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Post by nodstar on Jan 16, 2010 4:26:52 GMT 4
Anguish turns to desperation as tensions rise in Haiti's shattered heart[/size] www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hotUaJkb6wqIMW5k_QmMsWNSE0HABy Jonathan Montpetit (CP) – 1 hour ago PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Desperation spawned violence Friday as anguish turned to anger in Haiti, prompting survivors in the shattered, lawless heart of the capital city to resort to frantic looting in a desperate search for the most basic of necessities. At a collapsed multi-storey shopping complex in downtown Port-au-Prince, looters desperate for food and water braved the rubble to emerge with supplies, only to be swarmed immediately by a mob. Haitian police did little but watch. While aid workers continued working to extract survivors from the wreckage of Tuesday's earthquake, most Haitians were concerning themselves more with their long-term survival. The wrecked capital was teeming with people carrying suitcases as they made their way towards the outlying rural areas, which were not as hard hit by the magnitude-7 temblor that brought so much of the city crashing down on Tuesday. Master Cpl. Christine Briand, an RCMP officer posted with the United Nations, described the security situation as tense and highly volatile, but stable nonetheless. "The situation is calm for the moment," said Briand, who was working out of a UN logistics base near the airport. "But things can change in an instant here." The slums on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, including the notorious Cite Soleil neighbourhood, are becoming violent as residents ransack stores, Canadian police say. Inside the city, long lines had formed around the few gas stations that had managed to stay open. The price for three gallons worth of gasoline, $15 US a week ago, is now $50 US. Most other stores have shut or emptied their shelves, fearing looters. Small bands of young men and teenagers with machetes roaming downtown streets helped themselves to whatever they could find in wrecked homes. "They are scavenging everything. What can you do?" said Michel Legros, 53, as he waited for help to search for seven relatives buried in his collapsed house. A Russian search-and-rescue team said the general insecurity was forcing them to suspend their efforts after nightfall. "The situation in the city is very difficult and tense," said team chief Salavat Mingaliyev, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. The main challenge for the international community is resolving the logistical nightmare of co-ordinating aid in a country with next to no telecommunication. Most of the UN's vehicles are being used to escort convoys or transport victims. Food aid has been further slowed by the extensive damage suffered by the World Food Program's headquarters, whose workers have been forced to recalibrate their distribution efforts. There is widespread concern that security will degenerate if Haitians are faced with prolonged shortages of food and water. "It's tough because we first have to provide security for the WFP," Briand said. "But it is important for the population to see that there is food available." The injured were streaming Friday into already crowded hospitals. At the Hopital la Paix, armed police turned away a surging crowd around the main gate, admitting only the most seriously injured. A fetid smell filled the corridors where patients were lying on torn mattresses, waiting to be treated. The dead were covered with a simple bedsheet. "Let me summarize the situation for you, it's catastrophic," said the hospital director, Dr. Marie Yolaine Noel Saint-Fleur. "All the hospital's resources have been used and now we're hoping (the) international (community) will come help us." Saint-Fleur estimateed her hospital has treated more than 2,000 people since the earthquake. On Thursday alone, they disposed of 250 bodies. In the days immediately following the catastrophe, bodies littered the streets of the capital, which in 35 C heat created a major health concern. The Haitian government has taken to digging mass graves for the victims. But the health risk remains. "We're worried about all kinds of epidemics," Saint-Fleur said. Law enforcement in Haiti, which at the best of times benefits from extensive international mentoring, has been particularly hard hit. Dilapidated police stations around the city collapsed, trapping an untold number of police officers and scattering arrest warrants, witness testimony and other files vital to a now-paralyzed justice system. UN police mentors say have little idea about how many senior Haitian national police officers survived the quake. Hard-pressed government workers, meanwhile, buried thousands of bodies in mass graves. The Red Cross has estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in the quake, although Haitian authorities now estimate the death toll at more than 140,000. Roughly half the buildings in the capital and other hard-hit areas have been either damaged or destroyed, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York. Ordinary Haitians sensed the potential for an explosion of lawlessness. "We're worried that people will get a little uneasy," said attendant Jean Reynol, 37, explaining his gas station was ready to close immediately if violence breaks out. "People who have not been eating or drinking for almost 50 hours and are already in a very poor situation," U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva. "If they see a truck with something, or if they see a supermarket which has collapsed, they just rush to get something to eat." The logistical obstacles were many. "There are a lack of trucks, lack of fuel, blocked roads and so on," U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said in New York. Water trucks have set up distribution points in various corners of the city. With uncertainty over access to basic resources, Canadians were continuing to line up outside the embassy, hoping to board a military plane back to Canada. Around 75 people were seeking shelter in the embassy compound, jammed into a tennis court and small garden. Embassy workers are bringing food from their homes to help feed the evacuees. More than 250 Canadians had been evacuated by Friday afternoon. