Hugh Macready

Position:
- Telecommunications and IT Engineer
Areas:
- Electronics & Telecommunications (Primary)
- Humanitarian
Education:
- Telecommunications and IT
Location:
- NSW
Personal website: http://www.redr.org.au

With telecommunications and IT as his specialties, Hugh Macready confronted the devastation in Haiti early in 2010, deployed by RedR Australia to assist the United Nation's relief operation to reach tens of thousands of earthquake victims.

WFP telecommunications needed major attention for the UN's operation to be effective, and Haiti cast up the relatively rare situation where international aid workers operated out of a camp. Their bases were lost when most buildings in Port au Prince were either destroyed or left unsafe for occupation. United Nations’ aid workers from different agencies lived in and worked what was known as Logistics Base inside Port-au-prince international airport.

“I was pretty much limited to what I took with me, in terms solving the problems one after another,” Hugh said, commenting on engineering at its most basic level.

He was impressed with the attitude of local people with whom he worked to install equipment sourced from a local internet provider. They were busy with that task, despite knowing that their family was living under a tarpaulin, and being reliant upon the provision of international food aid for their next meal.

Hugh subsequently took a RedR Australia role in Pakistan.