OT - What Really Counts -Think of Haiti - Page 9

"we KNOW there are going to be catastrophes.....every year. tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, fires, hurricanes etc. it happens every year - all over the world. we KNOW these things will happen. hodie listed 23 international organizations above and i know there are many many more. why is it that these organizations are never never prepared ahead of time?!?"

Because it would cost tens of billions of dollars every year to fund a true rapid response capability.

well, i guess we can make all sorts of arguments for why these supplies and aid can't reach the victims, but the fact remains that as each day passes the situation worsens and help becomes less effective.  i'm not trying to pick a fight here, but just trying to point out that hundreds of millions in aid doesn't account for much if we can't get it to the victims in time to do any good.  bringing aid to corpses is ridiculous.  furthermore, if reporters manage to get into these places by helicopter or whatever, why can't the aid workers do the same?  i still say 4-5 days is just too long.  we need to get help to them much faster.
pjp

The organizations I listed are organizations who were, for the most part, in Haiti already doing work teaching literacy, educating children, feeding them, providing medical care, caring for orphans etc. (Haiti probably had 400,000 orphans PRIOR to the quake).  Most of these aid organizations, including United Nations troops and the senior leadership were severely affected as well. Doctors without Borders was decimated and quickly ran out of supplies. Why? Because thousands and thousands of people were injured, many severely. One often does not understand and has such questions just BECAUSE one has never been involved in such organizations and scenarios, including fire/rescue/SAR/Emergency response. It is a task that is almost impossible in such a catastrophic situation as this is. None the less, given the situation, the response has been very rapid as such disasters go.

The problems with getting aid to people in such a large scale disaster are many and well beyond the scope of this forum. Rescue teams must mobilize and getting a team and all its supplies ready to load on a plane is no simple task. One must find a plane, get clearance to go, and make sure that when you get whereever you are going, you can land and the you will be able to be self-contained and have EVERYTHING your team needs.

Stockpiles of some supplies do exist, all over the world, and including in Haiti. But if you cannot distribute them safely, or cannot distribute them because of blocked roads they are of little use. When ports, roads, airports and other infrastructure, including those who would be involved in disaster response are affected or destroyed as is true in Port-au-Prince, the situation becomes even more grim. Should such a situation occur in the US, I can guarantee you will see exactly the same logistical problems, and you, as an American expecting immediate help, will be shocked when you must be prepared to take care of yourself for days and perhaps a week or more. When help does come, you will see soldiers first who will be there to establish and maintain order. If the scope is as large as it is in Haiti, people will end up being buried in mass graves by strangers, without dignity, without anyone keeping records, because there is no working structure.

As DD points out, to maintain an immediate and rapid response unit anywhere is very, very costly. The response to this disaster has been very fast in many ways, but when you have a one runway airport, no fuel to fuel craft that land and then need to get off the tarmac so others can come in, no personnel or organization to unload, places to store supplies or ways to get the supplies coming in distributed SAFELY to desperate people who have been without food and water for days, it would not matter if there was all the aid needed just in the sky above.

When you have thousands and thousands of injured people, many of whom are severely injured, and few doctors and no real viable hospitals, clinics, supplies (including anesthetics, painkillers, antibiotics both oral and IV, no IV fluids, no suture kits, no gauze, tape, bandages, limited numbers of surgical instruments and primitive methods to sterilize must be used), no electricity, not enough beds and on and on and on, no, relief does not come quickly. 

The situation in Port-au-Prince will not stabilize for at least another week. Right now the priorities are communication capability, distribution of food and water and medical supplies, set up and operating more clinics and staffing them, and collecting and quickly burying the deceased. I guarantee you, thousands of people remain in those collapsed buildings. Finding them to remove the bodies will not be completed now until the actual building is removed. Think of this: where will all the rubble go, let alone thousands more bodies?