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said there are some 1,415 Canadians officially listed as missing in Haiti, a number that may be inflated because of communications problems. The government estimates there are some 6,000 Canadians living in the country. Among those still missing is the senior Canadian police officer in the country, the RCMP's Doug Coates. Up to 10,000 U.S. troops were expected in Haiti or off its shores by Monday to distribute aid and prevent potential rioting among desperate earthquake survivors. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the total U.S. presence in and around the beleaguered country could rise beyond 10,000 as U.S. military officers determine how much assistance may be needed in the days ahead. Hundreds of U.S. troops touched down in Port-au-Prince overnight and were handing out food and water to stricken survivors, including more than 100 paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, boosting the U.S. military presence to several hundred on the ground here. Others have arrived off Port-au-Prince harbour on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. As temperatures rose, a stench of death lingered over Port-au-Prince, where countless bodies remained unclaimed in the streets. Hundreds of corpses were stacked outside the city morgue, and limbs of the dead protruded from the rubble of crushed schools and homes. Experts say people trapped by Tuesday's quake would begin to succumb if they go without water for three or four days. Across the sprawling, hilly city, people milled about in open areas, hopeful for help, sometimes setting up camps amid piles of salvaged goods, including food scavenged from the rubble. In his third such update from the White House in as many days, President Barack Obama promised an expansive U.S. effort to help Haiti survive its disaster, not just in the push to save lives but as part of a longer-term effort to help rebuild the country. Obama, said he spoke for 30 minutes with Haitian President Rene Preval and pledged full U.S. support for both the immediate recovery effort and the long-term reconstruction. "The scale of the devastation is extraordinary, as I think all of us are seeing on television," Obama said. "The losses are heartbreaking." Obama was scheduled to meet Saturday with the two presidents who preceded him in the Oval Office, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in an effort to get the American people more broadly involved in the recovery effort. In a joint news conference at the Pentagon with Mullen, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the primary goal is to distribute aid as quickly as possible "so that people don't, in their desperation, turn to violence." -With files from The Associated Press Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Post by vishvasattva on Jan 16, 2010 7:02:41 GMT 4
Hey Dan, Marcia & All other GT Members,
This is my first post, here, which I wish was under better circumstances.  My heart goes out to all those suffering in Haiti! I've spread the word among my FB friends, re the various avenues of making donations. Although the money is pouring in at a phenomenal rate, I pray we'll start seeing the results as soon as humanly possible!
Here's the latest reliable update I could find re the current situation:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/01/14/VI2010011403304.html
It seems to me that the spread of infectious diseases will be one of the toughest problems to combat. Let's hope the medicine will begin to get to those who need it the most!
Come together & we will make a difference!
Regards,
jp Jimmy, play the solo from All of My Love! Please? |
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Post by nodstar on Jan 16, 2010 10:47:13 GMT 4
Chaos in Haiti as aid arrives after earthquake[/size] By Andy Gallacher BBC News, Haiti news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8462902.stmSLIDE SHOW OF IMAGES AID BEING DISTRIBUTED
CLICK HERE[/SIZE] news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8462908.stmUS soldiers load a helicopter with water at the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 15 January 2010 International aid is being channelled through Haiti's airport The airport here in Haiti has now become the central hub for the huge aid operation that is now finally under way. The Haitian government have handed over control of the entire facility to the American military, who are here in large numbers. US soldiers have started the tricky operation of controlling the massive amount of air traffic that is now flooding in, and aid agencies from across the globe are arriving minute by minute. It is though still incredibly disorganised. "The situation is what it is," says Capt Justin Doyle, who is normally based in New Jersey. "It's great to see so many organisations and countries coming together to deliver aid at this time. "Obviously it's chaotic, but when people come together and they got a good purpose you can make some good things happen out of chaos, and I think that's what's happening right now." But the fact remains that much of the aid - tents, blankets and medical supplies - is still sitting on the runway in Port-Au-Prince. Bodies on bonfires A short distance from the airport in one of the city's poor neighbourhoods the scenario is all too familiar. An injured woman is helped in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 15 January 2010 There are few facilities to treat those injured in the earthquake The people, hiding from the hot sun under makeshift shelters, can hear the planes coming in and they spend much of the day gathered around radio sets listening to the promises of aid from wealthy nations across the world. "We need help, we have seen nothing so far, nobody comes," says a local resident who goes by the name of Herbie. "We have a lot of death right here. We scared to stay inside the houses because we don't know when something's going to happen, where is the help?" Despite concerns about security Haitians are showing incredible patience but it is now being severely tested as the hours pass. Many of those who have received horrific injuries are being treated by their friends and family. The equipment they have is rudimentary at best, and in many cases the treatment fails and yet more people die. The stench of corpses across Port-Au-Prince is everywhere, in some places the bodies are being piled onto bonfires that emit an even more putrid odour. Haitians are now leaving this devastated city but the thousand. By car, moped and on foot they are getting out with no real destination, just away from what has become a mass grave.
