The new thread on relief to Haiti
World Responds to the Earthquake in Haiti
Fri, 2010-01-15 19:32
#1
World Responds to the Earthquake in Haiti
Fri, 2010-01-15 19:33
#2
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116102§ionid=351020706
Latin American nations have scrambled to deployed rescue workers, doctors and supplies to the earthquake-hit island of Haiti.
Rescue efforts stepped up as Haiti's prime minister warned the death toll may top 100,000 from Tuesday's brutal 7.0-magnitude earthquake that flattened much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Neighboring Cuba where also felt the quake and evacuated some 30,000 people following a brief tsunami alert, sent 30 doctors on Wednesday, according to Cuban media.
Some 400 Cuban medical staff already in Haiti were largely unharmed and two Cuban field hospitals in the capital, Port-au-Prince, had dealt with almost 700 wounded by early Wednesday, said Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Brazil said it was sending 10 million dollars in immediate disaster aid, including 28 tons of drinking water and food.
Peru will send two planes with 50 metric tons of humanitarian aid, mainly food, and 18 doctors and nurses and two field hospitals, the health minister said Wednesday afternoon, adding that Peruvian President Alan Garcia may accompany the mission.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez promised more aid after the departure of a first group of 50 doctors, firefighters and rescue workers from Venezuela early Wednesday.
Fri, 2010-01-15 19:38
#3
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_478159.html
The 82nd Airborne troops set up base at the airport, securing the entrance to the terminal where they began filtering US passport holders out of the crowd of hundreds of frustrated would-be refugees demanding flights.
A measure of order was restored, but there were confused and sometimes angry scenes as non-American diplomats tried to extract their own nationals from the crowd to usher them to rescue planes waiting on the tarmac.
Fri, 2010-01-15 20:07
#4
Frustrated Mess
In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba – despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.
Another significant number of young Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.
Fri, 2010-01-15 20:11
#5
Frustrated Mess
Meanwhile, the U.S. totally ignored the sound advice of the international Haiti solidarity movement – including groups like Oxfam, Partners in Health and Amnesty International. These groups insisted that Haitian democracy could only thrive if a vibrant and locally-controlled Haitian economy thrived – with deference to the country´s huge peasant movements. When Haiti´s first democratically elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was removed – not by a ´rebellion´ as recent US media have said - but by a U.S.-engineered coup, the solidarity movement and NGOs were proved right. Without a sound and independent Haitian economy, there could be no democracy. Period. Aristide´s sin was not that he courted Cuba (he did – and who wouldn´t, since Cuba alone has supplied doctors, engineers and educators for Cuba en masse), nor even that he dared propose a minimum wage of $5 a day (a day, not an hour!), but that he based his administration on a genuine Creole-speaking mass oeasant movement, Lavalas, which challenged the tiny Francophone elite with its ties to US business – a trend that the US had fostered since at least the early 1900s to replace France as the imperial power. A black country truly ruled by black masses was just not to be tolerated, a few miles from the only truly independent country in the hemisphere (Cuba). All of this continued a U.S. imperial approach to bind Haiti to U.S.. tutelage at the expense of its own economic health.
Fri, 2010-01-15 20:26
#6
http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2109
There are only two US media outlets that have reported on Cuba’s response to the deadly 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti. One was Fox News, which claimed, wrongly, that the Cubans were absent from the list of neighboring Caribbean countries providing aid.
...
The American emergency response, predictably, has focussed primarily, at least in terms of personnel and money, on sending the hugely costly and inefficient US military--a fleet of aircraft and an aircraft carrier--a factor that should be considered when examining that $100 million figure the Obama administration claims is being allocated to emergency aid to Haiti. Considering that the cost of operating an aircraft carrier, including crew, is roughly $2 million a day, just sending a carrier to Port-au-Prince for two weeks accounts for a quarter of the announced American aid effort, and while many of the military personnel sent there will certainly be doing actual aid work, delivering supplies and guarding supplies, many, given America’s long history of brutal military/colonial control of Haiti, will inevitably be spending their time ensuring continued survival and control of the parasitic pro-US political elite in Haiti.
Otherwise, the US has basically ignored the ongoing day-to-day human crisis in Haiti, while Cuba has been doing the yeoman work of providing basic health care.
But that’s not a story that the American corporate media want to tell.
Fri, 2010-01-15 20:34
#7
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/5067
Venezuela sent its first aid airplane to Haiti, a Bolivarian National Armed Force's Hercules C-130, with a fifty-strong advance humanitarian aid team on board, on Wednesday morning, after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake leveled the country’s capital Port-au-Prince, late Tuesday.
