【英语语言学习】灾后重建

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

 

In the Philippines, the relief effort after Typhoon Haiyan is now in its second week. And as information trickles¹ out, we have a clear picture of the scale of the devastation². But let's go back to when the storm made landfall. In an instant, not only were houses washed away and roads destroyed, phones, computers, just about every type of modern communication was lost. Without power, without the digital towers that stitch the world together, what happens then?

 

(SOUNDBITE OF STATIC AND BEEPS)

 

RAMONE ANGUILLON: Ham radio traffic were the first form of communication to come online between Tacloban and the outside world right after the storm.

 

MARTIN: That's Ramone Anguillon(ph), call sign Delta³ Uniform One Uncle Gulf⁴ Zulu. He's an amateur radio enthusiast⁵, and from his post, just south of Manila, he was one of the first responders in communicating with the disaster area. Ham radio buffs use old tech but its part of a long tradition of helping⁶ out in emergencies.

 

ANGUILLON: One of the first guys to use our link was the Secretary Defense⁷ because at that time the Manila government had no information of the whereabouts of the Secretary Defense and the Secretary of the Interior who were sent to Tacloban before the storm. Even the president could not contact his cabinet on the ground in Tacloban. So one of the first message for us to relay was the message of the Secretary Defense.

 

MARTIN: But to provide disaster relief you need more than radios. Cell phones and Internet access aren't luxuries; they're now vital parts of coordinating⁹ a global response to a local crisis. And restoring connectivity quickly under extreme conditions is the new frontier of humanitarian¹⁰ aid.

 

PAUL MARGIE: I am Paul Margie. I'm the U.S. representative of Telecom Sans Frontiere. We're an emergency response organization and what we do is three main jobs. One: We go to emergencies and we set up telecommunications centers for first responders. So when search and rescue teams or local governmental responders are in the middle of helping people after an earthquake or a disaster like in the Philippines or in a conflict, they have the connectivity they need to do their job.

 

We also go to survivors¹¹ camps or refugee camps and set up calling operations. So people that are separated from their families get a free call to let their families know that they're alive. And in between emergencies, we train other people on how to do this.

 

MARTIN: So, in the Philippines, I understand your organization went in ahead of the typhoon. What happens to that point? How can you anticipate what the needs will be?

 

MARGIE: So we have a long history with the Philippines 'cause it's unfortunately really disaster prone¹². So we were invited by the government to come in ahead of the storm - unlike an earthquake, you might have a few days. So they set us up in places that they thought the storm would be hit hardest. We had our portable satellite equipment with us and we were ready to set it up as soon as we possibly could.

 

MARTIN: So these are obviously functions that the government in the Philippines cannot fulfill¹³ on their own?

 

MARGIE: Well, they do but in a disaster of this scale, there's no one that can do it. We found that out in the United States when we've had things like Katrina or Sandy. There is no government that can fulfill all of these responsibilities. And so, we're there to try to help in the very first hours and days of an emergency, to make sure that at the point of impact that there is connection.

 

MARTIN: Can you walk me through some of the specific kinds of equipment? You mention satellite phones, but what specifically do you import, are you setting up in these communication centers?

 

MARGIE: Sure. So when we go in, typically we will bring in on our back something called an ISatPhone Pro⁸, which is if you remember the old days of cell phones, it was like a big fat cell phone from the old days but it works with satellites, as opposed to cell towers. And then we bring in something called it BGan. And a BGan looks like a fat laptop but it's a satellite receiver. And so we can use one of these to set up a Wi-Fi bubble around an area and give a dozen or so people Internet connections anywhere in the world.

 

MARTIN: I don't know how closely you're communicating with your colleagues on the ground in the Philippines. But can you give us a sense of where things stand right now? What is the need they are working to address right now?

 

MARGIE: Sure. So we're doing a couple of things. One, is when we went in, the first thing we did was we set up three emergency telecom centers in Tacloban, which was the center point of the impact. We set one up for the government responders, a second one for the United Nations responders, and the third one for all of the humanitarian organizations that were coming in. The second thing we did was we went around that area first with the cell phone companies to do an assessment¹⁴ of where there was connectivity and where there was not. And then where they weren't yet operational, we set up humanitarian calling centers. And these were places where people could come in and make a free phone call back to their family.

 

And that's really where TSF was born was in those kind of operations. The founders¹⁵ had done a more typical emergency response work in the Balkans War, bringing in food and blankets and that kind of thing. But what they found was they would go to these isolated¹⁶ communities where people had been driven from their homes by the war, and people would come out with a little slip of paper that they had hidden in their shoe because the security forces wouldn't search in people's shoes, and they would take the piece of paper out and they would say, this is my brother's number in Germany, can you call him and let him know I'm alive, that we're in this camp? He needs to try to find us and help us.

 

And so, now we'll go to disasters, you know, unfortunately, lots and lots of disasters around the world, and you'll find people that are in the worse moments of their lives. They're isolated, they don't know where their family is, their families don't know if they're alive or if they're dead. And we try to give them the ability to make that connection so that they can have a little bit of solace¹⁷ at this worst day of their life.

 

MARTIN: Getting badly-hit areas back online allows all sorts of groups to contribute in previously¹⁸ unimaginable ways.

 

Mikel Maron is the president of a group of volunteers called the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

 

MIKEL MARON: We call ourselves the Wikipedia of maps because anyone can contribute. Everyone can use the data and literally¹⁹ be able sitting at their computer, they have images of satellite imagery, they have the existing map, and they can edit it. So we can make comparisons and indicate where buildings have been destroyed, where roads are blocked, where bridges are out, and this helps to focus and coordinate²⁰ the response on the ground.

 

And we have close to two million features mapped. And by feature I mean like an individual building or an individual segment of road over the last week. You can't hire a company to do that that quickly. Governments don't have that kind of resources, but volunteers are willing to come together and create that kind of map.

 

MARTIN: For all these types of aid - whether remote or on the ground - connectivity is key.

 

MARGIE: Even in the most remote places on Earth, we're finding increasingly people have powerful computers in their pockets. We really need to find ways to take advantage of that - for them to tell us what's going on. They can report back on where the greatest needs are, where roads are out, where bridges are out, where cell phone towers are out, and then we can do our job better.

 

MARTIN: That was Paul Margie of Telecoms San Frontiere, along with Mikel Maron of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, and radio operator Ramon Anquillon in the Philippines.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

 

MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.

1 trickles   

n.细流( trickle的名词复数 )；稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Trickles of sweat rained down my head and neck. 我颈上头上的汗珠，更同盛雨似的，一颗一颗的钻出来了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
• Water trickles through an underground grotto. 水沿着地下岩洞流淌。 来自辞典例句

2 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

9 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

12 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

13 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

16 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

17 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

18 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

19 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

20 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。