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Post by nodstar on Jan 16, 2010 11:10:22 GMT 4
Haiti quake: Survivors' stories[/SIZE] Friday, 15 January 2010 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8459090.stmStories of survival after Haiti's devastating earthquake have been few and far between. Some, however, have been trapped in the rubble and still managed to survive a natural disaster that may have killed tens of thousands of people. Their stories are below. MIA, TWO-YEAR-OLD HAITIAN GIRL[/SIZE] A team of UK firefighters have described pulling two-year-old Haitian girl, Mia, from the rubble where she had been trapped for three days. Officers from the city of Manchester said the operation was "lengthy and difficult", undertaken beneath Haiti's searing heat. "One of the teams managed to reach Mia who was trapped under piles of rubble under a kindergarten school that had totally collapsed," a spokesman said. Chief Officer Mike Thomas said: "This is what we do the job for. The conditions we are working in are pretty dire. This is a real bonus to us all". Mia's rescue comes a few hours after Spanish rescuers pulled another two-year-old child, Redjeson Hausteen Claude, from the rubble. Covered with dust, he seemed to smile as he saw he was reunited with his mother. SARLA CHAND, US NATIONAL[/SIZE]  The 65-year-old physician from New Jersey was pulled alive on Thursday - after spending more than 50 hours buried under the rubble of the collapsed Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince. Sarla Chand eats a biscuit after being rescued in Port-au-Prince. Photo: 14 January 2010 Sarla Chand says there were other trapped survivors with her She was rescued by French, Spanish and US teams and later given a biscuit to eat. Sarla Chand says she had been communicating with another five people trapped with her until the moment she was dug out. The rescuers were desperately searching for several other apparent survivors under the Montana Hotel. TARMO JOVEER, ESTONIAN UN PROTECTION OFFICER[/SIZE]  Many of the thousands of UN peacekeepers, diplomats and development experts who live and work in Haiti were among those affected by the earthquake. At least 100 are still missing. Estonian protection officer Tarmo Joveer moments after being rescued Tarmo Joveer was given water via a rubber tube US Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday told the tale of one UN staff member found beneath the rubble of the international body's collapsed headquarters in Port-au-Prince. Estonian protection officer Tarmo Joveer, Mr Ban said, was only found after "scratching sounds" were heard and was kept alive by being "given water through a rubber pipe". He was eventually rescued from where he was trapped, beneath some 4m of rubble. "It was a small, small miracle during a night which brought few other miracles," he said, adding that Mr Joveer had been transported to a hospital in Argentina for treatment. JILLIAN THORP, US AID WORKER, AND HER HUSBAND, FRANKFrank Thorp, a US citizen in Haiti, says he drove about 100 miles (161km) to Port-au-Prince immediately after Tuesday's earthquake to rescue his 23-year-old wife Jillian, an aid worker. Jillian Thorp  Jillian was completely trapped underneath about a foot of concrete "We had a six-hour drive... And by the time that I got here my wife Jillian was still trapped underneath the rubble of our house," Mr Thorp told CBS's Early Show. "It's hard to describe how I was feeling. I wasn't really sure whether she was OK or not. I'd spoken to her on Skype for about 10 seconds, she said that she was trapped. And that's all that I knew. It was absolutely terrifying." Frank says that when he arrived there he found out that the entire house - a three-storey concrete building - had collapsed. "She [Jillian] and one other person... were completely trapped underneath about a foot (30cm) of concrete. We had to plough bricks and bricks and bricks... and doors and metal away for at least an hour before we were able to get her and her co-worker out Frank Thorp "I jumped into the hole and I was able to see her waive her hand; I couldn't see her whole body... I could hear her voice..." He said his wife was saying: "Just get me out of here!" "We had to plough bricks and bricks and bricks... and doors and metal away for at least an hour before we were able to get her and her co-worker out," he said.