...
Aid is also beginning to flow from other countries, with Latin American countries being among the first to react. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sent a team of electricians to help with the repair of power lines as much of the country’s electricity and telecommunications systems were destroyed in the quake. Cuba is sending medical supplies and doctors, while Mexico is sending a team of doctors and rescue workers.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released $10 million from the UN’s emergency relief fund to assist aid efforts and called for member countries to do likewise.
Spain has pledged $4.3 million (3 million Euros) and 150 tonnes of humanitarian aid. France is also sending aid and rescue workers. Germany has pledged $2.18 million (1.5 million Euros), the Netherlands $2.9 million (2 million Euros) and Belgium, Sweden and Luxembourg are offering water purification equipment, tents, medical help, and search-and-rescue teams. The United States said it would send a team of 61 rescue workers.
Fri, 2010-01-15 21:01
#8
When countries are knocked flat by war and disaster, it's the middle class that helps to pull them to their feet.
But in Haiti, where 80 per cent of the people are below the poverty line, most of the budget comes from international organizations and foreign aid agencies deliver the majority of basic social services, the tiny middle class has a far larger role to play.
This week's devastating earthquake has put that, and Haiti's future as a functioning country, in doubt.
"There's been huge emigration from Haiti, which made it less viable and less governable," says James Morrell, director of the Washington-based Haiti Democracy Project. "Some of the educated people are still there, and they are capable of making plans and running systems. But this can only make things worse."
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/haiti/article/751030--who-will-be-left...
Sat, 2010-01-16 12:15
#9
RevolutionPlease
Sat, 2010-01-16 21:25
#10
Sun, 2010-01-17 05:17
#11
RevolutionPlease
Sun, 2010-01-17 08:36
#12
You can find a list of countries that are contributing [url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/where-haiti-aid-is-coming-from-20100115-mar4... It's not up to date and is missing a few major players. [url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147902174&pagename=JPost%... has sent a sizeable delegation and [url=http://www.aa.com.tr/index.php?option=com_haber&popup=hayrinti&haber_id=... together with the Turkish Red Crescent[/url] has made a major contribution. I'm sure there are others that I don't know about.
Sun, 2010-01-17 10:18
#13
Another personalized update
Lamp for Haiti has a project in Cite Soleil which is a medical and legal clinic. They also have school projects. We still have no word from our school project in Cite Soleil and so the volunteers from Lamp for Haiti are going to send us updates from Soleil and see if they can get info for us. This is an update from their organization. I met Dr. Jim Morgan, one of the medical clinic support doctors from New Jersey, last May when I was in Haiti. We shared several great conversations over a glass of good Canadian whiskey that I had bought at the Caribbean Market. (The market, an upscale supermarket in Petionville, is no longer standing.) Their clinic is built in a district called Bwa Nef in Cite Soleil and actually on the site of a former gang headquarters. Dr. Morgan is presently in the Dominican Republic waiting to travel to Haiti. The Dominican Republic is the alternative entry point since the bottleneck at the airport in Port au Prince is making entry very difficult. He will try and get to their clinic later today, Sunday. The clinic manager in Cite Soleil has reported that there is no water, food or any sign of emergency assistance in Cite Soleil. The security situation has dramatically deteriorated in the area.
Dr. Morgan is currently in the Dominican Republic waiting to travel to Haiti. Once I get his updates from Cite Soleil I will pass them along here. They spoke to their clinic manager yesterday at 5:30pm. She reported that there was no water, food or any sign of emergency assistance in cite Soleil. She also said that the security situation has dramatically deteriorated. The staff physician Dr. J. Benoit Prosper, Clinic Manager Myrlene "Mimi" Dominique and Nurse Ms. Flor survived the quake uninjured. Nurse Astrude Tabois has a badly injured ankle. Another colleague has remained out of contact and there is no word on his status.
Their clinic is still standing with the main buildings intact but damaged. This was one of the only free clinics in all of Cite Soleil, an area that houses almost a quarter of a million people. The surrounding fields are most likely filled with injured people with no other place to turn to. When Dr. Morgan arrives he will be one of the first non-military humanitarian assistance allowed to enter the country. The Ports are not operational making non-military shipping almost impossible at this point.
It is my personal hope that one of my updates will soon have some good news of our school project, friends and colleagues in Cite Soleil. There is now a new danger for them even if they have survived. Disease, lack of water, food, and despair as they see relief efforts elsewhere but none so far for them.
