Acronyms Glossary For Haiti Aid V 4.2

Glossary Acronyms and other Terminology Translation aids 5/12/2011 5:12:54 PM Page 1
Haiti Rescue Relief

Recovery
Documents
Acronyms Glossary and other Translation aids
collected by Al Mac
Alister William Macintyre research notes
05/09/2011 (last updated)
Version 4.2
Acronyms Glossary and other Translation aids

Document naming
This research notes document used to be named “Acronyms for Haiti Relief.”
Nov-09 I renamed it back to “Acronyms Glossary for Haiti from Al Mac” so it will show
up nicer when I upload to Scribd (previous installment uploaded June 10-11).
Sep-30 I renamed it “Glossary Acronyms Haiti” because it will now be a companion

research document to “Glossary Housing Haiti” which focuses just on the special
terminology associated with:
 Earthquake Rubble Debris

 Housing Policy
 Human Rights Housing
 Land Owner Documentation
 Secure Land Tenure
 Transitional Shelters
Sep-30 action because I splitting my research notes on above topics into separate
documents, focused on pros & cons of solutions to different dimensions of Haiti Real
Estate mess, where the new “Glossary Housing” will be a companion document to the
entire new collection, containing info logically common to all of them. In the short term,
“Glossary Housing” will have content not yet here in “Glossary Acronyms” but
eventually anything added there, will also get copied here. Here will eventually have all
the terminology. In time I may have other specialized glossaries, similar to the housing
one I started, end of September 2010. Given the cholera epidemic, maybe one needed
with focus on medical.
Introduction
Acronyms, Concepts, special Terminology, are defined here, in alphabetical sequence, to
make it easy when we are reading some document from UN, NGO, or government …
what the heck is that? Look it up here.
The version # was started for the convenience of people who may have an earlier copy of
this … you go to one of the places where Al has uploaded this … your version was dated
July 15, of a certain size … the latest upload … you can see how much it has grown,
whether worth you downloading it.
This is a perpetually updated directory of acronyms and related terminology found in

documents on Haiti Humanitarian Relief Aid and Reconstruction, acquired from many
different sources, to help locate info again when same topic repeats. Sometimes Al falls
a bit behind on keeping some areas current. But as Al sees new examples of “what the
heck is that?” in these documents, if not too busy, tracks down the meaning and updates
this reference collection.
Collected by Alister Wm Macintyre (Al Mac), Evansville Indiana, while doing pro bono
research support for various volunteers who want to do something constructive, so we
don’t have to witness another disaster like the 2010 Jan 12 quake which killed an
estimated 350,000, then because of state-of-art of relief, another 35,000 died while
waiting for help. There were also astronomical numbers of injured in the quake, and
newly orphaned children.
http://www.haiti.prizm.org/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HaitiDisasterRecoveryResearch/files/Haiti%20Info%20N
avigation/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/almacintyre (see full profile / my files / Haiti folder)
http://haitirewired.wired.com/profile/AlisterWmMacintyre
http://rebuildhaitibetter.ning.com/profile/AlisterWmMacintyre
Also on Facebook
http://www.google.com/profiles/108007903544513887227
http://www.scribd.com/AlMac99
This type of info becomes more and more important as we see documents from UN and
fields of specialty other than our own, where it is commonplace for us to see unfamiliar
acronyms and terminology, often not explained in context. When using search engines to
locate activity of interest, it really helps to know the correct name of the relevant NGO,
UN or Gov agency.
In the real world, everyone uses acronyms and special technology within their profession,
and most other people in same profession know what they mean. In Humanitarian rescue
relief recovery we have people from many professions interacting … communication,
computing, construction, engineering, governments, medical, military, science-other,
transportation, UN … all their acronyms mixed together … it is hard for most anyone to
figure out sometimes.
Al Mac intends to add to this collection over time. At some point may split document
into Acronyms only, Glossary only, Bookmarks only, etc. and may do a specialized topic
collection as companion pieces to certain research focus areas.
Other people have similar efforts. Mentioned on HEAS is the following:

See Citizen Action Team Relief Database record for CTC/UTX/CRO (Medical) Acronym
Definitions:
http://www.citizencommandcenter.org/shelters/show/6790
A list of most frequently-used acronyms related to the response to cholera in Haiti is available at:
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=11788&Itemi
d=
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has published a Glossary on Migration
Law.1
Year of Publication 2011 Number of Pages 114
ISSN 1813-2278 Language English
The publication is available in hardcopy and free PDF download.
I downloaded a copy, calling it: “Glossary Migration 2011 IOM”
Format
Hardcopy
Softbound
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=peh9pxbab&v=001SEg_mP6bgKQF1WBbTZAKJcRjk
18ZJnMscWDTy_6wC6gt7yaBfqK2z4rSENiUsZpaMPpfl3MeBqOiyQDb5jE8D_jPORi5LM8_uUNcXL1gJrF
jWS0zC1wL5dVQsQbsg96Iiv4HxgnUDKqQ3IHt9SMKrFtdJh8vP16ebRqsjA9f63a2Bg1hyId088_ZQJN3flDJ
USD 25.00
0.25 kg
Electronic copy
PDF File
2.7 MB
http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/IML25.pdf
For more information, please visit the Online Bookstore of the IOM Website.
I have seen many variants on what the Reconstruction Commission will be called. Here
is an official list of the members. It currently has 24 members entitled to vote (12
representatives and 12 representatives Haitian international) and four members from other
sectors without voting.
http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/list-of-representatives-
haiti?xg_source=activity
These references are cut & pasted from many sources, merged alphabetically by
acronym, for future reference. The data has come in helter skelter. Some day Al may
have a break, and go do a scientific review of logical sources, to get this more
comprehensive, but stuff has been pretty hectic since Jan 12 quake. Some acronyms do
not look quite right, because the original phraseology is in a language other than English,
or whatever shown here, or there are words missing that Al not yet identified.
Also see Internet slang.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/10/internet-slang-acronyms/
 3W = UN Who What When Where (not 4W because some people can’t count, or
3W was a standard, added to)

 AADA UN Audit of Disaster-Related Aid
 AAR After Action Review
 ACAPS Assessment Capacities Project
Acceptable risk Level of loss that a society or community considers acceptable,

taking into account existing social, economic, political, cultural,
technical, and environmental conditions. From an engineering
standpoint, acceptable risk is also used to assess structural and
non-structural measures to bring potential damage to a level
where the danger to persons and property can be reduced, using
―accepted practice‖ and/or codes based, inter alia, on a
probability estimate and the cost/benefit ratio of these
measures.
Accessibility for disabled includes

1. blind, on crutches, wheel chair, elderly, pregnant … none discriminated against
2. build shelter higher than anticipated flood waters
3. build slope for wheel chair etc. that can in fact be navigated
4. consider visual, hearing, speech, mental and intellectual impairments
5. emergency exits, but infants not wander off
Accountability is a western culture concept, where money donated for a particular

purpose, ought to be expended for that purpose, in a wise and efficient manner. Because
accountability is not yet part of most of the non-profit non-governmental organization
humanitarian aid culture, I wrote a blog series on the state of this art in Haiti Rewired.
Part I defined what we mean by accountability quality standards.
Part II clearly demonstrated the lack of accountability in the humanitarian aid culture.
Part III which I never completed, addressed the need for donors to do better due diligence
in funding the few charities which do in fact practice accountability, instead of continuing
to support lack of accountability.
 ACE Assessment and Classification of Emergencies

 ACE Accumulated Cyclone Energy
 ACF Action Contre la Faim (INGO)
 ACHR Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
 ACT Action by Churches Together International
http://www.actalliance.org/ is an alliance of 100 churches and
church-related organizations that work together in humanitarian
assistance and development.
Acronyms http://www.acronymslist.com/ = approx 40,000 of most popular in

general, with links to sub-sets by subject matter
 ACTED Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (HQ = Paris France)
http://www.acted.org (INGO)
 ADB Asian Development Bank
 ADF Americas development Foundation http://www.adfusa.org/
 ADH L’Autorité pour le Développement d’Haïti
 ADMD Asociación Dominicana de Mitigación de Desastres (The Dominican
Disaster Relief Association)
 ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Agency
http://www.adra.org/site/PageServer
 AEA American Evaluation Society

 AECID Spanish Agency for International Cooperation
 AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
 AIRPD Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development
 AJF Youth Association of Fond'Oies
 AJK Azad Jammu and Kashmir
 ALBA Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas
Alert Permanent mindset triggered by an announcement or other

means of conveying information (alarm) issued to warn the
population and leaders of an expected event with major
implications from a safety standpoint.
Allele: A particular form of the DNA sequence of a gene. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 ALNAP = Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in

Humanitarian Action
 ALWG Accountability and Learning Working Group
 AMIS African Union Mission in Sudan
 AMCU Aid Management and Coordination Unit, Ministry of International
Cooperation
 AMR Annual Ministerial Reviews
 AO Administrative Officer
 APN Port au Prince Sea Port Authority
 APROSIFA Association for the Promotion of Integral Family Healthcare
 ARC American Refugee Committee
http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_media
 ARC American Red Cross
 ARI Allied Recovery International
 ARI Acute respiratory Infections
 ARIS Acute respiratory Infection
Arrondissements – subdivisions of Haiti Departments (see Departements below)

Haiti Departments are like US states.
Haiti Arrondissements are like US counties.
 ARV Anti Retroviral

 ASG Assistant Secretary General
Assessment An evaluation of needs, to help set priorities.
 AWG Assessments Working Group http://groups.google.com/group/assessmentshaiti

 AU African Union
 AVSI Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internationale
 BBC Beneficiary-based consultation
 BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
 BCDE = Electoral Office of Legal Departemental West
 BCLC = U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership

Center
 BIM = Building Information Modeling
Biodiversity – Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variability among living

organisms from all sources including inter alia terrestrial, marine and aquatic
ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part.
The Blan = Kreyol word for foreigners.
 BME = Gov of Haiti Bureau of Mines

and Energy
 BPM Brigade de la Protection des Mineurs – Child Protection
Brigade within Haiti Police
 BPRM (U.S.) Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration
 BRC British Red Cross
 BRR Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency
 BUGEP Bureau de Gestion du Préscolaire (MoE’s Preschool Education Unit)
Cadastral = Land surveying in the Digital Age.