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Post by nodstar on Jan 16, 2010 11:38:02 GMT 4
BBC footage of
Aerial view of Haiti earthquake devastation[/size] Click here[/size] news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8462708.stm?lsFootage from the air shows the extent of damage in Haiti caused by Tuesday's devastating earthquake. Collapsed buildings appear widespread, while people can be seen sheltering in camps, queuing for aid and pleading for help. The disaster has left as many as 50,000-100,000 people dead. BBC footage of
Youths roam Haiti streets with weapons[/size] Click Here[/size] news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8462515.stm?lsYoung men have been roaming the streets of the devastated Haitian capital armed with machetes, as tensions grow following Tuesday's earthquake. Correspondents say survivors seem increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts. BBC footage
UN launches Haiti earthquake relief appeal[/size] Click here[/size] news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8462796.stm?lsThe UN has launched an appeal for $562m (£346m), to help victims of Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti. UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the funds were intended to help three million people for six months. The earthquake has left tens of thousands of people dead, and rescuers are continuing an increasingly desperate search for survivors. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would travel to Haiti on Saturday. The BBC's Matthew Price, outside the ruins of a nursing college in the capital Port-au-Prince, says he has been told by a female member of staff that there could be 260 dead bodies and up to 25 people still alive under the rubble. AT THE SCENE Matthew Price Matthew Price, Port-au-Prince Behind me is what remains of a five-storey building, a college of nursing that is now the size of a one-storey building. According to one of the members of management here, inside there were believed to have been more than 200 people who were crushed when that building came down. It is also believed that there are possibly 25 people alive in there. The reason for believing that is that last night a text message was received from someone who said they were inside, that they were very hungry, that they were very hot indeed and that they needed someone to come and rescue them. In the last few hours a Brazilian search and rescue team has been very, very slowly trying to get access inside. Their truck has now started moving away. A team of Brazilian rescuers is trying to gain access to the victims but progress is painfully slow, our correspondent adds. Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters news agency that 50,000 bodies had already been collected. "We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number," he said. The Pan American Health Organization has estimated that the death toll could be as high as 100,000, while the UN said about 300,000 had been made homeless. The US has announced it will grant leave to remain to thousands of illegal Haitian migrants living there due to the humanitarian crisis in their country. The chief of the homeland security department, Janet Napolitano, said they would be allowed to stay and work, initially for 18 months. Despair and anger Aid workers have been grappling with logistical problems as they attempt to distribute aid. The port is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris, although the main route from the Dominican Republic is now clear. This is a huge and a horrifying catastrophe, the full consequences of which we do not know John Holmes UN humanitarian chief In pictures: Aid effort begins How survivors are found Chaos as aid arrives Survivors' stories At the country's main airport, which is small and has been filled to capacity, US authorities took temporary control to help distribute aid more quickly. Correspondents say survivors seem increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts. Mr Holmes, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said a massive effort was being mounted and officials were "straining every nerve" to help. "This is a huge and a horrifying catastrophe, the full consequences of which we do not know," he said. He said almost half of the appeal money would be for emergency food aid, with amounts of between $20m and $50m for health, water and sanitation, nutrition, emergency shelter, early recovery and agriculture. Map Satellite and close-up images of Port-au-Prince devastation A total of about $360m has been pledged so far for the relief effort, but only part of this sum will be included in the emergency appeal. Mr Holmes earlier told reporters that 30% of buildings throughout Port-au-Prince had been damaged, with the figure at 50% in some areas. Many there have spent a third day without food and shelter in the ruined capital, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Haiti on Sunday, said distribution of food and medicine was under way. 'Unwavering support' The BBC's Nick Davis in Port-au-Prince says the only convoys he has seen are people leaving the city, in search of food, water and medicine. Correspondents say there is little official presence in Port-au-Prince despite incidents of looting. Mrs Clinton said she would visit Haiti on Saturday to assess the damage, meet government officials and convey to the Haitian people "our long term, unwavering support, solidarity and sympathies". Earlier US President Barack Obama described the scale of the devastation as extraordinary and the losses suffered as "heartbreaking". In a statement at the White House, he said the US would "do what it takes to save lives and help people get back on their feet". Haiti street image To magnify this image of Port-au-Prince mouse over the left-hand panel The US has already sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, to Haiti and the USS Bataan, carrying a marine expeditionary unit, is on its way. A hospital ship and more helicopters are due to be sent in the coming days, carrying more troops and marines, with the total number of US troops to rise to between 9,000 and 10,000. Aid groups say it is a race against time to find trapped survivors. Plane-loads of rescuers and relief supplies are arriving from the UK, China, the EU, Canada, Russia and Latin American nations. Gen Douglas Fraser, the commander of US Southcom, says around 90 aid flights a day are landing.
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Post by enki on Jan 17, 2010 1:29:11 GMT 4
The U.S. Military in Haiti: A Compassionate Invasion
By MARK THOMPSON/WASHINGTON – Sat Jan 16, 10:40 am ET
Louisiana became the 18th of the United States back in 1812, but you'd never have known it watching the Federal government's ham-fisted response to 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The Obama Administration is doing things differently: Haiti, for all intents and purposes, became the 51st state at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday in the wake of its deadly earthquake. If not a state, then at least a ward of the state - the United States - as Washington mobilized national resources to rush urgent aid to Haiti's stricken people. "Our nation has a unique capacity to reach out quickly and broadly and to deliver assistance that can save lives," President Obama said Friday. "That responsibility obviously is magnified when the devastation that's been suffered is so near to us." (See how to help the Haiti victims.)