While people are posting ways to help please keep our group in mind. www.twawareness.org I will be traveling this May 2010 as scheduled to Haiti (our regular trip schedule) with the group in order to start whatever rebuilding is needed. Our philosophy is to go and ask first what the community needs. They organize and control the projects. We invest the funds and whatever other help is needed. We simply get more done that way. If the school is no longer standing it may very well not be a priority in May but they were designing it to be a community hub as well as a school. We were about to finish the next stage which was a second story. This second story would also be used for a high school. One of the first ones in Cite Soleil.
Sun, 2010-01-17 21:02
#14
344 Cuban Medics Treat Earthquake Victims
There are 344 Cuban medics working in Haiti today, they have two improvised hospitals where they are providing services to the earthquake victims. Only two of them were injured in the earthquake, both of whom have received treatment for minor injuries and remain there to assist the disaster victims.Cuban doctors are working in all 10 "departments" (administrative regions) of Haiti. They are assisted by approximately 400 Haitian medical interns who have completed medical degrees on full scholarships in Cuba.
Cuba has provided free public health care to the poor of Haiti since 1989 - the only public medicine available in that country. During the recent coup and subsequent US/French/Canadian invasion which deposed the Aristide presidency, Cuban doctors continued to provide medical care when other hospitals closed down and other doctors fled the country.
Cuban doctors will go where no doctor has gone before, live in conditions that no doctor has ever lived in before and deliver life saving medical care to people who have never even seen a doctor before. And they do all this for free. Each doctor feels privileged to be able to use their skills to help people who are in such desperate need of medical care. 35,000 Cuban medics currently provide healthcare in 78 countries around the world, more than the World Health Organisation and Medecins sans Frontiers put together.
Cuban doctors have unique experience of working in earthquake zones in third world countries without infrastructure. There are Cuban medics currently working on the frozen slopes of the Himalayas in Pakistan following their unmatched medical support provided during the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Many hiked for days over mudslides to reach the isolated communities of the region to deliver medical assistance. To this day, Pakistanis parents in the earthquake region name their children after the Cuban doctors who helped deliver them.
Mon, 2010-01-18 05:56
#15
Unfortunately, we respond better to singular victims than we do to mass suffering. I'd also suggest that we respond better to new situations of suffering than those that have gone on a long time.
Mon, 2010-01-18 07:17
#16
On the other hand, some people just don't care at all.
Mon, 2010-01-18 07:33
#17
Maysie
The Angry Black Woman on US media coverage of the disaster in Haiti, racism, and colonial history. The article contains many excellent links / references to the world's contributors to aid to Haiti.
Why is American tv coverage of the Haitian disaster driving me to drink?
posted by unusualmusic at TheAngryBlackWoman.com
Chris Matthews is on my tv carefully saying how much Haiti's problems are due to its politics. He is also congratulating the US on how much its image will be burnished because of how quickly it is responding to the crisis. Really. Yes, really. And aren't we the greatest country in the world?
And most of the reporters that are on my tv are emphasizing how poor and desperate Haiti's people were before the quake. And how sad isn't it, that this country has never been able to get its act together oh my! But don't worry, America's there to save them now. And aren't we the greatest country in the world? And not ONE of the assholes has mentioned that the United States and the French were and are a main cause of the poverty, and dictatorship and blood shed.
Scroll down, and down, to see the lists of countries who are contributing aid, food and water to Haiti.
Mon, 2010-01-18 09:42
#18
Go Home US Military
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/18/go-home-us-military-haiti-doesnt-n...
"The US is not hiding its imperialism behind the UN anymore. Its come out into the light. Right now you need State Department clearance to land in Haiti.
The issue is not emergency rescue anymore. Emergency is immediate, it's within 48 hours. That's over. The people who could have been saved under the rubble and metal have mostly died.
International assistance has never helped Haiti's pain and it's not helping the bulk of the earthquake survivors right now - mostly the more privileged classes as per usual.."
Caricom Blocked as US Takes Control
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/18/caricom-blocked-as-us-takes-contro...
"The Caribbean Community's emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devastated country's airport, now under the control of the US.
On Friday the US State Department confirmed signing two 'Memoranda of Understanding' with the Government of Haiti that made official that 'the United States is in charge of all inbound and outbound flights and aid offloading.."
Mon, 2010-01-18 10:17
#19
Hey it's Monday I'm going to paint a big bullseye on my chest (=
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of taking advantage of the deadly earthquake in Haiti to occupy the Caribbean country.They are occupying Haiti undercover, he said."
