Paul Cull's Blog

Teresópolis flooding and landslides – Easter 2012

Hi,

We all thought that this year’s rainy season, with the risk of flooding and landslides, had well and truly passed by the start of April. However, on Good Friday, the 6th, we had unusually heavy rainfall here in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, especially in the cities of Nova Friburgo and Teresópolis. In Friburgo we had some surface flooding, but fortunately no serious landslides, however Teresópolis was badly hit with both flooding downtown and landslides in some of the hillside communities.

The suburbs of Perpétuo and Rosario, where we had trained Civil Defence volunteers as CERT Teams merely one month before, were especially affected, and the teams performed wonderfully, conducting evacuation, first aid and search and rescue, and undoubtedly saving many lives. They also activated the emergency alert sirens, opened the emergency shelters, and then ran a longer-term shelter in the CIEP school in Rosário for the next twelve days.

Felipe Lisboa, our Crisis Response Unit’s deputy leader,  and myself responded to Teresópolis on Saturday the 7th, initially to give support to the CERT teams and to help during expected further heavy rainfall on the Saturday night. We also took some of our equipment, including two-way radios and emergency lighting and generator.

Fortunately, the heavy rains didn’t fall, and we were able to return to Friburgo on the Sunday afternoon. I, however, returned again to Teresópolis on the Tuesday, where I remained helping the teams administer the shelter until the following Tuesday.

Although there were five deaths in Teresópolis as result of this unexpected rainfall, no fatalities occured in the suburb of Rosário, despite the fact that some three hundred houses have been declared as unusable by the authorities. Without a doubt, the actions of these volunteers were fundamental in both the initial response to the disaster when, due to heavy flooding downtown, professional first responders were unable to access the community for several hours, and also in the ongoing operation of the shelter, especially during the chaotic initial days after the disaster.

Here are some photos from my time in Teresópolis.

Paul

One cool Windows 7 trick

Gidday,

Maybe I’m the only person who didn’t know this before, but I’ve recently discovered a cool trick that saves heaps of time in Windows 7.

I often end up with an Explorer window open showing the files that I want to use in some other application, normally with some horribly complicated nesting level:

I also have some application, either web or PC based, which wants to know where those files are, but has some stupid default path like my documents directory:

It would be so cool if I could just drag and drop the files from one window to another, instead of having to drill all the way down through the directory path from the application’s open file dialogue, just to find the directory path that is already open in the other window. Some cool applications, like WordPress, let you do just that, but, sadly, they are few and far between.

However, here’s the cool trick which I recently discovered after several years of using Windows 7.

In the window which shows the files that you want, click in a blank area inside the window’s address bar (if you click on one of the directory names, it will take you there, so it has to be an unused part of the address bar). The directory showed will become a “normal” Windows directory path, complete with drive letter and backslashes.

Now press the Control key and C (or Control and X) to copy that directory address.

Switch back to the application’s open file dialogue window (or whatever the action is that you are wanting to do). Once again, click in a blank part of that window’s address bar (some applications use non-standard file dialogue windows, in which case, sadly you’ll be out of luck at this point).

Press Control and V to paste the directory address that you copied from the other window.

Finally, press the Enter key to update the window display.

You are now in the directory that you wanted, and can select the files required (or press Control and A to select all of them).

I wish I had known this earlier, and hope it helps somebody.

Paul

A request for help

Hi,

Since deciding to move back to Friburgo to pursue my ministry within the context of Disaster Response, I am facing the challenge of transporting my few items of furniture from São Paulo to Friburgo. For nearly two months I have been trying to find a truck that was returning empty from São Paulo to Friburgo, so that I could include my furniture without paying the full price of a return trip. However, despite my constant efforts, this has not been possible.

What this means is that I have been living for well over six weeks without my bed, fridge, stove, washing machine or wardrobe, as well other items. If I were to attempt to sell these items in São Paulo, there is no way that I would have sufficient funds to be able to replace them here in Friburgo. Of course, I also need to remove them from the house that I have been renting in São Paulo within the next two weeks, to avoid incurring the cost of another month’s rent there.

The only alternative that I see at this point would be to pay the full price of a removal company bringing these items, which would be approximately R$2,200 / US $1,300 / NZ $1,500.  To see if it would be  possible to raise this specific amount, I have created a project on the website http://www.gofundme.com/paulcull, where folk can donate online. If you would be able to help by contributing, or by distributing this link through Facebook or any other medium, this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your assistance,

Paul

Training volunteers in disaster response in Teresópolis, 9-11 March 2012

Gidday,

Over this past weekend, two volunteers from our Crisis Response Unit and myself taught the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course to nearly three-dozen volunteers in two at-risk communities in the neighbouring city of Teresópolis. The training was in partnership with CARE Brazil, with support from the European Commission, Brazilian charity Abrinq, and Save The Children Fund. CARE funded the expenses of the course, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the participants, and team equipment, although we donated our time to teach the 20 hour course.

The whole event went very well, starting on the Friday night and continuing all day on the Saturday and Sunday, and the training, and simulations, was very well received. As Teresópolis was one of the cities that was very badly impacted by last year’s landslides, which resulted in heavy loss of life, and was also the victim of a fake story of supposed resurrections by foreign Christian missionaries, it was very satisfying, as Christians, to be able to invest something back into these suffering communities.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Regards

Paul

Youth camp, Minas Gerais state – February 17-21 2012.