Obama has already dispatched a senior member of his national security team, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, to the scene. An armada of U.S. warships is steaming toward Haiti, to be joined by at least one Coast Guard cutter en route from the Pacific via the Panama Canal - and manned and unmanned aircraft. Within two hours of the quake, one of the globe's biggest warships, the carrier USS Carl Vinson, was ordered from off the Virginia coast toward Haiti, swapping its jet fighters for heavy-lift helicopters as it steamed south at top speed. Three ships, including the Vinson and the hospital ship USNS Comfort, boast state-of-the-art medical facilities that will care for injured Haitians. Thousands of troops are on their way to Haiti or already there, running the airport and clearing ports for many more to follow. Up to 10,000 troops will be in Haiti or floating just offshore by Monday.
It fell to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley to clarify a delicate point: "We're not," he insisted, "taking over Haiti." Strictly speaking, that's true: Haiti remains a sovereign country, and there are 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers already there, charged with maintaining security. But as death stalks those smothered beneath the rubble of pancaked buildings, and poor sanitation triggers outbreaks of dysentery and other diseases, one nation in the world has the muscle to quickly make a difference. That's why the U.S. is racing aid to the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere. If things get worse, the U.S. - fairly or unfairly - will be blamed by many for not doing enough.
Sometimes it takes a catastrophe to demonstrate just how much more the U.S. military is able to do than simply kill the enemy. Only the U.S. can initially control flights into and out of the Port-au-Prince airport from aboard a nearby Coast Guard cutter, while waiting for an Air Force special-ops team to set up shop at the airport and step up operations to 24/7. Only U.S. warships have the capability to generate up to 400,000 gallons of fresh water a day from seawater. Only the U.S. military can send a spy drone from California to fly lazy orbits over Port-au-Prince snapping close to 1,000 pictures a day, which when compared with similar ones shot last summer, create a map of the hardest hit areas that can be instantly relayed to those working on the ground.
Only the U.S. military has enough aluminum matting to boost the runway capacity of Port-au-Prince airport. Only the U.S. military has the surveillance capability to quickly assess additional Haitian airfields and seaports for use in rescue relief operations. Only the U.S. military has the wide variety of vessels and aircraft to utilize those fields and ports, including air-cushioned vehicles capable of ferrying 60 tons of supplies from ship to shore at 40 knots. (See TIME's exclusive photos of the aftermath of the earthquake.)
But the limits of U.S. capability can also be seen: The Pentagon diverted an unmanned Global Hawk drone bound for Afghanistan to Haiti instead, to photograph the damage there. "We were about to send that Global Hawk over to the war" until the earthquake, explained Air Force Col. Bradley Butz. "It will stay here until the President says it's time to send it forward."
While the drone had no comment about its sudden change of mission, some of those bound for Haiti welcomed the new assignment after more than eight years of war. "Marines are definitely warriors first," Captain Clark Carpenter said Friday as his unit prepared to ship out to Haiti from North Carolina. "But we are equally as compassionate when we need to be, and this is a role that we like to show - a compassionate warrior that can reach out that helping hand to those who need it."
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Post by nodstar on Jan 17, 2010 4:45:05 GMT 4
Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airport[/size] By Deborah Pasmantier (AFP) – 2 hours ago www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guma2WKnHthswP2UVPiCIuLm_ocQPORT-AU-PRINCE — Anger built Saturday at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort four days on. "Let's take over the runway," shouted one voice. "We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama," cried another. Control remained in the hands of US forces, who face criticism for the continued disarray at the overwhelmed airfield. Dozens of French citizens and dual Haitian-French nationals crowded the airport Saturday seeking to be evacuated after Tuesday's massive 7.0 earthquake, which leveled much of the capital Port-au-Prince. But at the last minute, a plane due to take them to the French island of Guadeloupe was prevented from landing, leaving them to sleep on the tarmac, waiting for a way out. "They're repatriating the Americans and not anyone else," said Charles Misteder, 50. "The American monopoly has to end. They are dominating us and not allowing us to return home." The crowd accused American forces, who were handed control of the airport by Haitian authorities, of monopolizing the airfield's single runway to evacuate their own citizens. The US embassy denied it was putting the evacuation of the approximately 40,000 to 45,000 American citizens in the country first. Others waiting for a way out were taken aback by the chaotic scenes confronted them when they arrived at the Toussaint L'Ouverture airport. "I haven't been able to tell my family that I'm alive. The coordination is a joke," said Wilfried Brevil, a 33-year-old housekeeper. "I was at the Christopher Hotel," said Daniele Saada, referring to the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, MINUSTAH. "I was extremely shaken up. I was pulled out, the others weren't," added Saada, 65, a MINUSTAH employee. "I decided to return to France. I have nothing and now I am stuck," she said, caught between fury at