From the previous thread- of course!
The west is using this disaster to secretly move soldiers in to the country to occupy it. We will install a puppet government and then send the "local soldiers" to Iraq and add them to the coalition of the willing.
The military is ALSO the best "first responder" to crises like this...
The biggest concern in the wake of a disaster is security. Security for the locals. Security for the relief workers. Security for the supplies.
I hate to say it but in situations like this a darker side of humans come out. The survival of the fitest switch gets thrown and people can throw ethics and morals our the window.
We're seeing news stories of armed gangs fighting each other for food water etc..
Hate it as much as you want but the ability to provide security is a paramount.
Next is the ability to pick 1000 people up out of a community and them leave for 3 months. Military communities are designed for this. Those of us with children, how many of you can pack your bags and be out the door by Thursday? Who is going to watch your children? What if you're a single parent? Who is taking them to school?
One of the best resources in the wake of a disaster is manpower. [Not MAN-power but a large body of people].
Healthy physically fit motivated disciplined men and women who are trained to work in harsh living conditions.
Everyone keeps asking why is the aid taking so long to get handed out. That's a great question that needs to be screamed over and over. Sadly it's been asked before and will probably continue to be asked.
Here are some of the reasons I see why aid is so slow to be handed out.
Communication;
Having worked with other countries I can tell you that communication is simultaneously one of the most important things yet always lacking. In a perfect world everyone would work together but in reality we have constant communication break downs. From something as simple as language to companies that have different operating procedures.
Example.
Red cross and Red Crescent each have half a truck worth of supplies. Only one truck is available what do you do? Well just put them both on the truck and hand it out right? Not that easy.
The red crescent just wants to get this stuff handed out ASAP.
The red cross however cannot load everything onto the truck UNTIL everything is accounted for and recorded (Need to keep track of where donations go). Red Cross needs to wait until a supervisor comes to sign off everything before they can load it. So why not just let the red Crescent load their stuff up and get it sent out? Not that easy. The truck company is under strict orders to make sure every truck is full and they won't send out a half full truck. maybe they don't get paid as much.
That example sounds absolutely crazy doesn't it? Well I can tell you from experience this is the exact kind of problems that pop up. Little chicken shit stuff like this can have drastic repercussions.
Trust;
Not only do we have different companies from the same country working together but from other countries. Even when companies from the same country work together they don't trust each other to get the job done. Big tendency to micromanage. Add in another country and blammo. Time is wasted pissing around looking over each others shoulders.
Ego;
The military thinks they have all the answers. The NGOs think they know the best way to get the job done. Local organizations [Or groups that were there pre-disaster] think everyone should follow their lead. Time gets wasted figuring out who should be in charge who has the best approach who has the best plan who should do all the shit jobs.
Sometimes the reasons why shit isn't getting done is the weirdest unimaginable things. Someone forgot to load the yellow battery charger for the forklift and now the forklifts are just sitting around. Just get some people to handbalm the supplies off the planes. But the company that owns the plane only lets forklifts unload the planes they won't cover any medical expenses for people who may get hurt unloading their aircraft. More waiting while that gets sorted out.
So many stupid little unimaginable problems pop up and it's the little things that slow everything down.
Mon, 2010-01-18 10:28
#20
Catchfire
Pet Peeve #274:
11 Canadians confirmed dead in Haiti
So, 200 000 Haitians or so will likely die because of Western influence--now apathy, now aggression--but we continue to focus on the handful of Canadians who also sadly perished. Why? So we can relate to the story? Because mass Haitian graves aren't empathetic enough?
Mon, 2010-01-18 10:37
#21
11 confirmed dead 859 still missing.
Mon, 2010-01-18 11:12
#22
Crushing Haiti, Now as Always
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01152010.html
"When a Haitian minister skims 15 percent of aid money it is called 'corruption' and when an NGO or Aid Agency takes 50%, it is called 'overhead'."
Haiti: Where America Never Learns:
http://www.counterpunch.org/reeves01152010.html
"The only alternative to America's unlearned lessons on Haiti, is for international Haiti solidarity to revive and for the UN Peacekeepers to get off the back of Lavalas activists, and allow the reinvigoration of that revolutionary movement.."
Mon, 2010-01-18 11:47
#23
Frustration Mounts Over Haiti Aid:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011831019984373.html
"People could see helicopters flying overhead, US military vehicles in the city and aeroplanes arriving at the airport with supplies, so it was difficult to understand why little aid appeared to be reaching the people.."