 CaLP Cash Learning Partnership
 CAM Community Asset Management
 CAMEP. . . . . . . . . . . . Centrale Autonome Métropolitaine d’Eau Potable
 CAP = Consolidated Appeal Process: fund raising for implementation of HAP =
Humanitarian Action Plan
Capacity Constraint – There is a maximum volume that can move through safely and
correctly, such as cargo on a public road, through an airport or sea port. We can increase
capacity by improving the facility, or adding a new facility, such as parachuting supplies
in, using military landing craft on coast where there is no port, land Cessna on public
highway.
Capacity to handle disasters Different ways in which women and men marshal their
capacities and organize themselves to use available resources to
cope with the different adverse effects of a disaster. This entails
resource management, both in times of normalcy and during
crises or adverse situations. In general, building capacity to cop
with disasters makes people more resilient in the face of both
natural and man-made hazards. This has a gender dimension,
given that men and women may have similar or different
capacities depending on whether they can gain access to and us
of available resources.
Capacity building Efforts targeting the development of human skills or the
infrastructure of a society in a given community or organization
necessary to reduce the level of risk.
 CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere

 CARICOM Caribbean Community
Carrying Capacity – The maximum number of a given organism, or population, that a

particular environment can sustain.
Catastrophe Similar to disaster, but indicative instead of a situation

of maximum or extreme loss.
 CBM Christian Blind Mission

 CBO Community-based organisation
 CCAT Cross Cluster Assessment of Trends
 CCCM Camp Coordination Camp Management
 CCPR = International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm
 CCSDPT Co-ordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand
 CCTRS = Corail Cesselesse Temporary Resettlement Site
 CD Country Director
 CDA Capital Development Authority
 CDAC Communications with Disaster Affected Communities
 CDC = (US) Center for Disease Control and Prevention
 CDGRD . . . . . . . . . . . Provincial Committee for Risk and Disaster Management
 CD-ROM Compact Disc Read-only memory
 CEB Chief Executives Board of the UN
 CENDEP = Oxford Brookes University’s Centre for Development and
Emergency Practice
 CEP Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council
 CEPAL Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe
 CERF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Central Emergency Relief Fund
 CES Centre d’Education Spéciale (National NGO for Special Education)
 CFR = Case Fatality Rate
 CFS Child Friendly Spaces or Child Friendly Schools (You would think a school
for children, by definition, should be child-friendly, however this not the case in
Haiti, due to a lack of standards enforcement, and quake damage. 90% Haiti
schools are private.)
 CFSAM Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission
 CFU = Colony Forming Unity (faecal coliforms)
 CFW Cash for Work
 CFSAM crop and food security assessment mission
 CHAP = Common Humanitarian Action Plan
 CHIC Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti
Cholera – See Al Mac research document on Haiti’s Cholera outbreak which started
2010 October in the Arbonite River Valley. Of interest to this Glossary might be the
different ways the disease might suddenly appear in a nation, after being apparently absent
for 40 years, then once it has arrived, there are many ways for it to spread. You don’t catch
it by breathing air of an infected person, or touching them while they are alive, or touching
same objects they touched, you catch it by the infection going into your mouth. However,
the way you touch them, can then mean the bacteria is on your hands, which you can handle
stuff which will later go in your mouth.
Human Carrier: Typically only 25% of the people, who carry the bacteria in their gut,
even show the symptoms, so someone in a region of the world, which has the epidemic,
might travel to a region of the world which does not yet have it. If there is poor sanitation
there, the human waste products (toilet # 2) can get into the food chain to other humans.
Contaminated Water: Food prepared or washed using water which has the cholera
bacteria, will deliver the bacteria to whoever eats that food. That water could have been
contaminated by a carrier or marine life. If you bathe in contaminated water, and some of it
gets into your mouth, you just caught cholera.
Marine Life: Cholera bacteria is carried in a variety of plankton and sea food. It can
remain dormant for decades, then “bloom” in the appropriate climate conditions, like those
recently for Haiti.
Animal Carrier: Farm Animals do not get this disease, but they carry the bacteria in their
gut, so if food is not properly cooked, all sorts of problems can be communicated.
Insects may carry vibrio cholerae and deposit it on food, water or other surfaces that
humans come in contact with and subsequently contract cholera, when their living
conditions involve poor sanitation.
Dead Bodies which died of cholera: Someone who has died of cholera is covered
with the vibrio, and anyone touching the body without adequate knowledge about self
protection and good hygiene is at risk of infection!!!!!
During the last moments of life people in the advanced stages of this illness are losing
bodily fluids from intestinal reflux and diarrhea. These bodily fluids contain the vibrio
and these fluids, as well as any other moist surface upon which they are found including
the body, are infectious until that body is properly disinfected and all external orfices to
the gastrointestinal system 'plugged' with chlorine saturated rags/sponges. Any one
touching or otherwise handling that body is subject to contamination and infection.
The clothes, bedding, floors, and all surfaces upon which these bodily fluids are found
are sources of infection!!!
Investigation of several cases during this outbreak including the very first clinical cases
in Lafito, revealed that the victims had not traveled to or within an area where cholera
was being reported, their only connection was that they had attended a funeral ceremony
for a cholera victim, shortly before becoming infected, and had laid hands on the body.
 CIAT = Gov of Haiti Presidential Executive Secretariat

 CIAT = International Center for Tropical Agriculture
 CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
 CILSS Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel
 CIMO = Haiti equivalent of SWAT within National Police

 CINs = Cartes d’identité nationale = Haiti voter identity cards
 CIOB Chartered Institute of Building
 CIRH Commission for the Interim Reconstruction of Haiti
Climate change The climate of a place or region changes when, over a long
period (generally decades or longer), significant and irreversibl
trends are observed from a statistical standpoint that are beyond
a reasonable doubt. Climate change may arise from natural
and/or man-made atmospheric processes that span long periods
It should be noted that, in the context of the United Nations
Convention on Climate Change, the definition of climate chang
is narrower, given that it applies only to changes directly or
indirectly attributable to human activity. In essence, climate
change seems to be linked to an increase in greenhouse gas
emissions, although greenhouse gas emissions occur naturally.
As a result, the global temperature appears to be rising.
Information currently available is not enough to allow for an
understanding of the scope of regional and local effects.
Climate variability This term refers to all atmospheric processes that are cyclical in
nature and are linked to physiography and hydrometeorology. I
can be described from the standpoint of physics and
mathematics. It pertains to the factors and parameters governin
the climate, with individual cases and differences, hence the
reason it is called climate variability. For example, tropical
cyclones (depressions, storms, hurricanes), as low pressure
vortices, vary each season in terms of their intensity, number,
and path. To date, there is no clear-cut evidence that man is
capable of influencing this phenomenon.
 CLTS = Community-Led Total Sanitation
Cluster Approach :- Concept of partnership between UN agencies, the

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, international organizations, and
NGOs, within a related industry. Partners work together towards agreed common
humanitarian objectives at global and field level to facilitate inter-agency
complementarily by maximizing resources.
o Twelve Clusters are: Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items, Camp
Coordination and Camp Management, Education, Food, Logistics, Nutrition,
Protection, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Agriculture, Early Recovery,
Emergency Telecommunications, and Health.
o Many of the clusters have sub-cluster further specialization.
o Decentralized cluster mechanisms cover regions outside of Port-au-Prince.
o Logistics/Telecommunications, Health, Emergency Shelter, WASH, and
Nutrition clusters are active in the Dominican Republic.
o From time to time some clusters are merged, or proposed to merge, within
some disaster, such as: Shelter & non-food items; Agriculture & Nutrition.
o When unique circumstances warrant, such as severe weather, the cholera
epidemic, new clusters are formed to deal with those circumstances.
 CMAM Community Management of Acute Malnutrition

 CMO Camp Management Operations
 CMU Carnegie Mellon Univ
 CNGRD. . . . . . . . . . . National Committee for Risk and Disaster Management
 CNIGS National GIS cartography, including department level
 CNSA Commission Nationale sur la Sécurité Alimentaire (National Commission on
Food Security)
 CO Country Officer
 COFCOR Permanent Committee of Foreign Ministers
“Complicated” sounds to an American audience like someone being slippery or

evasive or talking down to the simple, genuine, honest people who just want a straight
answer,2 even when it really is complicated. The real world is complicated. It always has
been. Politics are complicated, as are issues of race; ethnicity; culture; religion; and
humanitarian aid work.
 CONANI Dominican republic National Child Protection Authority
Consultation – An exchange of information, comments, ideas and suggestions.

Consultation outputs are considered as inputs for decision-making; they should be taken
into account, but need not determine decisions.
 CoPs Communities of Practice
Corporate Response – a crisis is so severe that an entire UN agency needs to address it,
not just some specialized portion.
 COU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Centre for Emergency Operations

 COVs = (Haiti Voting) Centres des opérations de vérification
Coverage: The average number of times a nucleotide in a sequenced genome is covered

by reads generated by the sequencing instrument. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 CP Child Protection
 CP Contingency Plan
 CPA Crime Pattern Analysis
 CPC Climate Prediction Center
 CPI consumer price index
 CPIO. Comité Permanent Inter Organisations (French abbreviation for the IASC)
 CPRS Child Protection Referral System
 CRC = UNICEF Convention on Rights of the Child
http://www.unicef.org/crc/
 CRC = Crisis Response Cell
 CRD = Coordination and Response Division
 CRED Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
2
“Simple” in American Culture.
 CRM Complaints and Response Mechanism
CRO = A center of oral rehydration: with staff non-

medical in a neighborhood or camp: made the rehydrating oral and decontamination, to
serve Cholera victims. Need for staff minimum 3 persons, including one for ensuring
decontamination. Need to organize the home visit of the sick and the IEC to the
community.
 CRS Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/haiti/

 CRWRC Christian Reformed Church World Relief http://crwrc.org
 CSC Coordination Support Committee
 CSCCA = Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes
 CSI Coping Strategy Index, eg. Food security, waterproof shelter, police
protection that works
 CSTD = UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development
 CT Cholera Toxin
 CT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Technical Committee of the International Community
CTC = Center for the Treatment of Cholera: a

center set up for the treatment of cholera with a staff recruited for this 40 to 300 beds which
receives the sick suspects of cholera. In the case ideal, there are tents for rehydration iv and
tents or rooms for the phase of re-convalescensce. Capable of processing of complications
such as pulmonary edema. Open 24 on 24/ 7 on 7. Receives the sick, who come
spontaneously,and cases referred to it. Staff: doctors, nurses, sanitizer, agents for preparation
of chlorine solutions, guardian, etc..3
 CTP Cash Transfer Programme
CTX phage: A filamentous bacteriophage that encodes cholera toxin, the principal virulence factor of Vibrio
cholerae. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 CWG Cash Working Group

 CWGER = Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery
 CWS Church World Service
 D2 = Senior Leader of UN OCHA

 DAC OECD Development Assistance Committee
 DAD Development Assistance Database
3
Also http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Cholera+Treatment+Center
 DanChurchAid http://www.danchurchaid.org/ is a Denmark faith

based NGO.
 DCF Development Cooperation Forum
 DCHA = US Bureau for Democracy Conflict Humanitarian

Assistance
Debris – what can be in a Disaster Debris Pile?

