of the international aid that flooded in was mismanaged and went to waste. "Before the foreigners get here, we Haitians have time to produce images that they can use. This will allow the aid to flow a bit faster," said Jean. Drones Help Save Time, MoneyThere's no need to waste money trying to figure out which areas need the most help, he said. Funds can instead be used for durable buildings. More than 200,000 people were killed in the 2010 earthquake. Only a small amount of the poorly coordinated international aid that poured in reached the victims. The drones are also ideal for identifying the needs of isolated communities in mountainous regions. These remote areas are hard to reach by land. There are plenty of Haitians who are qualified to do the work, according to Jean. "We no longer have to wait for the international community," he said. "We can use our skills together to provide a quick response for our country," he added with pride. Group Hopes To Train More "Pilots"Potentiel 3.0 hopes to train enough people so there can be two or three drone pilots for each of Haiti's 10 departments. In Haiti, "departments" is the term for land areas similar to provinces or states. This will allow Haiti to respond on its own to disasters, said Jean, as he continues guiding the drone from his laptop. In addition to dealing with the destruction of countless homes and farms, Haitians in the worst-affected areas lack clean water. It is contributing to the spread of the bacterial disease cholera. This disease has claimed close to 10,000 lives in Haiti since the outbreak began in 2010. The devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew left nearly 1.5 million people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance, according to a United Nations estimate. The total population of Haiti is 10.3 million. |
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