US Denies 'Haiti Occupation'
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011853210304808.html
"a spokesman for the US State Department rejected suggestions that US military needs were taking priority over the needs of quake survivors. 'The democratically elected government of Haiti is in charge,' he said.
His comments followed criticism from foreign governments and aid groups that the US has prioritised military needs instead of humanitarian ones after taking over operations at the Haitian capital's airport.."
Mon, 2010-01-18 11:58
#24
Haiti: MSF cargo plane with full hospital and staff blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince
http://www.msf.ca/news-media/news/2010/01/haiti-msf-cargo-plane-with-ful...
Mon, 2010-01-18 13:16
#25
'A Lootin an A Burnin': Media Disinformation on Haiti
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17044
"Thus far..the rescue teams cluster at the high profile and safer walled sites and were literally afraid to enter the barrios. They gravitated to the sites where they had secure compounds and big buildings. Meanwhile in the poor neighbourhoods, awash in rubble, there was not a foreigner in sight.."
War Criminals Peddle 'Humanitarian' Aid to Haiti
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17041
"On Sunday, Bill Clinton and George W Bush mounted the corporate media platform and complained about the politicization of the Haitian relief effort.."
What Bush did to Haiti
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17036
"The February 29, 2004 Coup D'etat instigated by the Bush administration"
Mon, 2010-01-18 14:09
#26
Canadian Forces Head to Port Town of Jacmel:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/18/haiti-jacmel-canada.html
"Canada's disaster response team in Haiti will focus its aid efforts on the port town of Jacmel, Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche says. Laroche said he travelled with Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive to see the damage in the town of 40,000 - a popular tourist destination.."
Mon, 2010-01-18 14:36
#27
BBC - Haiti: Aid Workers Diaries
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458915.stm
"I spoke to a surgeon yesterday, and he was so frustrated and stressed about the fact that five patients he saw yesterday needed immediate surgery. But he can't save their lives because they don't have a proper operational theatre. We need more space to perform surgeries, which the inflatable hospital will provide - if it ever comes!
So it's getting worse because the patients who were not critical only 3 days ago, are now in critical phases. This means people will die from preventable infections.
It's horrible, it's really so terrible that people are begging for help and we can't help them..."
Mon, 2010-01-18 15:08
#28
More Troops, Aid for Haiti - But Pace Decried:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/haiti/article/752148--more-troops-aid-...
"But help was still not reaching many victims of Tuesday's quake - choked back by transportation bottlenecks, bureaucratic confusion, fear of attacks on aid convoys, the collapse of local authority and the sheer scale of the need.
'We don't need military aid. What we need is food and shelter,' one young man yelled at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to the city Sunday.
'We are dying,' one woman told him.
Haitian riot police meanwhile fired tear gas to disperse crowds of looters in the city's downtown..."
Mon, 2010-01-18 15:55
#29
US Military Tightens Grip on Haiti
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j18.shtml
"Amid the humanitarian tragedy following the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Washington has concentrated on establishing indefinite military control of the country. Fearing mass protests and riots by desperate Haitians against inadequate rescue efforts, US logistical efforts are focused on massing tens of thousands of troops for use against the population.
The US military intervention in Haiti is criminal in both form and content.
Disguised as a humanitarian rescue operation, its main aim is to build up the necessary firepower to terrorize the masses into accepting a shocking lack of treatment without protest.."
Bush, Clinton and the Crimes of Imperialism
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j18.shtml
"Bush and Clinton personify the pernicious and reactionary role that American imperialism has played in Haiti for the last century.
It is no exaggeration to say that the policies of their administrations have caused as much death and devastation in that country as last Tuesday's earthquake.."
Mon, 2010-01-18 16:58
#30
The US military intervention in Haiti is criminal in both form and content.
LOL
The US caused this earth quake just so they can come in and harvest bodies to use for their zombie army which they will send to Iraq. It's true. Haiti would be much better off with out the US military "helping" them.
Soldiers out of Haiti!
Mon, 2010-01-18 17:03
#31
All Hail the Benevolent Empire
Oh Hillary!!! Your presence lifts the spirits of the people.
The Haitians are now praying that Obama himself will come to share in their grief.
Mon, 2010-01-18 17:21
#32
The quake killed maybe 100,000 people, but every year over 200,000 children die in Haiti from starvation and disease. There is a real holocaust going on in Haiti every bit as bad as what was done by the Nazis to the Jews. The ultimate goal is the eradication of all people from haiti and the land turned over to Club Med so that a new Dom Rep can be created.
