Student Returns From Colombian Relief Effort

A Colombian extension student, who went to his native country to organize a relief effort after last month's volcanic eruption, has returned from the disaster site where he set up a successful medical supply distribution system.

Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, a 23-year-old Bogota native, said while his efforts were successful, other attempts to help survivors of the disaster that left 20,000 dead were marred by incompetent delivery of goods and guerilla attacks against relief vehicles.

Melendez-Ortiz flew to Colombia two weeks ago and was responsible for directing the distribution of medical supplies obtained by Americares, a non-profit charity that solicited these items from medical supply companies.

When Melendez-Ortiz arrived in Bogota he met with the president, Belisario Betancur, and was given access to the disaster area which was made off limits by the military.

Operating out of a Bogota warehouse and with the help of Colombian volunteers, Melendez-Ortiz used computers to match the demands of the five major hospitals serving the stricken area.

According to Lisa Salerno, director of development at Americares, "Melendez made the road smooth for us in Colombia."

Melendez-Ortiz said he believes that all of the supplies he coordinated actually made it to the stricken area. He said larger institutions supplying the disaster region were not as successful.

"They got too much aid and didn't have the infrastructure to get the aid to the people," he said. The Colombian Red Cross "trucks were assaulted by guerrillas because they didn't have military escorts; we had escorts for all deliveries."

Though much of his aid went to the seriously ill through major hospitals in the badly hit Tolima district, Melendez-Ortiz stressed the work done for the less seriously injured through large make-shift hospitals. "We set up campaign hospitals to give first aid to those people who were running away from their houses."

He estimated that the medical supplies sent to the hospitals in the area treated 4500 seriously injured patients.

Because of the success Melendez-Ortiz had in setting up a delivery system, the Colombian government is going to follow his model in its National Hospital Delivery System.

Melendez-Ortiz is now working on getting aid to Colombia for what he calls a "pre-emergency plan," because he says the American State Department is "pretty sure that another explosion will take place within the next week."