The TV story seems to be that aid from America is pouring in to Haiti. But on the ground the US military is blocking doctors and American aid workers with longstanding relationships in Haiti from bringing in desperately needed aid, and the US is also being slow to expand airdrops of water, water purification tablets, and food. Where is the United States Congress? Because the US military is involved, does that mean no one can say anything?
Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders reported that
A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs, surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night despite repeated assurances of its ability to land there...Since January 14, MSF has had five planes diverted from the original destination of Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic. These planes carried a total of 85 tons of medical and relief supplies.
One of their staff members said,
"We have had five patients in Martissant health center die for lack of the medical supplies that this plane was carrying.... Today, there are 12 people who need lifesaving amputations at Choscal Hospital. We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue amputations."
Groups ready to deliver aid to Jacmel - the fourth-largest city in Haiti - were told they would receive no clearance to land there from the U.S. military, even though they already had both aid supplies and the means for distributing them. This aid is only now being delivered - thanks to assistance from the Dominican Republic, not the U.S.
Finally, the US has started to airdrop water and food. AP reported that "The U.S. military has airdropped water and food into Haiti after earlier ruling out such a delivery method as too risky." But the airdrop AP reported was merely a test, not an effort to distribute supplies widely.
The risk cited earlier by Defense Secretary Gates was that airdrops might trigger riots if there were no infrastructure on the ground to distribute the supplies. But the primary driver of potential violence is shortage: if there is plenty to go around, there is no reason to fight. The US corporate media are obsessed with images of looting and conflict, slavishly devoted as they are to their "Lord of the Flies" meta-narrative that human beings are beasts who must be constantly supervised by Men With Guns, but so what? Any marginal increase in the probability of conflict has to be weighed against the certainty that people will die if they don't have clean water.
That's why these airdrops of food and water - including water purification tablets, because in some places people have access to water, but not clean water - should be immediately expanded.
The US operation has been putting "security concerns" above all else - at a high cost in Haitian lives. Perhaps that's not a surprising consequence of putting the military in charge, but that's why Congress needs to get engaged. You can write to your representatives in Congress here.
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Yes, there are problems and dangers with air-droppi
As to the MSF flight, in the confusion of a situation like this, I can see how this could happen. What I don't understand is why Hillary Clinton and Ban Ki Moons visits needed to use valuable time at the airport. Couldn't they have come in by helicopter or invited Haitian leaders to meet them aboard a ship? Every moment of handshakes and tv cameras delayed needed aid.
I'm sure our GI's are doing their work brilliantl
Well yes your right if you Airdrop pallets of Aid, but what about using flutter drop of individual Meals http://www
And I've also designed a similar method for water which, forgive the pun, I'm trying to get off the ground.
http://gwi
Wouldn't spreading Aid over a 10 square mile area mitigate the rioting & hoarding?
http://wen
http://onl
Unknown numbers of people are dying every day in Haiti due to a lack of medicines and assistance
Outside the capital's main hospital on Wednesday, armed guards in tanks kept out mobs. Inside the hospital's gates, dozens of patients recovering from surgery lay outdoors on beds under makeshift tents. Many had amputation
At any time, more than 1,000 people are waiting for surgery at the hospital, said Andrew Marx, spokesman for Partners in Health, a U.S.-based aid group that has been providing health care in Haiti for two decades.
Partners in Health warned on its Web site Tuesday that as many as 20,000 people in Haiti might be dying every day from infections such as gangrene and sepsis, raising the possibilit
The Haitian government
http://fir
Yes, it's true that the U.S. was landing military flights to bring in troops but have diverted all their own flights until the evening only. Please see link.
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6)There are 7000 U.N. peacekeepe
7)With the landing of Marines on Monday U.S. forces were up to 2000 troops. Now, with more added we approach 5000. But we do not know the terrain or the issues like those U.N. officials who have been working in Haiti all along.
1) The Port Au Prince airport is small and only handled 30 flights a day before the quake. It only has three plane docking births and if a wide-bodie
2)The primary authority for the relief effort is the UN through OCHA. The goods being deposited/
3) U.S. has begun distributi
4)Mistakes have been made, like the Medicins Sans Frontiers flights being waved off. It's impossible to know if they registered their flights properly or if the ground crew could handle the Airbus 300.
OK, that was done by the US Military in control of the airport. But then "It's impossible
to know if they registered their flights properly". Oh, so it's MSF's fault anyway? Wow, they might have not done the paperwork correctly. I'm glad the paperwork was done correctly for Bill Clinton's visit, because his presence was so essential there.... But the key point is: "It is impossible to know...". Of course it is possible to know, just let the paperwork be checked and investigat
(Of course it can).
I am just an average American who spent hours looking this up and reading articles. I tried to check the facts at the U.N. Website as well and the recent articles coming out regarding the issues at the airport have born out my entire comment.
I am not a propagandi
It's easy for an NGO to say all they need to to land, offload their supplies and that they have their own means to distribute
You don't just show up and take up tarmac space at an airport that is barely operationa
If MSF is dissatisfi
Maybe MSF should coordinate with others, like the UN, to avoid these conflicts. Perhaps they could even consider flying the supplies into DR and taking them overland to help relieve the logistics bottleneck
People are dying is Haiti. It's a hellova time to start acting prissy.
The big question here is whether getting aid in has been given top priority by the US military, or whether something else have been given priority, like getting US soldiers in. If something besides aid has been given top priority, that is a legitimate and important question for public debate, because we are a democracy, and the US military are employees of the elected US government
See also:
CEPR: Haiti: NGO's and Relief Groups Call for Immediate and Widespread Distributi
Aid Needs to Be Centrally Coordinate
http://www