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:28
#33
Crushing Haiti, Now as Alwayshttp://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01152010.html
"When a Haitian minister skims 15 percent of aid money it is called 'corruption' and when an NGO or Aid Agency takes 50%, it is called 'overhead'."
Strange how the author is unable to actually identify any NGO's that are skimming 50% off of donations for overhead . . . or even say much about Haiti at all for that matter, seeing how much of the article is a weird tangent about Iraq and Afghanistan.
. . . every year over 200,000 children die in Haiti from starvation and disease.
[citation needed]
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:39
#34
Frustrated Mess
The old lady crawls in the dirt, wailing for her pills. The elderly man lies motionless as rats pick at his overflowing diaper.There is no food, water or medicine for the 84 surviving residents of the Port-au-Prince Municipal Nursing Home, barely a mile (1 1/2 kilometers) from the airport where a massive international aid effort is taking shape.
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:41
#35
Frustrated Mess
However, another MSF cargo plane carrying vital medical supplies to replenish stocks for Choscal hospital, where an MSF team is working on a backlog of patients needing surgery, was not allowed to land in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, January 17, and was forced to re-route to the Dominican Republic, where it landed. Choscal hospital will run out of medical supplies in less than 24 hours and its cold chain system for preserving medicines and vaccines at the proper temperatures could be compromised if this cargo plane is not able to fly into Port-au-Prince immediately.
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:44
#36
Frustrated Mess
THE CARIBBEAN Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devasted country’s aiport, now under the control of the United States.
Consequently, the Caricom ’assessment mission’, that was to determine priority humanitarian needs resulting from the mind-boggling earthquake disaster of Haiti last Tuesday, had to travel back from Jamaica to their respective home destinations..
On Friday afternoon the US State Department confirmed signing two ’Memoranda of Understanding’ with the Government of Haiti that made ’official that the United Stateas is in charge of all inbound and outbound flights and aid off-loading...’
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:47
#37
"The government is a joke. The UN is a joke," Jacqueline Thermiti, 71, said as she lay in the dust with dozens of dying elderly outside their destroyed nursing home. "We're a kilometre from the airport and we're going to die of hunger."
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100117/100117_haiti?hub=C...
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:50
#38
Does Haiti have the capacity for managing this now? Someone has to. It might be the case that they don't have functioning air traffic control anymore. It would be nice if there were someone independent who could take this over but there isn't. Will the Americans take undue advantage? Hell yes, they always do.
Mon, 2010-01-18 18:54
#39
Frustrated Mess
"All the nation is feeling this earthquake -- the poor, the middle class and the richest ones," said Erwin Berthold, owner of the Big Star Market in Petionville. "But we did okay here. We have everything cleaned up inside. We are ready to open. We just need some security. So send in the Marines, okay?"
As Berthold stood outside his two-story market, stocked with fine wines and imported food from Miami and Paris, his customers cruised by and asked when he would reopen. "Maybe Monday!" he shouted, then held up his hand to his ear, for customers to call his cellphone.
Mon, 2010-01-18 19:07
#40
Frustrated Mess
US immigration officials had been refusing to allow children into the country until next weekend. However, as Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, arrived to assure Haitians that America stood ready to help “in any way we can”.
Where "anything we can" is the aid equivalent to "yes we can".
Mon, 2010-01-18 19:33
#41
Fractured Narrative - Haitian Calm - American Cynicism
"One can almost feel the disappointment amongst Western media mavens that earthquake stricken Haitians have not, in fact, degenerated into packs of feral animals tearing each other to pieces...the prophesied riots never seem to materialize. The media have sought strenuously to revive the bogus narrative that they foisted on the destruction of New Orleans 'Black Folks Gone Wild'. But thus far they have been palpably disappointed..."
Tue, 2010-01-19 03:06
#42
Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux - by Cynthia McKinney
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17063
"We note here the writings of Ms Marguerite Laurent, whom I met in her capacity as attorney for ousted President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ms Laurent reminds us of Haiti's offshore oil and other mineral riches and recent revival of an old idea to use Haiti as an oil refinery - to be built there as a trans-shipment terminal for US supertankers.
Ezili's HLLN underlines these 2 papers on Haiti's oil resources and the fowrk of DiGinette and Daniel Mathurin in order to provide a view one will not find in the mainstream media nor anywhere else as to the economic and strategic resources.
The US has constructed its 5th largest embassy in the world - 5th only besides the US embassy in China, Iraq, Iran and Germany.
In tiny Haiti..."