Dead bodies, and body parts
E-wastes such as computers, telephones and TVs
“White goods” such as refrigerators, washing machines, dryers
Hazardous materials such as bleach
Radioactive materials from hospitals, industries and
laboratories
Explosive gases from households, hospitals, industries
Petroleum products from gas stations, power plants
PCBs from transformers
Ammunition from houses, army camps and police stations
Disaster Rescue workers waste products, without garbage pickup
 DEC Disasters Emergency Committee (of Britain)
Deletion (mutation): A mutation involving the loss of genetic material

which can be small, involving a single missing DNA base pair, or large, involving a piece
of a chromosome. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
Départements (10) of Haiti, administrative jurisdictions similar to states or provinces. Four

of these departments received almost 400,000 of the initial over 500,000 displaced: Artibonite
(capital: Gonaïves), Centre (capital: Hinche), Grande Anse (capital: Jérémie) and Nippes (capital:
Miragoâne). This according to the Red X. Later figures said 600,000 to 700,000 displaced inside
Haiti, and 200,000 crossed border into Dominican Republic.
Haiti is about same size as US state of Maryland.
The 10 departments can be compared to States in the USA , all smaller than US
states, much bigger than US counties.
Departments are subdivided into up to 10 Arrondissements
(think of them as like US counties). There are a total of 420 of them.
Arrondissements are further sub-divided into Communes, which are like metropolitan areas, rural
communities, etc. Then the Communes are divided into smaller sections, like city neighborhoods,
small towns, villages. More info and links here.
 DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UN
Destruction (damage) Negative impact on property, capital, infrastructure on any

other type of physical structure (including natural structures)
resulting from an external event such as a disaster.
 DFID UK-Britain Department for International Development

 DGS: Direction du génie scolaire
 DHS Demographic and Health Survey
 DINEPA Direction Nationale de l’Eau Potable (National Unit for WASH Water and
Sanitation)
Disaster – A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing

widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability
of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Major disruption in the
functioning of a community or society, when human, material, economic or environmental losses must be
addressed with resources originally earmarked for development. A disaster is the materialization of risk. It
is the result of the complex combination of a hazard and the manifestation of vulnerability, when
preventive capacities or measures are inadequate to mitigate the negative effects of risk.
 DISI Development Information Services International
Displaced persons – persons who, for different reasons or circumstances,

have been compelled to leave their homes. They may or may not reside in their country
of origin, but are not necessarily regarded legally as refugees.
 DM = Disaster Management
DNA library: The collection of templates generated from a single DNA sample —
in this case, from purified genomic DNA sheared to a target size of 2 kb. Each template is a
double-stranded DNA template capped by hairpin loops at both ends. (Tracing Cholera
around the world.)
DNA polymerase: An enzyme that catalyzes the polymerization of

deoxyribonucleotides into a DNA strand, best known for its role in DNA replication, in
which the polymerase “reads” an intact DNA strand as a template and uses it to synthesize
the new strand. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 DOCX cannot be opened with Al’s XP Word 2003. It needs Word 2007 access.
 DPA Darfur Peace Agreement
 DPC = Haiti Department of Civil Protection (Police) Civil Protection Directorate
 DPKO = UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations
 DPT3 Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus vaccine
 DTM Displaced Tracking Matrix
 DR Dominican Republic
 DR Disaster Reduction, which tends to be more logical
 DRC Danish Refugee Council
 DRC Democratic Republic of Congo
 DRI Direct Relief International
 DRLA Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy
 DRR Disaster Risk Reduction, which tends to be more physical
 DRSS Disaster
Response Support Service of Bioforce and RedR
within SPHERE project
 DSNCRP Document de Stratégie Nationale pour la Croissance et pour la
Réduction de la Pauvreté (PRSP Document)
 DSSE Department Sanitaire du Sud-Est
 DSRSG Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
 DSNCRP. . . . . . . . . . . National Strategy for Growth & Poverty
Reduction Paper
 DTM = Displacement Tracking Matrix = where the people end up in what
numbers
 DyHoO = Deputy Head of Office
 DWG Disability Working Group
 DWR Disaster Waste Recovery
 EAD Economic Affairs Division
Early recovery – Recovery that begins early in a humanitarian setting. Early recovery is
not intended as a separate phase within the relief-development continuum, but rather as
an effort to strengthen the effectiveness of the linkage. Early recovery encompasses
livelihoods, shelter, governance, environment and social dimensions (such as HIV/Aids
and gender equality as cross-cutting issues), including the re-integration of displaced
populations…
Earthquake Scales … there are several. Here is Modified Mercalli Scale

(Richter, 1958)
MMI value Description

I Not felt. Marginal and long period effects of large earthquakes
II Felt by persons at rest, on upper floors, or favorably placed
III Felt indoors. Hanging objects swing. Vibration like passing
of light trucks. Duration estimated. May not be recognized as
an earthquake
IV Hanging objects swing. Windows, dishes, doors rattle.
Vibration like passing of heavy trucks; or sensation of a jolt
like a heavy ball striking the walls. Standing motor cars rock.
Glasses clink. Crockery clashes. In the upper range of IV,
wooden walls and frame creak
V Pictures move. Felt outdoors; direction estimated. Sleepers
wakened. Liquids disturbed, some spilled. Small unstable
objects displaced or upset. Doors swing, close, open. Shutters,
pictures move. Pendulum clocks stop, start, change rate
VI Objects Fall. Felt by all. Many frightened and run outdoors.
Persons walk unsteadily. Windows, dishes, glassware broken.
Knickknacks, books, etc., off shelves. Pictures off walls.
Furniture moved or overturned. Weak plaster and masonry D
cracked. Small bells ring (church, school). Trees, bushes
shaken (visibly or heard to rustle)
VII Nonstructural Damage. Difficult to stand. Noticed by drivers
of motor cars. Hanging objects quiver. Furniture broken.
Damage to masonry D, including cracks. Weak chimneys
broken at roof line. Fall of plaster, loose bricks, stones, tiles,

cornices (also unbraced parapets and architectural ornaments.
Some cracks in masonry C. Waves on ponds; water turbid with
mud. Small slides and caving in along sand or gravel banks.
Large bells ring. Concrete irrigation ditches damaged
VIII Moderate Damage. Steering of motor cars affected. Damage
to masonry C; partial collapse. Some damage to masonry B.
none to masonry A. Fall of stucco and some masonry walls.
Twisting, fall of chimneys, factory stacks, monuments, towers,
elevated tanks. Frame houses moved on foundations if not
bolted down; Loose panel walls thrown out. Decayed piling
broken off. Branches broken from trees. Changes in flow or
temperature of springs and wells. Cracks in wet ground and on
steep slopes
IX Heavy Damage. General panic. Masonry D destroyed;
masonry C heavily damaged, sometimes with complete
collapse; masonry B seriously damaged. (General damage to
foundations.) Frame structures if not bolted, shifted off
foundations. Frames racked. Serious damage to reservoirs.
Underground pipes broken. Conspicuous cracks in ground. In
alluvial areas sand and mud ejected, earthquake fountains,
sand craters
X Extreme Damage. Most masonry and frame structures
destroyed with their foundations. Some well-built wooden
structures and bridges destroyed. Serious damage to dams,
dikes, embankments. Large landslides. Water thrown on banks
of canals, rivers, lakes, etc. Sand and mud shifted horizontally
on beaches and flat land. Rails bent slightly.
XI Rails bent greatly. Underground pipelines completely out of
service
XII Damage nearly total. Large rock masses displaced. Lines of
sight and level distorted. Objects thrown into the air
 EC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . European Commission

 ECD Early Childhood Development
 ECHO European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office
 ECLAC UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribbean
Ecologically sensitive area – Habitats such as wetlands, aquifer recharge zones,

important wildlife habitats and so forth which are, or might be, sensitive to degradation or
destruction by human activities.
 ECOSOC Economic and Social Council of the UN
Ecosystem – A functional unit consisting of all the living organisms (plants, animals and
microbes) in a given area, as well as the non-living physical and chemical factors of their
environment, linked together through nutrient cycling and energy flow. An ecosystem
can be of any size – a log, pond, field, forest, or the Earth’s biosphere – but it always
functions as a whole unit. Ecosystems are commonly described according to the main
type of vegetation (e.g. forest ecosystem, old-growth ecosystem or range ecosystem).
Ecosystem integrity – The degree to which the fundamental ecological processes (e.g.
water and nutrient cycling, the flow of energy and biodiversity) are maintained.
Ecosystem services – The benefits which an ecosystem provides, which include

storing water, preventing soil erosion, nutrient recycling and serving as a source of
genetic diversity.
 EDAT = Earthquake Disaster Assistance Team

 EDH Electricity Haiti
 EFA Education for All
 EFSA Emergency Food Security Assessment
 EID Early Infant Diagnosis
 EIS Emergency Information System
 E-JOC. Extended Joint Operations Center
 ELDA the Evaluations/European and
Language Resources Distribution Agency
 EM-DAT Emergency Disasters Data Base
 Emergency Disasters Data Base website. Belgium: EM-DAT, CRED, University
of Louvain. http://www.em-dat.net/disasters/list/php
Emergency (or disaster) management Organization and management of resources and responsibilities
in the handling of all emergency matters, in particular
preparedness, response, and rehabilitation. Emergency
management involves the plans, structures, and arrangements
established to jumpstart the regular activities of government or
volunteer agencies, as well as the private sector, in a
comprehensive and coordinated matter, so as to respond to the
entire spectrum of emergency needs. This process is also know
as disaster management.
 EMMA = Emergency Market Mapping Analysis

 EMMUS Enquete de morbiditie, mortalite et utilisation des services
 EMOPS UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programmes


 ENA Environmental Needs Assessment
 ENAT Environmental Needs Assessment Team
 ENG = English
Environmental Consequences – think check list of what needs to be dealt with.
Environmental Consequences of Landslide
 Damaged infrastructure as a possible secondary environmental threat,

e.g. leakage from fuel storage facilities Secondary impacts by temporarily
displaced people
 Impacts associated with reconstruction and repair to damaged

infrastructure (e.g. deforestation, quarrying, waste pollution)
 PEOPLE CONSEQUENCES include
o getting buried & maybe killed
o critical roads blocked
Environmental Consequences of an Earthquake
 Loss of productive systems, e.g. agriculture

 Damage to natural landscapes and vegetation
 Possible mass flooding if dam infrastructure weakened or destroyed, or
drainage canals filled with debris
 Waste accumulation – additional waste disposal sites required
 Secondary impacts by temporarily displaced people
e.g. leakage from fuel storage facilities
o Being in or near a building that falls down & maybe killed or
maimed
o Loss of critical infrastructure
Environmental Consequences of Volcanic Eruption

(There are many active volcanoes in the Americas)
 Loss of productive landscape and crops being buried by ash and

pumice
 Forest fires as a result of molten lava
 Loss of wildlife following gas release
 Secondary flooding should rivers or valleys be blocked by lava flow
e.g. leakage from fuel storage facilities Impacts associated with
reconstruction and repair to damaged infrastructure (e.g. deforestation,
quarrying, waste pollution)
o Get out of way, or get killed … ash can also be deadly
Environmental Consequences of any Hurricane/Cyclone/Typhoon

 Loss of vegetation cover and wildlife habitat

 Short-term heavy rains and flooding inland
 Mud slides and soil erosion
 Saltwater intrusion to underground fresh water reservoirs
 Soil contamination from saline water
 Damage to offshore coral reefs and natural coastal defense
mechanisms
 Waste (some of which may be hazardous) and debris accumulation
o Get out of way, or get killed
Environmental Consequences of Flood
 Ground water pollution through sewage overflow, health implications

with mosquitos
 Loss of crops, livestock and livelihood security
 Excessive siltation may affect certain fish stocks
 River bank damage from erosion
 Water and soil contamination fertilizers used
 Beneficial sedimentation in floodplains or close to river banks
o Serious damage to critical infrastructure
o Roads blocked
Environmental Consequences of Tsunami
 Ground water pollution through sewage overflow

 Saline incursion and sewage contamination of groundwater reservoirs
 Loss of productive fisheries and coastal forest/plantations
 Destruction of coral reefs
 Coastal erosion and/or beneficial deposition of sediment on
beaches/small islands
 Marine pollution from back flow of wave surge
 Soil contamination
 Loss of crops and seed banks

 Waste accumulation – additional waste disposal sites required
Environmental Consequences of Drought
 Loss of surface vegetation.

