Tragedy compounded by lack of initiative

[Flyvåpnet]

Please read the articles linked below:

BBC News - Haiti quake aid effort hampered by blockages
Bottlenecks and damage hold up aid efforts in Haiti after an earthquake thought to have killed tens of thousands.

Tensions Mount in Devastated Capital as Nations Step Up Aid Pledges to Haiti - NYTimes.com
Signs of tension and urgency were growing in the devastated capital as the police and government had all but vanished.

Time running out as aid fails to reach Haiti | World news | The Guardian
A massive international air and sea lift of aid to earthquake-devastated Haiti was struggling to overcome ­obstacles in delivering rescue teams and emergency help to the more than 2 million people in....

Then, please view these photographs:

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Please click on the image to view its full size.


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Please click on the image to view its full size.


Please click on the image to view its full size.


Please click on the image to view its full size.

Now, ask yourself:  what is going on, that emergency relief supplies are arriving in Haiti at barely a trickle?  We're told the airport is damaged, or there's no room at the airport for arriving aircraft and their supplies; or the port is damaged and ships cannot unload; or roads are impassible to trucks.  Shouldn't those facts have been known from the outset and plans developed accordingly?  Are there no barges to ferry cargo from ships anchored a short distance offshore?  Are there no helicopters to transport emergency medical and rescue teams?  Are there no parachutes to enable airdrops of supplies?  Journalists are not asking these questions; and I wonder why they are not.

The Dominican Republic is right next door to Haiti, with provincial capital Jimaní just 25 miles from Port-au-Prince, so why isn't the relief effort staged from various locations within that nation?  Surely there are open airports and undamaged ports in the Dominican Republic.  Helicopter sorties and airdrops could be staged from any number of places.  Instead, the international relief effort seems content to stand around with its thumb up its rectum waiting for ideal conditions to transpire within Port-au-Prince itself.

Hey, this is an emergency!  You don't wait for logistics to miraculously become perfect.  You roll up your sleeves and get to work!  To quote the title of a song recorded by Arthur Godfrey with The Too Fat Trio in 1947, the international Haitian relief effort is "Heap Big Smoke (But No Fire)" so far.  Does this remind anyone of the shabbily inadequate and slow-as-mud U.S. relief effort in the wake of hurricane Katrina?  Yeah.

CIA - The World Factbook -- Haiti

Haiti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

=^..^=

[Captn' Red]

Suits em right, they did make a pact with the devil you know?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/13/haiti.pat.robertson/index.html


Anyhow, this is some horrible shit, I'm lucky I live where I live.

[0235]

the worst part is that they were STILL recovering from the floods they had in 2008! so it was made even worse, and the UN building, probarbly the only local place of help, was also destroyed, so it was even worse

[Orion]

I think alot of the problems is getting the outer country to cooperate with all the relief efforts. The two countries might not get along with each other as well.