'Haiti est une lumiere' - Victor Hugo
Disaster Capitalism is Heading for Haiti - by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/01/disaster-capitalism-headed-to-hait...
"It's disaster capitalism, business is booming, and Haitians will soon feel its full fury under military occupation.."
Tue, 2010-01-19 03:44
#43
Left Turn
[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hcJOn30oU0t... bodies burn, Haitians pray, cry for help, angry at world's response[/url]
Angry survivors loitered amid piles of burning garbage in the Bel-Air slum. "White guys, get the hell out!" they shouted in apparent frustration at the sight of more and more foreigners in their streets who were not delivering help.They also sounded furious with President Rene Preval, who hasn't been seen at a rescue site or gone on radio to address the nation since the quake struck.
"Preval out! Aristide come back!" some shouted, appealing for a return of the populist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in 2004. From his South African exile, Aristide said last week he wants to return to Haiti, but spoke of no concrete plans to do so.
Tue, 2010-01-19 04:27
#44
France Criticizes US 'Occupation' of Haiti
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116503§ionid=351020706
"France is demanding the United Nations investigate and clarify the dominant US role in Haiti, after Washington deployed over 10,000 troops to the quake hit country.
The demand came after US Forces turned back a French aid plane carrying a field hospital from the main airport.
'This is about helping Haiti not about occupying Haiti' France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet said in an emergency EU meeting concerning Haiti on Monday.."
Tue, 2010-01-19 05:52
#45
Haitian's Desperate Wait for Food, Water - Tensions Mounting as Logjam Stalls Delivery of UN Relief Shipments
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/752527--haitians-desperate-wai...
Port-Au-Prince "They are telling the hungry here that food is on the way but the promises are proving as empty as Haitian stomachs.
Every day, the United Nations says tens of thousands of pounds of food lands in this city,
but it is nowhere to be found in the streets of Port au Prince..."
CBC - Aid to Haiti Increases Amid Desperation
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/01/18/haiti-earthquake.html
"About 7,000 military peacekeepers and 2,100 international police are in Haiti. Ban said Monday he asked the UN Security Council to add 2,000 troops and 1,500 police..
About 180 tonnes of relief supplies arrived Sunday, but scores of people on the street say none of it is reaching them...
Bottlenecks at the capital's airport and the damaged harbour have made it logistically difficult to distribute supplies...
Geneva based Doctors without Borders said: 'There is little sign of significant aid distribution.'..
The Exodus from Port au Prince and the Aid that Does Not Come (and vid)
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3742/haiti-report-telesurs-ree...
"unique ground level view of post-earthquake Port au Prince"
Tue, 2010-01-19 07:21
#46
Disease Fears in Quake Hit Haiti
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011925913148759.html
"Doctors working in the capital Port au Prince also said that many children, the weak and elderly are at risk of dying unnecessarily from diarrheal disease that could easily be treated with water and rehydration salts...
Jacques Lorblancher, a surgeon sent by the humanitarian group Doctors of the World told AFP news agency that he lost count of the number of amputations performed in the last 48 hours in Haiti..
I have never seen anything like this - infected wounds full of larvae he said. I did my first amputation with 3 forceps, scissors and a scalpel, without water and just a flashlight to illuminate the injury..There is gangrene everywhere and you amputate on the go.."
Haiti Quake - Aid Workers Diaries - BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8466633.stm
"none of the agencies are distributing medical supplies to the north of Haiti and this is now urgent..
we can cope provided we get the aid that everyone thinks they have given directed here now..
there has to be aid supplies right across Haiti. There were never any reserves in the hospitals before the earthquake.
And there is nothing now..."
Tue, 2010-01-19 07:52
#47
Haiti: Reports of Violence, fears of 'Undercover Occupation'
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8221
'the US is concentrating on getting military boots on the ground first. Accusing Washington of 'disaster imperialism' she charges the media with hyping reports of violence. An anonymous report from a Canadian in Haiti with the Canada Haiti Action network of a stark class/race disparity in responding to the injured. The aid workers say rescue teams are refusing to go into popular neighbourhoods because they fear 'violence'.."
Tue, 2010-01-19 08:03
#48
This is another update from Lamp for Haiti which runs a medical and legal clinic in Cite Soleil. Soleil still does not have coordinated international assistance.
Lamp Medical Director Dr. James Morgan has arrived in Port-Au-Prince and is seeing patients. He is safe, but communications are still limited, so our information is sporadic. We do know that the Lamp Clinic is still standing and will soon provide a location where emergency medical teams can stage to provide care in Cite Soleil, an area not yet served by large international aid efforts.