 Loss of biodiversity
 Forced human displacement.
 Loss of livestock and other productive systems.
Environmental Consequences of Epidemic
 Forced human displacement
 Loss of productive economic systems
 Introduction of new species
Environmental Consequences of Forest Fires (Haiti safe from this for a while)
 Loss of forest and wildlife habitat

 Loss of ecosystem services
 Loss of productive crops
 Soil erosion
 Secondary encroachment for settlement or agriculture
 EO Executive Office
 EPF Emergency Programme Fund
 EPI Expanded Programme of Immunisation
Epidemic = the occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness (or an

outbreak) with a frequency clearly in excess of normal expectancy”.
The public health community has not settled on a solid definition of ‘outbreak’ except in a
very broad sense, which means many people are using ‘outbreak’ and ‘epidemic’
interchangeably.
Pandemic is when it is happening in multiple nations. In Al Mac opinion, cholera is now

a pandemic, since multiple nations of Africa and Asia have it out-of-control.
Also see infectious disease impact scale (IDIS).
 EQ Earth Quake
 ER = Early Recovery (part of IASC Cluster System)
 ERC Emergency Response Coordinator
 ERF Emergency Relief Coordinator
 ERRF Emergency Relief Response Fund
 ERT Emergency Response Team
 ESC emergency shelter and transitional shelter
 ESD Education for Sustainable Development
 ERR Emergency Response Roster
 ERRA Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority
 ERRF Emergency Response Relief Fund
 ERUs Emergency Response Units
 ETA = Estimated Time of Arrival
 ETC Emergency Telecommunications Cluster
 ETF Emergency task Force
 EU = European Union
 EU-MIC European Civil Protection Mechanism
 EU/JRC European Union’s Joint Research Centre
Extremely Vulnerable Groups comprise:
a. Female- and Child-headed households

b. Households of six or more, with four children of school age
c. Physically and mentally disabled
d. Elderly
 FAI FilmAid International
 FACT Field Assessment and Coordination Team

 FADH Haitian Armed Forces (none exist, but some people have called for replacing the UN
troops in Haiti, with such)
 FAO UN Food and Agriculture Organization, HQ in Rome Italy
 FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions

 FB = Facebook, a social network
 FCR = Free Chlorine Residual
 FCS food consumption score
 FCS Funding Coordination Section
 Federation International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies
 FEWS NET. Famine Early Warning System Network
 FGD Focus group discussion
 FH Food for Hungry http://fhrelief.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/launch-of-fh-haiti/
 FIGO/SOGC International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics
First-generation sequencing technologies: A DNA

sequencing approach developed by Frederick Sanger in 1975 in which different-sized
fragments of DNA are generated, each starting from the same location and ending with a
particular base, and labeled with an indicator corresponding to that base. All fragments are
distributed in the order of their length by means of capillary electrophoresis. The DNA
sequence is then revealed by the relative position, and the color, of each fragment.
(Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 FOKAL Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète (National NGO on Education and Culture)

 Fondefh Fondation pour le Développement de la Famille Haïtienne
 FOSREF Fondation pour la Sante Reproductive et l’Education Familiale
 FP focal persons
 FPGL Fondation Paul Gérin Lajoie (International Development NGO)
 FPU = Formed Police Units, supplied by individual nations to work in UN missions
 FPGL Fondation Paul Gérin Lajoie (International Development NGO)
 FR = French
 FRC Federal Relief Commission
 FSNAU Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit
 FTR family tracing and reunification
 FTS Financial Tracking System
 FY Fiscal Year

 G77 Group of 77 Developing Nations
 GACI. =. International Coordination Support Group
 GAM Global Acute malnutrition
 GAM Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement)
 GARR Support Group for the Repatriated and Refugees or Groupe d’appui aux
Réfugiés et Rapatriés
 GAVI Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
 GBV Gender Based Violence
 GCMS Geographical coordination and Monitoring Section
 GCST = The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, organized thru UN-Habitat
advocates housing rights for everyone
 GCUG = The Global Campaign on Urban Governance, organized thru UN-
Habitat
 GDP Gross Domestic Product

 GEMAP Governance and Economic Management Assistance Plan
 GenCap Gender Standby Capacity Project
Gender Specific roles, responsibilities, needs, functions, and interests o

women and men, generally based on social influence and
specific to a given culture, but different, however, from the
concepts of gender that refer to the biological differences
between men and women, or to sexual orientation.
Gender analysis Assessment process of specific, socially influenced differences
between men and women that are learned, change over time, an
vary from one country to another.
Gender dimension of a disaster Different effects on and roles of men and women when a disast
occurs. A more complex analysis of gender will also take into
account the varying impacts of disasters on different groups, in
particular the elderly, infants and children, and persons having
special or physical disabilities.
Gender-based needs assessment Process by which the specific needs of women, girls, men, and
boys are identified.
Genomic island: A region of the chromosome that is thought to have been

acquired by horizontal gene transfer but is no longer mobile. (Tracing Cholera around the
world.)
 GET World Bank Global Expert Team

 GFDRR Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery
 GHD Good Humanitarian Donorship Initiative
 GHESKIO Groupe Haïtien d’Etudes de Sarcome de Kaposi et
d’Infections Opportunistes (National NGO on HIV/AIDS)
 GIA Governor’s Island Agreement
 GIEWS Global Information and Early-Warning System
 GIS Geographical Information System
 GoH Government of Haiti
 GNI Gross National Income
 GNP Gross National Product
 GPS Global Positioning System
 GPOI Global Peace Operations Initiative (military peacekeeping)
 GRT Global Relief Technologies
 GSA Guided Self-Assessment
 GTEF Groupe de Travail pour l’Éducation et la Formation (Presidential
Commission on Education and Training)
 GVA Geneva
 GVB Gender Based Violence
 HAC Humanitarian Aid Commission

 HAF Humanitarian Accountability Framework
 HAO Humanitarian Affairs Officer

 HAP = Humanitarian Accountability Partnership
 HAP team HAP Roving Team
 HAVEN House and community building charity
Hazard Physical circumstance or event, natural process, or human

activity which, having attained or exceeded a specific intensity,
poses a potential danger in terms of the loss of human life,
injury, or damage to social and economic goods or
environmental degradation. Hazards include latent conditions
that may pose a danger in the future, arising from a variety of
sources: natural processes (geological, hydrometeorological,
biological, etc.) or man-made processes (environmental
degradation, technological dangers, etc.). Hazards may be
individual, joint, sequential, or combined in terms of their
origins and effect
 HC Haiti Commission
 HC Humanitarian Coordinator
 HC/RC = Humanitarian Coordinator/Resident Coordinator
 HCT Humanitarian Country Team
 HDC Humanitarian & Development Coordinator
 HDI Human Development Index
HEAS Haiti Epidemic Advisory System

500+ members, which includes international NGOs, UN agencies, USG agencies, private
individuals, unaffiliated charitable organizations, and journalists facilitated by operational
biosurveillance analysts. The analysts provide a "switchboard" tactical function with
over 10 years' experience in the domain, having participated in forecast, detection, and
early warning of nearly 250k infectious disease events in every country of the world
(including Antarctica) across 43 languages. We are the same team (ex-Veratect) that
provided warning of the Mexico crisis to CDC and WHO, later recognized to be the 2009
H1N1 influenza pandemic.4
Check out their Haiti Operational Bio-Surveillance site.5
 HEDR = Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief, a discussion group on Linked In

 HELP ACT Haiti Economic Lift Program (facilitate export to USA
clothing manufactured in Haiti)
4
Info provided by Dr. James Wilson V, MD, Executive Director of Praecipio International
5
http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/haiti_operational_biosurv/
 HERME Harmonized Emergency Risk Management Initiative

 HFA Hyogo Framework for Action (on disaster risk reduction)
 HI. =. Handicap International
 HIC Humanitarian Information Centre
 HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
 HLCC High Level Coordination Committee
 HNMC = Haitian National Meteorology Center (weather forecasts)
 HNP Haitian National Police
 HNRCS Haitian National Red Cross Society
 HODR Hands on Disaster Relief
 HoO Head of Office
A household comprises all those sharing one hearth.
 HP Hygiene Promotion cluster

 HPN = Humanitarian Practice Network
 HQ Headquarters
 HRC Haiti Response Coalition
 HRC. Haitian Red Cross
 HRCS Haitian Red Cross Society
 HRD Hurricane Research Division
 HRP Haiti Recovery Platform
 HRS Human Rights Section of MINUSTAH (UN military in Haiti)
 HTPC Haiti Operations Center
 HUG Haiti Under God
 HWTSS Hygiene, Water Treatment, and Safe Storage
 HX = Humanitarian Exchange
Hygiene Improved Practice includes safe water storage, treatment,

and handling.
Hyper-recombinant chromosomal elements: Regions in a

chromosome in which recombination occurs significantly more frequently than the average
rate of recombination over the entire genome. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 IAAC Independent Audit Advisory Committee of UN

 IADB Inter-American Development Bank
 IARTE Inter-Agency real time Evaluation
 IASC UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee
 IBESR Institut de Bien-Etre Social et de Recherches (MoSA’s Institute on Social

Welfare and Research)
 IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
 ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization HQ in Montreal

Canada
 ICC International Criminal Court is apart from the UN
 ICC Inter-cluster coordination
 ICCO Interchurch Organisation for Development Co operations
 ICD International Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Finance and
National Economy
 ICF Interim Cooperation Framework
 ICJ International Court of Justice of the UN, located at The Hague,
Netherlands
 ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross
 ICRH Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti
 ICSID International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
 ICT Information Communication Technology
 ICVA International Council of Voluntary Agencies
 IDA International Development Association