Hi,

Over the Carnaval period, I ministered at a camp for teens and youth for a church in the city of Contagem, Minas Gerais. Despite staying for four days in the tiny tent that I had purchased last year but never tried (and which can’t possible really be two metres long, as the packing states!), it was a great time, and we had some wonderful meetings in the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit. I also preached at the church on the Wednesday night, and there was another cool move of the Spirit.

Here are some photos from the camp.

Paul

One year later…

It was exactly one year ago today that a message began to circulate through email and Christian websites claiming that a team of American missionaries had resurrected 16 victims of the floods and landslides that had devastated the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, resulting in at least a thousand deaths.

Due to factual inconsistencies in the story, compared to my understanding of events as I had experienced them in the aftermath of the disaster, it immediately raised my suspicions – suspicions which were further confirmed when the supposed newspaper front page that accompanied the story was quickly shown to be a fake. Sadly, my many attempts to make contact with the team and with those propagating the story, met with responses ranging from silence to some quite aggressive replies! Eventually, the newspaper front page was admitted to be fake, but the principal parties promoting the story, the Healing Herald site and Bethel church in Redding – CA, maintained that the story was true.

Finally, last June I was able to take a small team to the township of Caleme, in Teresópolis, where the resurrections supposedly occurred, at my own expense, and we were able to film interviews with local folk that proved, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the event never happened. Interestingly, within a week of my posting the video on YouTube, a message was sent out by the couple who had originally released the story, admitting that the whole story had been a lie, told to them by somebody that they had trusted. The Healing Herald then posted a retraction (although, as of writing, Bethel still haven’t, beyond admitting that the newspaper article was fake).

Why am I writing about this a year later? Well, I find it sad that the story is still available on many websites around the internet, and that a video on Youtube which tells the original story has been seen over  14,000 times, while my video which shows the truth (linked to the first video) has been viewed less than three hundred times. Somehow, the spectacular, even if untrue, seems so much more appealing than the truth!

And, yet, the truth is that there is resurrection happening in Rio de Janeiro’s mountainous region. Folk are starting to rebuild their lives and their homes, to get past the devastation, the trauma and the loss, and get on with their lives. I was proud to recently be part of a small convoy taking aid from the city of Friburgo to victims of floods and landslides that have occurred in the nearby state of Minas Gerais.

In this moment of rebuilding we have an unequalled opportunity to bring the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, to show the love of Father God in practical ways, and to bring hope – true, everlasting hope – in the midst of chaos. I’ve felt led to move back to Friburgo, where I have started a volunteer Christian Crisis Response Unit, to minister to both the churched and the unchurched in this region and beyond.

However, I know that I cannot do this alone. We need the help and support of the Body of Christ, both within and outside of Brazil. We need finances to be able to equip and maintain our teams, and to take advantage of the myriad of ministry opportunities that we have before us now.

My heartfelt prayer and desire is that, just as the worldwide Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was so quick to believe and distribute an untrue story about God’s miraculous intervention in the devastation that occurred here last year, that some would rise up now to participate in the true story of His grace, His love and His healing as it is being poured out now in this needy region of Brazil.

Please contact me if you would like further details of how you can help us as we work with the communities that were impacted by last January’s floods and landslides here in Rio de Janeiro.

Blessings

Paul

Online Disaster Response Training Resources

Howdy,

Although I have been based here in Brazil for many years, I have discovered a number of useful online resources for disaster response training. Here is a list of some of the sites that I have discovered, both free and paid, that offer online disaster response courses (all links open in a new tab or window).

Free Courses

• Citizens’ Corps Online CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course
• Citizens’ Corps CERT Search and Rescue course
• John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Emergency Response Planning
• John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health ICS-100 for Public Health Departments
• John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health NIMS Training for Public Health Department (IS-700)
• Public Safety Canada CBRNE First Responder Awareness Course
• USAR Florida Structural Collapse Awareness
• FEMA  Incident Command System ICS-100b
• FEMA Incident Command System ICS-200b
• FEMA NIMS – ICS-700b
• FEMA Community Preparedness: Implementing Simple Activities for Everyone
• US DoD Level 1 Anti-Terrorism Training
• FEMA Deployment Basics for FEMA Response Partners
• FEMA Community Preparedness: Implementing Simple Activities for Everyone

Paid Courses

• JIBC Introduction to Emergency Operations Centres
• Weber State University: ICISF Changing Face of Crisis and Disaster Mental Health Intervention

I’ll add some more courses once I’ve checked them out.

Paul

CRU deployment to Além Paraíba – 14 January 2012

This Saturday, the 14th of January, three members of our Crisis Response Unit, including myself, visited the city of Além Paraíba, in the neighbour state of Minas Gerais, together with a team from the Nova Friburgo Red Cross chapter. We took supplies of food, water and other donations, and also visited a shelter for victims of the recent floods and landslides there.

I took my Fiesta car, although once again we saw the need for a four-wheel drive vehicle, especially so that we can take needed supplies, such as bottled drinking water, to isolated communities.

Once again, here are some photos from Saturday’s activities.

Paul

Teen CERT course: 11 – 13 January 2012

From the 11th to 13th of January 2012, our Crisis Response Unit ran a short Teen CERT course for teenagers from the Morro of Cordoeira. The kids loved it and have asked if we can’t run another course next week!

Here are some photos from the course.

Paul

Remembering the tragedy of 12 January 2011

Today, the 12th of January 2012, is exactly one year since that devastating flooding and landslides that hit the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, and especially the city of Nova Friburgo, resulting in an official death toll of nearly 1,000 and a probable total of around 3,000 fatalities.  Our Crisis Response Unit participated in a public meeting in the town square, where a community emergency plan, in which we participate,  was also presented. Here are some photos of that event.

Paul