Humanitarian interventions must integrate human rights dimensions in order to ensure the most appropriate response to victims, before, during and after this disaster. To that end, Lamp Legal Director Thomas M. Griffin, Esq. will travel to Haiti on Saturday January 23. Like Dr. Morgan, Tom will take much needed medial and survival supplies. However, the awareness of human rights and the implementation of rights-based approaches in disaster management are still insufficient and must also be immediately addressed. The poorest and most vulnerable of Haiti must be targeted for priority assistance and empowerment.
Tue, 2010-01-19 08:21
#49
The Rescue Operation's Priorities in Haiti
http://www.counterpunch.org/valdes01182010.html
"The facts indicate clear priorities: the Haitians are not first in line. Seemingly the outsiders coming to help the people don't trust the natives, despite the fact that the Haitians are dying, hungry, thirsty, sick, homeless and with most of their families gone or lost..
Meanwhile the twice elected and twice removed political leader of the Haitians, Jean Bertrand Aristide, is not permitted to enter his own country. In fact, President Obama appointed one of those who ousted him - George W Bush to help 'supervise' the 'reconstruction of Haiti..
Meanwhile, for all intent and purposes there is no longer, except symbolically, a Haitian government.."
Tue, 2010-01-19 08:39
#50
[url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.abandoned.patients/] Security concerns cause doctors to leave hospital, quake victims [/url]
The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only doctor at the hospital to get the patients through the night.
CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the team out for the night. Gijs said he requested U.N. security personnel to staff the hospital overnight, but was told that peacekeepers would only be able to evacuate the team.
He said it was a "tough decision" but that he accepted the U.N. offer to evacuate after a Canadian medical team, also at the hospital with Canadian security officers, left the site Friday afternoon. The Belgian team returned Saturday morning.
It looks like Gupta is much more useful with CNN - good thing he turned down the Obama job:
Gupta -- assisted by other CNN staffers, security personnel and at least one Haitian nurse who refused to leave -- assessed the needs of the 25 patients, but there was little they could do without supplies.
More people, some in critical condition, were trickling in late Friday.
"I've never been in a situation like this. This is quite ridiculous," Gupta said.
With a dearth of medical facilities in Haiti's capital, ambulances had nowhere else to take patients, some of whom had suffered severe trauma -- amputations and head injuries -- under the rubble. Others had suffered a great deal of blood loss, but there were no blood supplies left at the clinic.
Gupta feared that some would not survive the night.
He and the others stayed with the injured all night, after the medical team had left and after the generators gave out and the tents turned pitch black.
Gupta monitored patients' vital signs, administered painkillers and continued intravenous drips. He stabilized three new patients in critical condition.
At 3:45 a.m., he posted a message on Twitter: "pulling all nighter at haiti field hosp. lots of work, but all patients stable. turned my crew into a crack med team tonight."
Tue, 2010-01-19 10:07
#51
I See No Evidence Of A Government Presence Here
http://www.counterpunch.org/morse01182010.html
"If the UN can't go where the The People need their help then what are they doing here?
If the UN can't gain the trust of the Haitians after 4 years then what are they doing here? Carrefour Feuille is a zone of destruction.
The fact I haven't seen an international presence in this case tells me that others are following the lead of the UN
I don't know what the details of the rescue efforts are.
I don't know how long someone can survive buried in the rubble."
More Than Aid, Haiti Needs Allies
http://www.counterpunch.org/tolu01182010.html
"Haiti has suffered enough - from the bellicosity of its affluent neighbors. And as if to punish Haitians further, mainstream media has made a circus of the crisis.
Only a courageous countervailing movement that stands strong for the dignities and humanities of Haitians - during the aftermath and beyond, when TV channels have moved on to the next circus.."
Witness To A Nightmare
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/18/witness-to-a-nightmare
"One of the things that you also notice when you go through the streets is that everyone's out there on their own. There was very little of the government or the UN in the efforts to find these bodies or help the injured. During our drive we only saw the UN in front of the place where their headquarters used to be.
If the UN mission here was really about helping the people of Haita, this would be the best place in the world to have an earthquake--not that you'd want one anywhere, but you'd have a huge peackeeping force that could help with the injured and rebuild the country.
But instead, in the course of a day or two, so many people died needlessly because they didn't get a bandage on their head wound.
I just read that the new estimate by local officials is 200,000 dead. I had originally read 50,000. If people who are still trapped don't get water, this number is actually conceivable."