the chaos and sheer exhaustion. The disorder even appeared to cause diplomatic ripples, with French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet telling reporters he had lodged a complaint with the United States over its handling of the Port-au-Prince airport. "I have made an official protest to the Americans through the US embassy," he said at the Haitian airport after a French plane carrying a field hospital was turned away. A spokesman for the French foreign ministry later denied France had registered protest, saying "Franco-US coordination in emergency aid for Haiti is being handled in the best way possible given the serious difficulties." The US ambassador to Haiti defended American efforts at the small airport, which was up-and-running 24 hours after the massive quake, even though the air traffic control tower was damaged. "We're working in coordination with the United Nations and the Haitians," said Ambassador Kenneth Merten, though he acknowledged some difficulties. "Clearly it's necessary to prioritize the planes. It's clear that there's a problem." Despite the chaos, a group of French citizens was eventually able to take off on Saturday, and the French plane carrying a field hospital landed safely around noon. Still, with aid continuing to flood into the quake-stricken country, concern remains about the lack of coordination at the airport, and across devastated Port-au-Prince. "The Haitians haven't been notified about the arrival of planes. And when they do land, there's no one to take charge and a large amount of goods are arriving without coordination," said Haitian government official Michel Chancy. On Port-au-Prince's streets, the consequences of the coordination breakdown are clear, as traumatized and starving quake survivors approached passing foreigner and begged them for food. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
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Post by stan on Jan 17, 2010 4:54:28 GMT 4
Yes, we're already a little tired. So what? We're fighting hard. We're underway. Our spirits are strong. Our hearts are pure. The beautiful people of Haiti will NEVER give up, and neither will we!  HAITI WILL RISE AGAIN! ANGEL EAGLES:
"Just because it's the right thing to do!" |
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Post by nodstar on Jan 17, 2010 4:56:24 GMT 4
Helping Haiti: The U.S. Navy Is Ready, But Aid Is Not[/SIZE] By TIM PADGETT / ON THE U.S.S. CARL VINSON Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1954343,00.html Looking out the windows of his flight bridge high above the Navy aircraft
carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, Rear Adm. Ted Branch watched large black H53 and
smaller gray Seahawk helicopters lining up on his deck Friday afternoon. Rotors roaring,
every chopper was set to hop the few miles to Port-au-Prince and deliver
desperately needed relief supplies to the millions of victims of the
earthquake that hit Haiti this week. Problem is, there still wasn't much
else in the way of emergency aid to airlift back into Port-au-Prince by
mid-afternoon, three days into the emergency. "We have a lot of lift out
there," Branch says. "But not much relief supplies to offer." (See TIME's exclusive photos of the Haiti earthquake.) When the carrier got word to head to Haiti hours after the massive Jan. 12 earthquake, it had hundreds of cases of water and Gatorade on board. The helicopters ferried those, along with some medical supplies, to the island nation soon after arriving offshore before dawn Friday. The Vinson also helped Medevac a U.S. citizen, who'd had his leg aputated after being crushed by a collapsed hotel in Port-au-Prince, to the ship's doctors. Friday was the first real day of large-scale coordinated relief
efforts for Port-au-Prince, where there is an initial estimate of 50,000
dead and millions more living without water, food, fuel and medical
resources. It's the worst humanitarian disaster to ever hit the western
hemisphere's poorest country, making quick delivery of relief supplies all
the more urgent. But the helicopters and forklifts aboard the Vinson, the
U.S.'s central relief platform since it arrived off Haiti's coast just
before dawn Friday, are still waiting for an appreciable flow of aid they
can carry across Port-au-Prince Bay, where the 3,000-man carrier is slowly
circling. "The biggest challenge is getting the supplies here so we can get
them out the population," says Branch. The campaign, he laments, "hasn't
come as far it could have come at this point." (See how you can help the Haiti victims.) Before the Vinson's arrival, the lion's share of aid was being flown
directly into the Port-au-Prince airport. But once there, its distribution
to the city and countryside has been stymied in large part because the quake
left so much of Haiti's ground transportation lanes all but impassable. As a
result, the only really efficient way to convey it is via helicopter —
and given the chaotic bottleneck that's developed at the airport, the
aircraft carrier is a better launching pad for them. The nuclear-powered Vinson had just come out of four years of drydock in
Norfolk, Virginia, when the 7.0-magnitude temblor struck. En route to its new
home port in San Diego, it was diverted to Haiti and moved at a rapid 32