 IDB Inter-American Development Bank
 IDB Islamic Development Bank

 IDEJEN Initiative pour le développment des jeunes
 IDNDR International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction
 IDP Internal Displaced People (refugees within home nation)
 IDPSS Internally Displaced Persons Surveillance System
 IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development HQ Rome

Italy
 IFC International Finance Corporation

 IFES International Foundation for Electoral Systems
 IFIs International Finance Institutions
 IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
 IGP Income generating project
 IHCR Interim Haiti Recovery Commission
 IHE Institut Haïtien de l’Enfance (National Haitian Child Institute)
 IHP International Humanitarian Platform
 IHSI Institut Haitien de Statistiques (National Institute of Statistics)
 IIA Institute of Internal Auditors
 IIRO International Islamic Relief Organisation
 IJDH = Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
 ILAS Institute of Latin American Studies
 ILF International Lifeline Funds

 IM = Information Management
 IMAGE Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity
 IMC International Medical Corps
 IMCI Integrated Management of Childhood Illness
 IMEP Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
 IMF International Monetary Fund
 IMO Information Management Officer
 IMPP Integrated Mission Planning Process Working Group
 IMR Infant Mortality Rate
 INEE Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies
Infectious Disease Impact Scale (IDIS), from Haiti Operational Bio-

surveillance:
 IDIS Category 0. Unreported infectious disease event. Daily, routine

infectious diseases are handled at this level, and provision of warning
about these diseases is not deemed ‘relevant’. It is likely there are multiple
unreported cholera cases now inside Port-au-Prince, for instance, and in
Artibonite and perhaps elsewhere.
 IDIS Category 1. Reported infectious disease event. The typical Category
1 infectious disease event reported by a community reflects a sensitivity to
public health or medical significance. No other significant features
indicative of immediate public health or medical infrastructure impact,
public anxiety, or civil unrest triggered by the event are noted.
 IDIS Category 2. Infectious disease event associated with routine
organized response. Category 2 events often reflect locally well-known
diseases that nevertheless generate a demand for organization-level time-
sensitive action. This action is local routine.
 IDIS Category 3. Infectious disease event associated with non-routine
organized response. Category 3 events are essentially the beginnings of a
community crisis.
 IDIS Category 4. Infectious disease event associated with social
disruption. Category 4 events highlight when organized response has
occurred, yet significant social disruption has been documented.
 IDIS Category 5. Infectious disease event associated with disaster
indicators.
 IDIS Category 6. Infectious disease event associated with apocalyptic indicators.
This is an operationally rare finding, associated historically with Ebola and Nipah
virus outbreaks. We do not consider this category to represent a likely scenario in
Haiti.
Also see Epidemic.

 I-NGO International NGO (non-government organization)
Insertion (mutation): A type of mutation involving the addition of

genetic material that can be small, involving a single extra DNA base pair, or large,
involving a piece of a chromosome. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 INSTRAW International
Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women
Integrative and conjugative element: A self-

transmissible mobile genetic element that has plasmidlike and phagelike features; it is
transferred through conjugation, and once it is transmitted, it integrates into the
chromosome of the new host. Integrative and conjugative elements are increasingly
recognized as contributing to lateral gene flow in prokaryotes. (Tracing Cholera around
the world.)
 INTOSAI UN Working Group Accountability for Audit of Disaster-Related Aid

 IO International organisations
 IOM International Organization for Migration
 IPC Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
 IRC International Rescue Committee
 IRD International Relief and Development http://www.ird-dc.org/
IRDWG Inclusion, Rehabilitation, Disability Working Group
 IRIN Integrated Regional Information Network

 ISDR International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
 ISF Integrated Strategic
 IT Information Technology
 ITC International Trade Center
 ITU International Telecommunication Union HQ Geneva Switzerland
 IYCF Infant and young child feeding
 JCICS Joint Council on international children’s services

 JCRM Joint Complaints and Response Mechanism
 JEN Japan Emergency NGOs
 JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency
 JIU Joint Inspection Unit (oversight body of the United Nations
system)
 JMAC Joint Mission Analysis Center of the UN Police
 JOTC Joint Operations and Tasking Center
 JPHRO Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organisation
 JRS Jesuit Refugee Service
 JTF Joint Task Force (US military)
 KID Convention for Democratic Unity (Haiti political party)
 KII Key Informant Interviews

 KnWO Karenni National Women’s Organisation
 KOFAVIV Commission of Women Victim-to-Victim
 KORE-N Coordination to Rebuild the Nation (in Creole means ‘support us’)
 KYO Karen Youth Organisation
 LAS League of Arab States

 LC = Logistics Cluster of UN NGO relief efforts … transportation, military,
cargo handling, etc.
 LCU = Landing Craft Units (a unit, in UN context, means a vehicle for cargo)
 LET = Logistics Emergency Teams
 LI = Linked In, a social network for professionals
 LL Lessons Learnt
 LLH Life Line Haiti
 LLIN = Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets
 LOG = Logistics Operational Guide
Losses Decline in economic resources, including means of subsistence

(revenue, salaries, profit, private income), following damage
caused by an external event such as a disaster).
 LoU Letter of Understanding

 LRRD Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development
 LWF Lutheran World Federation
 LWR Lutheran World Relief
 MADRE Mouvement Alternatif pour la Décentralisation et la

Reconstruction
 Mairie is a French word meaning the Mayor's office, or the City Council.
 MAP Mangrove Action Project
 MapAction. Supporting humanitarian operations with real time mapping.
London: MapAction http://www.mapaction.org
 MARNDR. Ministry for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development
 MAST Ministère des Affaires Sociales et du Travail - Ministry of
Social Affairs
 MCM Municipality Cluster Mechanism

 MDG Millenium Development Goal
 MdM Médecins du Monde
 MDTF Multi-Donor Trust Fund

 M&E Monitoring and Evaluations
 MENFP: Ministère de l'éducation nationale et de la formation
professionnelle -Ministry of Education
 MERLIN Medical Emergency Relief International
o http://www.merlin-usa.org
 MHPSS Mental Health and psycho-social support
 MICAH Civilian Support UN Mission in Haiti
 MICS Multiple Cluster Inidator Survey
 MICT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ministry for the Interior and Territorial Entity
 MIGA Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
The ministries of the Haitian government are:

 Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development
 Ministry of Commerce and Industry
 Ministry of Finance and Economy
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cults
 Ministry of Information and Coordination
 Ministry of Interior and National Defense
 Ministry of Justice
 Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports
 Ministry of Planning and Foreign Aid
 Ministry of Public Health and Population
 Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications
 Ministry of Social Affairs
 MINUSTAH Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation d’Haïti (United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti) (UN Peacekeepers)
 MINUSTAH/ HDCS.Humanitarian and Development Coordination Section of MINUSTAH
 MINUSTAH/ HR. . . . Human Rights Section of MINUSTAH
 MIPONUH United Nations Civilian Police Mission
Mitigation Structural and non-structural measures applied to contain the

negative effects of natural, technological, and environmental
hazards.
Mitigation of Risk is a concept Al Mac is well familiar with in computer security

terms … we can predict in advance about some defenses being weak, because of lack of
corporate funding, and lot of successful attacks reported on similar installations, so we
have extra layers of defenses, alerts, extra human focus, where we most expect trouble.
In the area of natural disasters, there is excellent science on weather prediction,
geographical terrain known, past patterns of where tornados tend to go, based on shape
of hills, so it can be predicted in advance where flooding most likely. Earthquake science
cannot predict when next quake will arrive, but can give us pretty good idea where a risk
exists of one of what intensity, so that building codes there can specify how good
structures need to be to survive what is coming.
 MJPATN Mouvement des Jeunes pour Haïti Tout Neuf

 MJRPG Mouvement des Jeunes Révolutionnaires de Petit Goâve
 MJSP Ministère e de la Justice et de la Sécurité Publique - Ministry of Justice
 MLC Max Lock Centre
 MLVA Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis
 MNF Multi-National Force
Mobile elements: DNA elements, including plasmids, phages, and

integrative and conjugative elements, that are able to move from cell to cell. (Tracing
Cholera around the world.)
 MODEP Democratic Popular Movement (a Haiti Political Party)

 MoH Ministry of Health
 MoI Ministry of Interior
 MoM Meeting Minutes

 MoP Ministère de la Planification et de la Coopération Externe - Ministry of
Planning
 MoU Memorandum of Understanding
 Movement, the = the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red
Cross & Red Crescent Societies, and national societies
 MP Member of Parliament (Britain)
 MPCE Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation
 MPP Peasant Movement of Papay
 MRCs Migrant Resource Centres
 MRM Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism
 MSB Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
 MSF Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders)
 MSH Management Sciences for Health
 MSPP Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population - Ministry of Health
 MT Machine Translation (see
http://www.allenkeys2languages.org/creole-languages-and-
technologies/ for significance)
 MTPTC The Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications
 MUAC Middle Upper Arm Circumference
 MUDHA Movement of Dominican Women of Haitian Descent
 MYR Mid-Year Review
 NatCat Natural Catastrophes

 NATF Needs Assessment Task Force
 NCA Norwegian Church Aid
 NDBC US National Data Bouy Center
 NEP = New Emergencies Policy
Needs Humanitarian interventions in the areas of recovery and

development, required to close the gap between the shortages o
losses identified and the situation desired by victims in a post-
conflict or post-disaster situation. Total needs identified or note
at the local level can be summarized in a recovery framework
for a given sector or country.
Needs assessment This assessment, initiated by humanitarian agencies, entails the
identification of basic needs and what is lacking to meet these
needs (based on standards, taking into account vulnerabilities,
risks, and capacities) and the estimation of the external
assistance needed (beyond the community, province,
department, or country) to cover these shortages. Needs
assessment for recovery purposes (emergency or
comprehensive) and for development purposes calls for a
broader vision of needs covering institutional, policy-related,
and infrastructure areas.
 NFI.. Non-food Items

 NGO Non-Governmental Organizations
 NHC National Hurricane Center
 NIS National Statistical Institute
 NNF National Notario Foundation
 NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Nonsynonymous substitution: A substitution of one nucleotide base for

another in an open reading frame, resulting in a modified amino acid sequence. (Tracing
 NRC Norwegian Refugee Council

 NRC Nuclear (Energy) Regulatory Commission in USA
 NSGRP.National Strategy for Growth & Reduction of Poverty
 NSP Non-State Providers
 NWFP North-West Frontier Province
 NY New York
 NYC New York City
 OAS Organization of American States

 OBI Operation Blessing International
 OCEDAH Office of Community Education and Diversity Affairs
 OCHA United Nations Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs
 ODA Official Development Assistance
 ODG Overseas Development Group
 ODI = Overseas Development Institute, based in Britain

 ODVA Organization for the Development of the Artibonite Valley
 OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
 OECD-DAC Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development–
Development Assistance Committee
 OFDA. . . . . . . . . . . . . Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance
 OHA Official Humanitarian Assistance
 OHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
 OHFCOH = Operation Hope for Children of Haiti
 OIC Organisation of the Islamic Conference
 OIOS the Office of Internal Oversight Services for UN
 OLS Operation Lifeline Sudan
 OMS = "Organisation Mondiale de la Sante", or World Health Organization /
PAHO
 ONI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . National Identity Office
 OPC Office of the Protection of Citizens
Open reading frame: A polynucleotide sequence that begins with an

initiation (methionine ATG) codon and ends with a nonsense codon. All open reading
frames have the potential to encode a protein or polypeptide, although many may not
actually do so. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 OPS = Organization Panamericaine de la Sante ( French) -

Organizacion Panamericana de la Salud ( Spanish) ; English =PAHO
 OPS = Operations
 ORP = Oral Rehydration Post (Cholera Treatment)
Orphan: A child, both of whose parents are known to be dead.

