factbat.com

In various articles detailing the ongoing crisis in the temblor shattered capitol city of Haiti’s Port-au-Prince, and surrounding regions, military advisors, government administrators and U.N. officials appear to be most interested in excusing away the snail -paced response to this crisis with accusations of obstacles such as random violence and social upheaval.

However, there are paltry examples of such, and most of the reports coming in are of the examples of indefatigable faith and sober acclimation to the crisis. Shows of pious faith by what are obviously a quite religiously motivated people, pervade the scenery. Pat Roberts certainly is deserving of a great deal of chastisement for his insensitive and unfounded insults directed at that entire country.

What appears to be one of the main concerns to the people in the region is that they be allowed to get involved in the process of responding to the crises at hand. The local people most certainly must be considered the first to be awarded whatever jobs are necessary to begin the demolition and rehabilitation of what is left of their beloved country.

As of yet there appears to be no actual consideration for the desires and concerns of the people who have lost their jobs, homes, friends, families and lives to this tragedy.

The people of Haiti seem to have managed this crisis with an astounding level of decorum given the magnitude of devastation amid a country which has for centuries been thrown into upheaval and destitution at the hands of enslaving overlords, corrupt leaders, foreign occupations and international apathy.

Military intervention has hampered many of the efforts of disaster relief workers, rescue teams and medical personnel.

More than 6 days after the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti, there are still droves of survivors, injured, infirmed, homeless, hungry, shocked and exhausted who are not receiving attention.

Furthermore, there are reports already surfacing which detail many concerns which military advisors placed above the relief aid needed for critically wounded victims.

Maintaining a military presence and protecting foreign interests appear to be at the top of a list of priorities which have little to do with actually rendering assistance to Haiti’s people.

What is remarkable is that in a video on MSNBC, where a cameraman rides along with U.S. military soldiers, U.N. forces appear to have fired tear gas at a crowd of able-bodied men which were gathering outside the airport seeking jobs.

However, there appear to be none of the angry responses or violent acts which typically follow these kinds of actions when they are employed by riot police in much of the rest of the world.

Not to say that those who respond in such a way are unfounded in their right to do so. But that it appears the Haitian people are to be commended for their ability to tolerate such abuse in the face of a tragedy which is likely, for many, one of the most horrifying and demoralizing experiences of their life.

There are complaints from medical personnel that the supplies they need, and have every reason to expect, are not available. Reports of calcifying bottlenecks in the delivery of aid clearly illuminate why these supplies are not reaching their destinations.

Diane Sawyer is definitely to be commended for her hard-hitting piece on ABC where she inquires of USAID Director Dr. Rajiv Shah as to why the response has been so slow.

She illuminates the fact that Israel deployed a team to the field which reached the region Friday and they are 6,495 miles from the crisis. Conversely, USAID’s lethargic response is has only had to traverse just over 700 miles and still appears unable to deliver much needed supplies and food in a timely manner.

Furthermore, the United States has only pledged 100 million to the effort, while Europe has pledge over 600 million.

Dr. Shah also stated that “the president asked for a swift and coordinated effort, and that is exactly we are doing”.

As asked pointedly by Mrs. Sawyer, and likely much of the country, is this really the best we can do?

Reports in the media continue to come in which detail looting and violence in the capitol city of Port-au-Prince. But then who could blame an exhausted and hungry populous that is “running on survival mode” as stated by a local official on a video from ABC.

Military personnel and security officials are claiming that they are afraid to air-drop supplies in an expedited fashion for fear that it will draw unruly crowds. However, this type of unfounded apprehension has no basis whatsoever given the situation on the ground,

Furthermore, in light of the fact that they are military forces who certainly should be as well trained at maintaining order as they are at creating disorder, humanitarian assistance to unarmed victims of a natural disaster of this magnitude should take precedence over fears of how that aid may cause those victims to react.

The strategic command of these forces should have mapped out a field response with no less than 15 centrally located drop points as hubs to over 100 satellite locations spanning a 20 to 40 square mile area where aid could be distributed. Possibly even more than one operational field. This author has limited knowledge of the area.

Regardless of just how many actual coordinates of the network would require implementation, the cooperation of the effort would have increased intelligence and communication within headquarters.

This type of response would have first spread the hot zone in a manner which would extinguished much of the social heat generated by the initial shock of the crisis. And would placed more of the required personnel, both military and civilian, in close proximity to those in need.

Using this kind of effort would also set up a network of collaboration which would be able to incorporate much of the local citizenry into the process, thus significantly increasing the work force necessary to succeed in more labor intensive capacities.

As far as the actual rescue teams and triage management, it appears that much of this effort was first accomplished by those closest to the devastation, and unfortunately far too many of those who fell in the initial collapse were killed.

It does, however, appear that there are many heroes in this crisis who in the aftermath will be more than deserving of recognition for their courageous and tireless efforts.

Once again, the factbat site conveys a most sincere and heartfelt response of commendation and hope to the Haitian people in this their hour of need, and all of the wonderful and compassionate first responders who are working tirelessly to meet the great need on the ground.