You are correct that many, many more people will die today, tom

You are correct that many, many more people will die today, tomorrow and in the weeks to come from dehydration, and infection and possibly epidemic disease. People buried who are still alive (and there may be hundreds who did survive in the rubble) will die in the next few days if not found. Chances of finding many of them are not great and if they are found, it will take hours and hours to get to just one person. I cringe when I watch those brave SAR people trying so desperately to find people among unstable rubble piles, lacking all the bracing material and specialized equipment they need for hundreds of buried victims who may be alive. Given that aftershocks will likely continue for weeks, I worry that someone from an SAR team will end up killed as well.

There are several hundred doctors there now, but one doctor alone said he saw at least 500 people who needed immediate surgery to survive and that was just one doctor in one small area. There are thousands of people with crush injuries, traumatic amputations and even more now with infection and gangrene setting in. Even if another 1000 doctors get there, there are not the facilities to operate and treat all the people who have crush injuries, who need wound debridement, who have internal injuries. It is a fact of life that in this scope of a disaster, many who might have been saved had they been in the US or in a small scope disaster, will die. Most who die and are buried will never be known. We will never know how many people died in this catastrophe. The nations of the world who have and will respond will learn certain lessons from this, and everyone with any brain watching this unfold should also learn many lessons - pray that you are never in such a situation and be prepared to take care of yourself for at least two weeks (and that means food, water, medications, supplies etc for every person in your family).

Watch this security camera video which captured the quake "s" waves. Look at it several times. As the shaking begins on your second or third viewing, watch the buildings in the distance start to collapse within perhaps 15 seconds of the beginning of the quake. Ask yourself, if you were somewhere in the buildings you see, what would you do? It would take you seconds to realize what was happening and to think you better run out of the building. Most of us, like them, would not make it out before the collapse, unless we just happened to be near an exit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcFVxl8oclY&feature=related


By the way BE4U, there is a specific definition for "first responder". Citizens helping citizens are not first responders and you know that. They are certainly to be honored and commended for their humanity that strangers helped and continue to help each other. The Haitian people are a warm and wonderful people and I would have been surprised not to see them helping each other.

Wow, that is nasty Hodie. I've never experienced an earthquake and hope I never do.

I heard Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and his wife donated 1 1/2 million to the recovery effort. God Bless them.



I believe this is the Haitian flag.

Hi Ninja,

Hope you are well.

I have experienced several earthquakes in CA, but fortunately, none of this magnitude. What was striking, besides the violence of the earth shaking, was just how quickly those structures started collapsing. It is a wonder that anyone inside a building got out alive. I also watched some video at a university where they mimicked the earthquake on concrete buildings and even some with rebar. Even the rebar was coming apart! The fact that this quake occurred in such a populated area makes it all the worse.

I had not heard that Tom Brady and his wife donated that incredible sum, but my hat is off to them. It is terrific that they realize their blessings living in this country. Tom has made huge sums of money as an excellent NFL quarterback. He sets hopefully an example to all who are so blessed and he has my respect for this action. 

You take care Ninja.

"if reporters manage to get into these places by helicopter or whatever, why can't the aid workers do the same?"

Because a reporter who landed with him/herself and a shooter (cameraperson) can walk or hitch a ride and get in, like the dog teams and some others did.  The trucks carrying 70,000 bottles of water, tons of food and medical supplies, are, uh, a little bigger and have a little more trouble getting around.  PLUS THEY HAD TO SEND THE DA** TRUCKS THERE ON THE SHIPS.  UGH. 

I can't believe the ignorance of logistics on here.  I swear people think that you can get from Point A to Point B in the world, fully equipped, like in Star Trek.

Next time people come on her and kvetch that for "foreigners," whatever the USA does is never enough, remember that we have our own people *itching that whatever we do is not good enough, not fast enough, just not enough.  Sheesh.  Of course everyone wanted the aid to get there "faster."  This is not an original thought.  Again, unlike Katrina, I think it's amazing how much got there so incredibly fast.