 ORS Oral Rehydration Salts
 OSIG Office of the Secretary General of the UN
 OSOCC Onsite Operations and Coordination Centre
 OSZ Outside Shake zone
 OTF Operational Task Force
 OTPs Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centers
 PAI Programa Ampliado Imunizacion

 PADF Pan American Development Foundation
 PAHO Pan American Health Organization
Pandemic – see Epidemic
 PaP = Port au Prince, capital of Haiti

 PAPDA Platform for Alternative Development in Haiti
Participation – A process by which stakeholders are active and equal partners in

decision making, and may have shared ownership and control over project/programme
design and implementation (and also eventual evaluation).
 PBC Peace Building Commission

 PBR Programme Budget review
 PCA Partnership Cooperation Agreements
 PCNB Points de Conseil de Nutrition Pour les Bébés
 PCR Polymerase Chain Reaction
 PDA Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
 PCI Project Concern International http://www.projectconcern.org
 PDNA = Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery Framework
 PDSRSG Political Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General
PERT Diagram – Program Evaluation and Review Technique – a flow chart of inter-
relationships. Arrows, from one box to another, in this context indicate pre-requisites,
where progress in the pre-requisite will have astronomical benefit for the activity to
which the arrow points.
Haiti people need relief while we are waiting on permanent solutions to be implemented.
Haiti cannot resolve permanent housing without first solving: land ownership
documentation; and the rubble debris.
Making major progress with reforestation will do wonders for agriculture, stop soil
erosion, reduce pollution, and make hillsides less susceptible to mudslides. However,
there are green revolution pre-requisites to sustained reforestation.
An understanding of many such relationships, summarized in a PERT diagram, can help

prioritize building Haiti back better. Projects, which do not use such diagram techniques,
can either fail, or be massively more expensive than had they utilized such a system.
 Pesadev Perspectives pour la Santé et le Développement

 PFGE Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis
 PFII Permanent UN Forum on Indigenous Issues
 PIO Public Information Officer
 PM = Prime Minister
 PMCC = Project Management Coordination Cell
 PMTCT Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission
 PNH Police Nationale d’Haiti (Haiti National Police)
 PPE Personal Protective Equipment
 PPT Microsoft Power Point
 PRCS Pakistan Red Crescent Society
Private – Al Mac will now be appending this word to the end of downloaded files
naming from UN NGOs when Al sees terminology, similar to the following, associated
with the distribution of the documentation, or when Al presumes from context that this
applies. This kind of terminology was absent from all documents that Al Mac
downloaded for the first approx 100 days of UN NGO cluster reporting on Haiti activities,
then it began to appear sporadically.
The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments is

intended for specific individuals or entities, and may be confidential, proprietary
or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately, delete this message and do not disclose, distribute or copy it to any
third party or otherwise use this message. The content of this message does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the World Food Programme. Electronic
messages are not secure or error free and may contain viruses or may be delayed,
and the sender is not liable for any of these occurrences. The sender reserves the
right to monitor, record and retain electronic messages.
 ProCap. . . . . . . . . . . . Protection Standby Capacity Project

 PRODEP Community-Driven Development Project
Protected area – Portions of land protected by special restrictions and laws for the
conservation of the natural environment. They include large tracts of land set aside for
the protection of wildlife and its habitat; areas of great natural beauty or unique interest;
areas containing rare forms of plant and animal life; areas representing unusual geologic
formations; places of historic and prehistoric interest; areas containing ecosystems of
special importance for scientific investigation and study; and areas that safeguard the
needs of the biosphere.
 PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

 PSAE Prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation
 PSEA Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
 PSG Quality and Accountability Working Group (Peer Support Group)
PUICA = The Civil Registry Program (PUICA), is a project currently being implemented by the OAS
in Haiti to improve a digital civil registry system to normalize the situation aggravated by the catastrophe
that affected the country earlier in 2010, which led to the collapse of public offices and the lost of citizens'
identity cards. The program's immediate goal is to establish a system to update the electoral census for the
upcoming presidential and legislative elections in November. For more info see OAS news on Relief Web.
 PWYF = Publish What You Fund
 QCF Qatar Charitable Foundation

 QIP Quick Impact Project
 RAT Recovery Assessment Team

 RC Resident Coordinator
 RCRC Red Cross and Red Crescent
 RCS Red Cross/Crescent Society
Read: A polynucleotide sequence, typically on the order of 30 to 3000 nucleotides in

length, that is generated as output from the primary analysis of data from a sequencing run.
Read length: The total number of bases produced from a single molecule read.
Recovery comes after Rescue and Relief. The damaged infrastructure needs to
be rebuilt back better than it was before, so the people are less likely to suffer so
much in the next natural disaster.
 REDLAC
= Risk Emergency Disaster Working Group for Latin America and the Caribbean
 RedR (pronounced 'Red R') http://www.redr.org/ is an international NGO that
provides recruitment, training and support services for humanitarian professionals
across the world.
 Red X = Al Mac abbreviation for Red Cross
Rehabilitation – Different people use same terminology with somewhat different

meanings.
 The full, or at least partial, restoration of degraded landscapes and/or
impaired ecosystem services to their state prior, for example, to the land
being occupied as a site for transitional shelter for displaced people.
 Upgrading existing buildings to accommodate evolving needs, such as
support for disabled people, support for new kinds of telecommunications,
improve fire safety.
Rehabilitation Start of a post-crisis recovery process (disaster- or conflict-

related). Rehabilitation entails measures in-tended to restore to
the affected community, insofar as possible and as quickly as
possible, the pre-disaster quality of life in the areas of
governance, subsistence, shelter, the environment, and the
social sphere. This includes the reintegration of displaced
populations and human safety.
Relative fitness: The average number of progeny from one strain that
survive after one generation, as compared with the average number of progeny that survive
from competing strains. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
Relief typically comes after Rescue and before Recovery. Until damaged
infrastructure and economy can be rebuilt, the people need delivery of essential supplies
(medical, food, water, shelter) in such a way that it does not sabotage recovery (such as
killing the local agriculture by competing with capitalism to its destruction).
 RENHASSA National Haitian Network for Food Sovereignty and Food Security
Relocation Camps, for Haiti disaster victims, were designated “safer” areas than
where they were found at risk of flooding, mudslides, etc. where the “more risky” areas
could not be mitigated, or repaired. So the people at more risk were given some choices:
 Return to wherever they were before, if their homes now designated as safe, and
they were economically able to move there (pay the rent with their livelihoods
gone);
 Move in with some other host family, such as in rural areas, which were not
getting sufficient aid to displaced victims;
 Or move to the “safer” relocation camps.
Repeated DNA sequences: Stretches of DNA which repeat themselves

throughout a genome, either in tandem or interspersed along the genome; they can comprise
up to 50% or more of the DNA of an organism. Repeated DNA regions can code for an
end product, can have a structural function (such as telomeres), or can comprise sequences
with no known function. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
Rescue typically comes before Relief. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster,

there are people at extreme risk of dying, because they are buried by an earthquake,
mudslide, etc. need to be rapidly moved out of the way of a flood, may be infected with a
serious disease.
Resilience reflects the capacity of an affected community or system to withstand and even
become stronger from exposure to critical incidents or shock. Broad dimensions of resilience
include economic, social, physical and environmental characteristics. See :Social Resilience.”
 RICS Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

 RIH Haiti = Humanists International Network
 RINAH Rapid Initial Needs Assessment for Haiti
Risk Literal definitions:

PETIT LAROUSSE; 2009
Risk:
Masculine noun. (in Italian risco, from the Latin resecum,
something that cuts)
 Possibility or probability of an event viewed as negative or
damaging. The risks of war are increasing.
 Exposure to danger or an adverse event that is fairly likely to
occur: to run the risk of failure. A pilot who takes too many risk
 Engaging in an activity that could be advantageous, but whic
entails the possibility of danger: To have an appetite for risk.
 Possible harm or disaster covered by insurance companies in
return for a premium.
Summary: ―…Possible occurrence of an event that does not

depend entirely on the will of the parties and which may result
the loss of an object or any other kind of damage….”
Specific definitions: Risk:
 Possibility of damage likely to impact exposed elements,
depending on their characteristics, situation, conditions, and
spatiotemporal context; consequences and causes are not alway
predictable.
 Combined probability that the occurrence of a situation in a
specific time and place will be sufficiently intense to produce
damage owing to the intensity of the event and the fragility of
the exposed elements, namely, the economy, human life, and th
environment.
Risk management Systematic process for developing administrative and

organizational decisions, as well as operational capacities and
the overall application of policies and strategies to reduce the
impact of natural hazards and environmental degradation linked
to man-made activities. This includes the application of the
findings of scientific research, observation, and monitoring of
natural processes that pose hazards, as well as
structural and non-structural measures, with a view to avoiding (preventing) or limiting (mitigating or preparing for) the adverse
effects of hazards. When a country wishes to protect its population and assets, may establish a risk management policy based upon
the following basic strategies, which incorporate ways to understand the causes, consequences and remedies in distinct dimensions
• Risk identification: Incorporates individual and collective understanding and perceptions, social representations and
objective evaluations (i.e. scientific, engineering, statistical) of the causes and consequences of risk: hazards (type, intensity,
distance, recurrence); vulnerability (degrees of exposure and fragility, socio-economic value of possible losses, potential alterations
to the human quality of life -deaths, injuries, trauma, forceful displacements-, and the impact to the environment and natural assets,
services and functions
• Risk reduction: Includes all ex-ante measures to reduce the physical impact of adverse natural events. Also known as
―prevention and mitigation‖, it means intervention against the loss generating factors, particularly the vulnerability, since from
certain levels of intensity and beyond, it is not possible to re-duce the natural hazards
• Risk financing, transfer: The ensemble of ex-ante measures aimed at improving the capacity and resilience to cope with
the financial consequences of disasters through: reserve funds, contingent credit and insurance. It requires ex-ante assessment of ris
in economic terms. This is often done using complex risk models focusing at reducing the impact of natural hazards. To this effect,
is required to establish ex-ante the thresholds for retention/transfer of risk based upon definitions of ―accepted‖ vs. ―acceptable‖
risk. The next step is to build probabilistic scenarios, models and metrics to estimate losses: i) Probable Maximum Loss (PML), ii)
Average Annual Loss (AAL) corresponding to the expected loss averaged on a yearly basis, and iii) Loss Exceedance Curves (LEC
These metrics are determined for various return periods (e.g. 50, 100, 250, 500 years). Comparative scenarios can also be performe
to demonstrate the effects of intervention versus non-intervention over damage and losses and replacement costs
• Emergency and disaster management: Actions, defined ex-ante, to be performed when risk is materialised; they
must be as efficient and effective as possible to reintegrate the quality of life of the population affected and avoid rebuilding
vulnerability by incorporating preparedness, alert-alarm systems, response, rehabilitation (immediate) and reconstruction (mediate
long term)
Risk management capacity Combination of all available forces and resources within a
community, society, or organization that can mitigate the level
risk or the effects of a disaster. This also includes the
development of institutional, financial, policy-related, and othe
resources, such as technology at different levels and in differen
sectors of the society.
 RJNA Rapid Joint Needs Assessment