knots for two and a half days, stopping only at Mayport, Fla., to pick up 15 additional large transport helicopters. Moving tons of bottled water, beans, blankets and plasma to a relief focal point like the Vinson doesn't happen overnight, of course. Still, now that the ship is off Port-au-Prince, it's unclear why the U.S. and other governments, as well as the U.N. and private aid agencies, didn't have more relief tonnage ready to move onto the Vinson from points like the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, just an hour's helicopter ride away. More supplies are expected to land on the Vinson on Saturday. If the supply pace isn't significantly accelerated this weekend, officials fear, civil unrest could start to compound the suffering in Haiti. The Army's 82nd Airbone division is expected to assist in the supply delivery campaign to preserve order. But getting the Vinson helicopters loaded and dispatched is the best way to avoid disorder. Friday morning, the carrier's officers, along with officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), President Obama's lead agency on the Haitian relief effort, scanned aerial photographs of the country to determine the best, least affected spots to land the choppers. While they made about a dozen sorties into Port-au-Prince easily enough afterward, the mountainous terrain outside the capital made landing the larger H53 helicopters there more difficult as did the threat of their rotors stirring up hazardous earthquake debris on the ground and possibly causing the aircraft to crash. As a result, the smaller Seahawks, though they carry less, may have to be used to get help to rural areas. The Vinson is also coordinating efforts with two Coast Guard cutters that arrived in the bay earlier. Three amphibious Navy ships are en route this weekend, and a Navy cruiser and two frigates are on standby. The Navy hospital ship Comfort is preparing at its port in Baltimore to come as well. Meanwhile, says Branch, the devastation onshore "is immense." So, he acknowledged, is the frustration of many aid workers who want to "get this process energized." And allow the admiral to use all the lift he's got at his disposal. Read "Earthquake Leads U.S. to Relax Policy on Haitian Refugees" Read more: www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1954343,00.html#ixzz0cpIpoE3G
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Post by nodstar on Jan 17, 2010 5:00:36 GMT 4
Yes, we're already a little tired. So what? We're fighting hard. We're underway. Our spirits are strong. Our hearts are pure. The beautiful people of Haiti will NEVER give up, and neither will we! HAITI WILL RISE AGAIN! ANGEL EAGLES:
"Just because it's the right thing to do!" Hiya Stan ..  Sending my love and support to the EAGLES TEAM  Nod |
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Post by ninathedog on Jan 17, 2010 5:01:02 GMT 4
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Post by ninathedog on Jan 17, 2010 5:11:32 GMT 4
UN: Body of top UN envoy in Haiti foundBy EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer– 1 hr 58 mins agoUNITED NATIONS – Rescuers recovered the body of veteran diplomat Hedi Annabi, who was in charge of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti when the earthquake struck and collapsed the U.N. headquarters building, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Saturday. Ban said the bodies of Annabi's deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, and the mission's acting police commissioner, Doug Coates, were also found. Annabi was meeting with an eight-member police delegation from China when the earthquake toppled the five-story headquarters building late Tuesday afternoon. Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, said its reporters witnessed Annabi's body being recovered from the rubble by a Chinese rescue team on Saturday afternoon. U.N. officials said Friday that roughly 100 U.N. personnel who worked at U.N. headquarters were missing and believed buried under the collapsed building where Chinese and Brazilian teams were still searching. Ban called Annabi, a Tunisian diplomat who worked for the U.N. for 28 years, "a true citizen of the world" and "an icon of U.N. peacekeeping." Annabi worked for Tunisia's foreign service and ran the National News Agency before joining the U.N. in 1981. He worked on humanitarian issues in Southeast Asia and was a key player in U.N. efforts to end Cambodia's civil conflict in the early 1990s. He joined the U.N. Peacekeeping Department in 1993 and rose to be assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping in 1997, a post he held until he went to Haiti as the secretary-general's special representative in 2007. "The United Nations was his life and he ranked among its most dedicated and committed sons," Ban said in a statement. "He gave of himself fully — with energy, discipline and great bravery," the secretary-general said. "A mild man with the heart of a lion, he is remembered by those who knew him for his dry sense of humor, his integrity and his unparalleled work ethic — he was the first in and the last out every day for his entire career." Ban said Da Costa, from Brazil, was also "a legend in U.N. peacekeeping operations" and "a mentor to generations of U.N. staff." "His extraordinary professionalism and dedication were matched only by his charisma and warmth, and his devotion to his many friends," the secretary-general said. "His legacy lives in the thousands that serve under the blue flag in every corner of the globe." Coates, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounter Police, was a long-serving member of the international law enforcement community, Ban said. "He was a true friend of Haiti and the United Nations," the secretary-general said. "He was a great police officer who believed to his core in the importance of rule of law and justice." news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_on_re_us/un_un_haiti_deaths
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Post by dan on Jan 17, 2010 5:28:39 GMT 4
Yes, we're already a little tired. So what? We're fighting hard. We're underway. Our spirits are strong. Our hearts are pure. The beautiful people of Haiti will NEVER give up, and neither will we! HAITI WILL RISE AGAIN! ANGEL EAGLES:
"Just because it's the right thing to do!" Hiya Stan .. Sending my love and support to the EAGLES TEAM Nod 
(Now, I hope everyone forgives, but I have to crack a whip on my team for a little while. Time is CRITICAL!)
