" MIAMI – The U.S. military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States because of an apparent cost dispute, though a doctor warned that some injured patients faced imminent death if the flights don't resume.
The evacuations were temporarily suspended Wednesday, said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command. The flights were halted a day after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked the federal government to help pay for care. ......... "
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Haiti in desperate need ( 19 Jan , 2010 )
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Relief is not an instant thing , it has to be assessed and then personnel , equipment and supplies have to be sourced , possibly crews recalled from leave etc . And then it has to be transported . Anyway , 103,000 tons of U.S. aid is off the Haitian coast now . On the ground there is a need for communications , public health , food , heavy construction equipment , the port being reopened , roads cleared , the creation of secure air landing / dropping zones . Each of these examples poses it's own problems . Take food , fresh or dry , does it have to be prepared / cooked , if so how , how to distribute it , where is the food ( and water ) now ? What is the immediate solution , maybe boxes of snack food out of the back of C-130s , could make some people sick , but they should survive unless hit on the head by one of the falling boxes before it explodes on impact with the ground . ( Tip : put the box in a sandbag . ) A lot of lateral thinking will be going on and it all was required yesterday .
By now there should be one person in absolute control , no committees ( see : Cyclone Tracy ) . Tracy was different because the federal government already had constitutional power , there was a WW II precedent and significant national resources were available . Haiti is a sovereign country , nevertheless one person will get things done faster . ( One week later - no I did not believe it would happen , but it should have . )
One way of gauging how things are going is to observe the number and type of helicopters in use. Increased flights ( sorties ) indicate that the ground situation is improving and ( probably ) more machines are available . When larger models , such as the CH-53 Sea Stallion appear , heavier loads i.e. construction equipment , generators , etc. can be lifted over the damaged port and ground transport obstacles , as can casualties .
There is a suggestion that U.S. media have been overplaying the looting stories . The pre quake " good " areas are relatively safe , given what has happened .
Visiting Firemen ( VIPs ) plus press gaggles are mostly a distraction that those on the ground do not need at this early stage , they have to be fed and accommodated ( preferably in one man tents ) .
There is an area to the North of Dieura ( NW of Port-au-Prince , off Route ? 3 ) which looks to be flat agricultural land with trees ( palms ? ) . If the area was secure , could it be developed as a landing zone or a dropping zone , possibly using Low Level Extraction ( LOLEX ) from aircraft out of Guantanamo Bay or SE USA is another option with continuing Cuban cooperation .
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Cuba opens airspace to U.S. evacuation flights . See , most things are possible !
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CNN ( A good resource for finding legitimate organizations providing relief in Haiti can be found at : CNN.com/Impact . )
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AFP: Lancet blasts aid 'industry' in Haiti chaos ( The full text is HERE . )
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" In The Life You Can Save, philosopher Peter Singer, named one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time magazine, uses ethical arguments, provocative thought experiments, illuminating examples, and case studies of charitable giving to show that our current response to world poverty is not only insufficient but ethically indefensible. " ..... randomhouse
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Degrees of Devastation ( Interactive map )
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Ushahidi :: Crowdsourcing Crisis Information ( FOSS )
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Haiti Human Rights ( Amnesty International )
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Background Reading ( Haiti in the Balance , Brookings Institution Press , October 1, 2008 . The author was interviewed towards the end of the ABC Breakfast program for 21 January . Much of what he had to say would not be heard elsewhere and paints the canvas for what is happening in Haiti now .
This is the link to the video clip ( it will open a Real Player download to a temporary file , which can be watched in Real Player - the free Basic Player is OK . The segment was live , hence the scrolling news messages . The interviewer is talking Australian and Prof. Buss is talking American - excuse the humour in an otherwise depressing topic . ) :
" Haiti aid effort difficult
21/01/2010
Professor Terry Buss from the Heinz School says donor countries don’t want to give financial aid to the Haitian Government because it is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. "
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The book :
( On the Amazon page , click on the image of the book cover and then go to the Introduction to read the first few pages , they pretty well explain why Haiti had so many problems BEFORE the earthquake . Note : As we did for the Tsunami , all Amazon affiliate payments will go to Haiti through a local NGO . )
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Again , on an important ( but lighter ) theme , from a CNN person who had not done his homework : Low-tech radios connect some Haitians , the basis of the article is wrong and as someone who talked to Darwin the day Cyclone Tracey hit I took umbrage at one comment promoting satellite phones - " What happens if some nice bastard shoots the satellite down ? " , which is being " moderated " - maybe b*****d next time . Do have a look at some of the other comments . I wonder who would ask " Oh , is there something newer than my Collins S Line out there ? " ?
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Careful , the " report on anything you can syndrome " is happening , along with future insensitivity and apathy . Haiti could become a model for change in governance, globalisation , how NGOs operate and disaster relief on the grand scale ( which will become an increasing problem because of CLIMATE CHANGE ) .
Ex-envoy: Earthquake gives opportunity to reform Haiti ( Interestingly , in the background , the picture shows a container crane and stacked containers , which would indicate that the crane is functional . That crane should conservatively be able to move more in one hour ( more likely in 1/2 hour ) than either a Antonov AN-124 or 747-8 Freighter , given the airport could handle one . It is a hard fact , but that now operational crane will save more lives in the long term than a surgical team , an example of how tough priority decisions had to be made in the first few days . Sorry , looks like the crane in not working , see : Structural damage in Port-au-Prince hampers relief efforts . )
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G7 to forgive Haiti foreign debt
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Haiti is essentially a failed state and needs to be completely reconstructed , both politically and physically . There are too many problems to list , no building codes , etc. , etc. . Now there is the comparison with Chile . Somehow the fix has to start with the government by removing corruption and creating accountability .
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