 R-JOC Regional Joint Operations Centers
 RMB Renminbi
 RO Regional Office
 ROLAC Regional Office Latin America and the Caribbean
 RPCA Food Crisis Prevention Network
 RR Rapid Response
 RSS Really Simple Syndication
 RTE Real Time Evaluation
 RTF … Rich Text Format
 RTG Royal Thai Government
 RUIF Ready-to-use infant formula
 RUTF Ready to Use Therapeutic Food
 RWH Rainwater Harvest Study
 SAB Stand-by-Agreements
 SAE Sexual abuse and exploitation
 SAG Strategic Advisory Group
 SAI Supreme Audit Institutions
 SAJ-Veye-Jo Solidarity among Youth
 SAM Severe Acute Malnutrition
 SAR Search and Rescue
Satisfaction can be measured as a function of:

e. Dignity, privacy, and suitability
f. User views being properly taken into account
g. Outcomes of interventions met or exceeded expectations
h. Complaints mechanism is in place
 SBP Stand by Partners

 SbPP Stand-By Partnership
 SC Save the Children (Alliance) (INGO)
 SCs Stabilization Centers
 SDA Structural Damage Assessment
 SEA Sexual exploitation and abuse
Second-generation DNA sequencing

technologies: Currently available technologies for DNA sequencing that can
simultaneously sequence multiple areas of the genome at massively high throughput and at
low cost. (Tracing Cholera around the world.)
 Secretariat = the Geneva-based Secretariat of the International Federation of Red

Cross & Red Crescent Societies, and its regional Zones
 SEIPH Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities
 SEL Service d’Entraide et de Liaison (see
Separated children: Children separated from both parents, or from their

previous legal or customary primary caregiver, but not necessarily from other relatives.
These may therefore include children accompanied by other adult family members.
 SESPAS Dominican Ministry of Health
Severity levels of disaster crises

I got this info from Mike.D6 who explained it in a discussion7 with me on MPHISE.8
Thanks Mike.
In a Severity Level 1 crisis (e.g., a fire that burns down a few houses), local incident
command systems can easily take care of an emergency of this scale. Local government
can be a very efficient way to address these kinds of problems.
6
http://haiti.mphise.net/users/michael-d-mcdonald
7
http://haiti.mphise.net/mike-research-question#comment-525
8
MPHISE = Medical and Public Health Information Sharing Environment
In a Severity Level 2 crisis, where a chemical plant has had an explosion and it has
caused many deaths and injuries, but the chemicals are contained and mitigated by
national-level experts, these types of crises are efficiently managed by incident command
systems at the national, and if necessary, the international level.
In a Severity Level 3 crises, of a scale and complexity in which hierarchical incident

command systems start to fail, government may or may not be able to handle the crises
with favorable outcomes. We saw this very clearly in the Hurricane Katrina disaster,
the U.S. incident command systems (with its very substantial resources, and highly
refined and tested hierarchical emergency management infrastructures) broke in
strategically important ways due to the size and scale of that crisis.
In a Severity Level 4 crisis, when national incident command systems become

overburdened to the point of irrelevance, and even international command and control
capabilities are stretched to the breaking point, governments are highly susceptible to
failure, even if they are propped up to look viable.
The challenges of Severity Level 4 crises go far deeper than the political layer of
government to very the nature of its society's form of governance. However, within a
resilient society aware of its carrying capacities, a society can recover, despite the
collapse of its government, if it has sustainable Resilience Systems.
Haiti is at severity level 4+.
In Severity Level 5 crises, like the Irish Potato Famine, where there is a
fundamental collapse in the social ecology, 9 the likely outcome is a catastrophic drop in
population that brings the population down to a size that is within the limits of its
carrying capacity -- in other words, that can live within the ecosystem services of the
territory that the dependent population lives within. This can happen by out migration or
die-offs due to disease outbreaks (like cholera), starvation, or violent social crisis.
This is a politically hazardous topic to discuss, because then the victim population
attributes conspiracy theory explanations to specific actions by international interference
in their nations.
However, our entire world is at risk of a severity level 5 crisis due to our civilization
having become dependent upon natural resources, which the world is running out of, and
agricultural systems which cannot continue to function under current climate change
predictions. So we must address these risks.
9
There are writers who argue that the Potato Famine was engineered by the English Monarchy and Upper
Classes, in an effort to fight their fear of a Revolution in Britain, similar to what they had recently witnessed
with the French Revolution and American Revolution.
 SF Strategic Framework
 SF Science Fiction
 SFP Engineers without Borders – San Francisco Professionals
 SGB Secretary-General's Bulletin
 SGBV Sexual and gender-based violence
 SGST Small Group Scenario Trainer
o SGST is a web-based scenario role-play for multi-player, small group
teams that allows participants to join in remotely. The objective is to
stimulate critical thinking, problem solving and learning on contingency
planning.

SHELTER
o When we see the word “Shelter” in UN NGO Gov documents about Haiti, it
usually means “Emergency Shelter” from rains, such as tents tarps etc.
ideally on land not at high risk of flooding or mudslides or landslides.
o When we see OTHER folks using the word “Shelter”, they usually mean
“Housing” that meets Building Standards that includes protection from
Hurricanes, Earthquakes, nite rapes, surprise evictions, and other
hazards that are normal reasonable expectations for the people of Haiti.
SHELTER SAFER STRATEGY OF GOVERNMENT OF HAITI

This strategy proposes five basic options for the affected population:
1. Return to a safe home, after evaluation by trained engineers
2. Return to a safe plot, after debris has been removed from the site
3. Stay with a host family
4. Stay in a current spontaneous settlement, if conditions at the site can be
made to meet minimum standards in the medium term
5. For those who do not have another option, move to a temporary
relocation site planned by the Government
 SIF Social Investment Fund

 SIL Summer Institute of Linguistics (see
Single-nucleotide variation (SNV): A single-nucleotide

variation in a genetic sequence; a common form of variation in the human genome.
 SLL Surviving Limb Loss

 SMCRS Service Métropolitainde Collecte de Résidus Solides (Haiti municipal
solid waste management authority)
SMRTbell construct: A basic DNA template construct in which hairpin

loops are ligated to both ends of double-stranded DNA fragments of a particular size,
creating a linear DNA structure that is topologically circular. (Tracing Cholera around
the world.)
 SMS Short Message Service

 SNEP. Service National d’Eau Potable
 SNGRD National System of Risk and Disaster Management
Social resilience is the capacity of social groups and/or communities to cope with
disturbances and external tensions and to preserve adaptive behavior. Social resilience identifies
and builds upon a community’s resources and ability to overcome these situations of change, and,
subsequently, builds upon the inherent capacities of a community instead of relying on external
resources to overcome their vulnerabilities. Also see “resilience.”
 SOFA Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (National NGO for Women)

 SOFA Solidarity with Haitian Women
 SOG (French for free prenatal care, birth aid, and follow-up for newborns)
 SOP = Standard Operating Procedure
 SOS Survey of Surveys
 SOUTHCOM U.S. Southern (military) Command
SPHERE Project http://www.sphereproject.org/content/view/91/58/lang,english/

has two core beliefs:
 first, that all possible steps should be taken to alleviate
human suffering arising out of calamity and conflict, and
 second, that those affected by disaster have a right to life
with dignity and therefore a right to assistance.
 SPNS Strategic Plan for National Salvation

 SR = Santo Domingo, capital of Dominican Republic
 SRCS Sudanese Red Crescent Society
 SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary-General
 SSA Special Service Agreement
 SSSA = Seed System Security Assessment

 START Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force
 STC = Save the Children
 STD Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Structural variation: Operationally defined as genomic alterations that

involve segments of DNA that are larger than 1 kb and can be microscopic or
submicroscopic. Examples include copy-number variants, segmental duplication, low-copy
repeats, inversion, translocation, and segmental uniparental disomy. (Tracing Cholera

around the world.)
Subsistence The capacities and assets (including material and social

resources) as well as activities necessary for subsistence
purposes. Subsistence is sustainable when, in the face of
pressures and shocks, capacity and assets can be preserved in
both the present and future, and the natural resource base or
financial means that support individuals/families are not
undermined. This includes the means to support oneself as wel
as resources derived from wealth or reserves that can be tapped
should the need arise. This term refers to the resources needed
support a family or a group, their source of income, their
resources for survival (the minimum needed for subsistence
purposes), and resources to obtain socially acceptable facilities
to live ―decently.‖ In post-conflict or post-disaster situations,
restoration of employment and subsistence means are
government priorities in an emergency recovery context and ar
therefore part and parcel of the emergency response to lessen th
dependence of victims on foreign aid.
Superintegron: Integrons are gene-capture systems; all V. cholerae strains have

very large integrons, referred to as superintegrons, on their second chromosome. (Tracing
SXT: A 100-kb integrative and conjugative element, which was first isolated from a 1992
Vibrio cholerae O139 clinical isolate and which encodes resistance to multiple antibiotics.
 T-Shelter Transitional Shelter (quake and cyclone proof shelter in Haiti for people
displaced by last such disaster)
 TDC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concertation Table
 TdH Terre des Hommes (I-NGO)
 TDRA Transitional Darfur Regional Authority
 TLAs Three Letter Abbreviations (not wanted in an Acronym-free Zone)
 TLS Temporary Learning Spaces
 TOR Terms of Reference
 TOT terms of trade
Tracing Cholera around the world. References to this refer to scientific

research comparing the Cholera of Haiti with the Cholera found in other nations, to help
nail down legitimate suspect sources, and clear other possible sources. See Al Mac Directory
of Haiti downloads, posts to HR + MPHISE and other places, for more info.
Trafficking: A child has been trafficked if he or she has been moved within a
country, or across borders, whether by force or not, with the purpose of exploiting the
child.
Transitional settlement – settlement and shelter resulting from conflict and natural
disasters, ranging from emergency response to durable solutions.
 TRN Tsunami Recovery Network