Dan |
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Post by nodstar on Jan 17, 2010 6:47:48 GMT 4
Hey Dan and Team .. "May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be at your back" Love Nod |
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Post by nodstar on Jan 17, 2010 6:50:23 GMT 4
U.S. troops hand out meals as Haiti relief effort takes shape
January 17, 2010 -- Updated 0206 GMT (1006 HKT)[/size] edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.international.aid/Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- U.S. helicopters carrying food hovered above the ground in one area of the battered Haitian capital on Saturday, flinging out boxes to the anxious crowd. It was a chaotic scene as hundreds of Haitians without food and water for four days swarmed toward the boxes, ignoring the wind and dust kicked up from the helicopters' blades. A similar scene erupted Friday when a food convoy with the World Food Programme was forced to leave an area after men in the crowd starting pushing and shoving their way to the trucks. Elsewhere, people stood in long, orderly lines for food, according to a CNN crew, although anxiety about whether there was enough to go around permeated the wait. In Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, U.S. troops handed out about 2,500 meals Saturday, before they ran out. Seventy soldiers arrived with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Petionville to set up a distribution base and a landing zone for helicopters. They began handing out meals about 2 p.m. "Our goal is to get supplies out to the people who need it the most," Col. Mike Foster said. "We got a good start." Authorities set up more than a dozen aid distribution points across battered Port-au-Prince, as aid workers toted medical supplies into the battered island nation. Gallery: Devastation from Haiti earthquake Video: Cuba offers quake help Video: Food lines verge on chaos Video: Hungry survivors being fed Still, although some progress could be observed four days after Tuesday's devastating earthquake, problems persisted. Get the latest developments on Haiti A CNN crew observed U.N. World Food Programme personnel who were trying to move food from a warehouse damaged from the earthquake. The building has large cracks up its side, weakening the walls. Its doors could not be forced fully open to allow a forklift through, so workers were painstakingly hand-carrying the supplies out. Despite the difficulties, the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, said he did not believe that violence will increase, as long as distribution of food continues. "I think it won't get any more violent than it is now," he said. Also Saturday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush kicked off a fundraising drive -- a donation push called the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, similar to the appeal led by Clinton and Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, for the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami. The drive was announced at the White House, with President Obama flanked by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. "We're moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts in our history to save lives and to deliver relief that averts an even larger catastrophe," Obama said. Obama said his predecessors will tap into "the incredible generosity, the ingenuity, the can-do spirit" of Americans. See full coverage of Haiti The leaders said the best way for Americans to help Haiti is to donate money. "I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water," Bush said. "Just send your cash." Aid delivery has been slowed by damaged roads, the destroyed port and bottlenecks at the airport. As TV images showed people jostling for aid, U.S. officials reiterated what they said has been a continuation of relief efforts: Ongoing search and rescue operations; the establishment of 14 aid distribution points; finding alternatives to the damaged port, distributing water containers, water purification units, medical supplies, and establishing medical clinics and field hospitals. Israel was establishing a field hospital to treat thousands of victims from the earthquake, expected to absorb 500 casualties a day. The U.N. World Food Programme said it plans to reach 2 million people "with one-week rations of ready-to-eat food," and UNICEF said it is distributing water purification tablets, dehydration salts and other supplies, specifically to halt diarrhea infections and diseases. The U.S. Southern Command said the military is supplying many resources. About 4,200 U.S. military personnel are currently supporting task force operations, and 6,300 military personnel are scheduled to arrive by Monday, the command said. Aid efforts from the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier off the coast of Haiti, were in full gear Saturday, with flights transporting concrete-breaking equipment, medical supplies and water. Some of those flights are ferrying aid from the airport to the surrounding region and choppers have rescued two American citizens. The U.S. Agency for International Development said Saturday that the USS Carl Vinson has delivered more than 30 pallets of relief supplies for transport by helicopters. The U.S. Naval Ship Comfort pushed out of the Port of Baltimore for Haiti on Saturday and is expected to arrive late next week. A full-scale medical hospital, the craft is equipped with one of the largest trauma facilities in the United States. It was in Port-au -Prince in 2007, and again in 2009, on humanitarian missions, and its medical workers tended to many Haitians during those visits. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Haiti on Saturday, with top relief officials and aid. She returned to the States later Saturday with Americans who had been evacuated, State Department officials said. USAID chief, Rajiv Shah, who as traveling with Clinton, said some roads have been cleared in Haiti and that water purifications systems have been sent. A major shipment of medical aid was being trucked to Haiti through the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a Red Cross spokesman said. Six truckloads of "urgently needed medical equipment," including a field hospital, and 50 people specializing in health, water, and sanitation, were en route, he said. A Finnish Red Cross plane also landed in Port-au-Prince with a "badly needed mobile medical clinic, he said. CNN's Karl Penhaul, Arthur Brice, Elise Labott, Laurie Ure and Dugald McConnell contributed to this report.
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My heart goes out to all those suffering in Haiti! I've spread the word among my FB friends, re the various avenues of making donations. Although the money is pouring in at a phenomenal rate, I pray we'll start seeing the results as soon as humanly possible!