 TS Tables Sectiorielles
 T-shelter = Transitional Shelter
 TSs Transitional Shelters
 TS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sectoral Table
 TWG Technical Working Groups

 U5 Under 5 years old
 U5MR Under-five Mortality Rate

 UDMO departmental public order unit (of HNP)
 UEH University of Haiti
 UHP Ushahidi Haiti Project
 UK United Kingdom (Britain)
 UMCOR United Methodist Committee on Relief

 UN United Nations
Unaccompanied children: Children who have been separated from both

parents and other relatives and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or
custom, is responsible for doing so.
 UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS - Programme Acceleration

Funds
 UNAMID UN–AU Mission in Darfur

 UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund
 UNCHR United Nations Commission on Human Rights
 UNCRD United Nations Centre for Regional Development
 UNCRI UnitedNations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute
 UN-CSW United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
 UNCT United Nations Country Team
 UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

 UNDAC. United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination
 UNDAW Division for the Advancement of Women
 UNDMTP United Nations Disaster Management Training Programme
 UNDP United Nations Development Programme
 UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

 UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, HQ Paris France
 UNESD United Nations Economic and Social Development
 UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
 UNGA United Nations General Assembly

 UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme
 UNHC UN High Commissioner
 UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
 UNHRC United Nations Human Rights Council
 UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
 UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization HQ

Vienna Austria
 UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women
 UNISDR = UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
http://www.unisdr.org
 UNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research
 UNMIH United Nations Mission in Haiti
 UNMOVIC United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission
 UNO United Nations Organization
 UNODOC UN Office on Drugs and Crime
 UNOH (Not UN) Union of Haitian Educators
 UNOPS United Nations Office for Project Service
 UNPOL United Nations Police
 UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
 UNSC UN Security Council
 UNSOG United Nations Special Operations Group

 UNU United Nations University
 UNV United Nations Volunteers

 URD Groupe Urgence Réhabilitation Développement
 USA = United States of America
 USAID United States Agency for International Development
 USAR Urban Search and Rescue
 USCG United States Coast Guard
 USD = US Dollars
 USG = Under Secretary General
 USG = United States Government
 USGS = U.S. Geological Survey
 USIP US Institute for Peace www.usip.org
 USMC United States Marine Corps
 UTC = Unit for the treatment of Cholera: A health center, mobile

clinic or hospital that has built a space to treat cholera patients, or in a tent or ente
or in a room of the structure. UTC is capable of making oral and intravenous
rehydration. Capacity 2-20 beds. Opening: at least 12 hours. Staff physician,
infimières, sanitation officer, health worker.
 UTX = Unit for treatment of Cholera: a health center, mobile clinic or
hospital alone which has built a space to be able treat patients cholera, or in a tent
or ente or in a house of the structure. THE UTC is able to make oral rehydration
and intravenous use. Capacity 2-20 beds. Opening: at least during 12 hours. Staff :
doctor, nurses, agent sanitation, health worker
 VEDEK Vive Espoir pour le Developpement de Cap-rouge
Volunteers, Guidance from US CDC for Relief Workers and Others Traveling to Haiti for
Earthquake Response.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/news-announcements/relief-workers-haiti.aspx
 VOSOCC Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination Center

 VRQ Very Rapid Qualitative Approach
 VSLA Village Savings and Loan Associations
 VSN Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale
Vulnerability – The extent to which a community, structure, service or geographic area is

likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of a particular hazard.
Vulnerability Probability, based on the intensity at the time the hazard

materializes, that it could cause damage to property, services,
and persons, depending on the levels of exposure and fragility.
impacts the quality of human life (deaths, injured persons,
victims, displaced persons, psychosocial trauma, etc.),
socioeconomic value, and the environment.
 WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Water catchment – An area, often a combination of mountain ranges and basins, that
‘catches’ rainfall or snow. Water from rain or snowmelt is absorbed into the soil and
stored in underground reservoirs, or is fed into a river, aquifer, or lake.
Water vulnerabilities in Haiti.

5. Max Vulnerability:
- Localities supplied from wells and shallow located in areas of high population density.
- Localities with the water table near the surface and high population density.
- Places that draw water directly superficial (gullies, lakes, rivers ...) in an area of high
population density or downstream of a high density area population.
4. High vulnerability:
- Localities supplied from shallow wells in an area of low population concentration.

- Localities supplied from surface water in an area of low population density.
- Localities fed from a source either captured or not captured in an with a protected area
very vulnerable.
3. Average Vulnerability:
- Localities fed from a source uncaptured drains a deep aquifer.
2. Low vulnerability:
- Localities supplied from wells located in confined aquifer (deep and with an
impermeable layer which separates the saturated zone of the non-saturated).
- Localities fed from a source that captured drains a confined aquifer.
1. Very Low Vulnerability:
- Localities fed from a catchment area.
Weather Science perspective:

Rainy Seasons
Haiti has two primary rainy seasons.
1st is April through mid to late June.
2nd is Mid August through October
Note: Mountainous regions may begin 1st Rainy Season Mid. February.
Hurricane Season
July to late October Normal season
One month earlier and one month later can be expected and is not unusual.
 WFP World Food Programme, HQ in Rome Italy

 WG Working Group
 WHO World Health Organisation
 WHO/PAHO World Health Organisation/Pan American Health Organisation
Widows
i. Members of ethnic or socio-economic minorities

j. Landless
k. Computer records which should be part of a larger package of related
information, but some of it has gone missing … widows are the pieces of
info left over, without the whole story available.
 WINNER The Watershed Initiative For National Natural Environmental

Resources
http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/documents/winner_100408.html
 WORD … Al’s docs in Microsoft Office Word 2003, unless otherwise stated
World Heritage Site – A designated and protected site of great cultural significance or a
geographic area of outstanding universal value.
 WP Work Package
 WP Word Processing
 WRC Women’s Refugee Committee
 WT Water Trucking
 WTO World Trade Organization
 WVI World Vision International
 XL … Al Mac abbreviation for Microsoft Excel 2003
 YCSD Young Child Survival and Development

 Zanmi Lasante Partners in Health

Copies of this collection have been shared with: many connections via e-mail, Facebook
Notes, Haiti Rewired Definitions, Yahoo Group Haiti Disaster Recovery Research, early
editions on Linked In Group: Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief.
April 6 launched with 46 Count above

April 29 = 230 Acronyms estimated into 7 pages
May 2 started page 10 (mainly UN break downs added)
May 6 started page 11 (mainly Donor Diversity research)
May 8 now 16 pages (mainly Environmental Glossary additions)
May 28 starts page 25 (mainly Financial Risk perspectives)
Al has been randomly sharing with new contacts.
June up to page 27 (misc. UN cluster stuff)
July 13 it is just over 30 pages … input slowed down prior to the 6 month reports
Al Mac has also been maintaining some other reference documents to support needs of
various people seeking to help Haiti, such as:
 Al's Haitian Documents Directory Word (500+ references downloaded so far)
 Glossary of Housing Challenges in Haiti
 Haiti Cholera Epidemic
 Haiti Election 2010 information (Al stopped following closely shortly before Cholera
Epidemic exploded)
 Haiti Transitional Housing Projects Word (Contact info on outfits installing it &
de-mystify Haiti Land Ownership complications)
 Situation Report 2010 May 27 Word (Al Mac version of Haiti reality)
 UN Documents Navigation Guide

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Glossary Acronyms and other Terminology Translation aids 5/12/2011 5:12:54 PM Page 1

Haiti Rescue Relief

Acronyms Glossary and other Translation aids

Sep-30 I renamed it “Glossary Acronyms Haiti” because it will now be a companion

 Earthquake Rubble Debris

This is a perpetually updated directory of acronyms and related terminology found in

Other people have similar efforts. Mentioned on HEAS is the following:

Also see Internet slang.

 ACAPS Assessment Capacities Project

Acceptable risk Level of loss that a society or community considers acceptable,

Accessibility for disabled includes

Accountability is a western culture concept, where money donated for a particular

Part I defined what we mean by accountability quality standards.

 ACE Assessment and Classification of Emergencies

Acronyms http://www.acronymslist.com/ = approx 40,000 of most popular in

 AEA American Evaluation Society

Alert Permanent mindset triggered by an announcement or other

 ALNAP = Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in

Arrondissements – subdivisions of Haiti Departments (see Departements below)

 ARV Anti Retroviral

Assessment An evaluation of needs, to help set priorities.

 AWG Assessments Working Group http://groups.google.com/group/assessmentshaiti

 BCLC = U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership

Biodiversity – Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variability among living

The Blan = Kreyol word for foreigners.

 BME = Gov of Haiti Bureau of Mines

Cadastral = Land surveying in the Digital Age.

 CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere

Carrying Capacity – The maximum number of a given organism, or population, that a

Catastrophe Similar to disaster, but indicative instead of a situation

 CBM Christian Blind Mission

 CCPR = International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

 CIAT = Gov of Haiti Presidential Executive Secretariat

 CIMO = Haiti equivalent of SWAT within National Police

 CLTS = Community-Led Total Sanitation

Cluster Approach :- Concept of partnership between UN agencies, the

 CMAM Community Management of Acute Malnutrition

“Complicated” sounds to an American audience like someone being slippery or

 CONANI Dominican republic National Child Protection Authority

Consultation – An exchange of information, comments, ideas and suggestions.

 CoPs Communities of Practice

 COU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Centre for Emergency Operations

Coverage: The average number of times a nucleotide in a sequenced genome is covered

 CRM Complaints and Response Mechanism

CRO = A center of oral rehydration: with staff non-

 CRS Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/haiti/

CTC = Center for the Treatment of Cholera: a

 CTP Cash Transfer Programme

 CWG Cash Working Group

 D2 = Senior Leader of UN OCHA

 DanChurchAid http://www.danchurchaid.org/ is a Denmark faith

 DCF Development Cooperation Forum

 DCHA = US Bureau for Democracy Conflict Humanitarian

Debris – what can be in a Disaster Debris Pile?

 DEC Disasters Emergency Committee (of Britain)

Deletion (mutation): A mutation involving the loss of genetic material

Départements (10) of Haiti, administrative jurisdictions similar to states or provinces. Four

 DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UN

Destruction (damage) Negative impact on property, capital, infrastructure on any

 DFID UK-Britain Department for International Development

Disaster – A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing

 DISI Development Information Services International

Displaced persons – persons who, for different reasons or circumstances,