Hope in Haiti

New York Times photo and story: "rescue workers pulled more people alive from the rubble — including a 7-year-old girl who survived more than four days eating dried fruit rolls in the supermarket that collapsed around her — as water and emergency aid deliveries improved on Sunday..." UN Secretary General on the scene has message of hope, but the tasks and challenges are enormous. Former Presidents Clinton and G.W. Bush heading up effort to raise private funds for relief. Meanwhile, there have been several earthquakes in South America. No word of damage.

Helping and Holding On in Haiti

This photo from the LA Times suggests that in the midst of enormous tragedy and extreme emotions and situations, the struggle for many in Haiti is to live through these days the best they can. While estimates of the dead now vary from 140,000 to 200,000, the leading edge of the massive aid began reaching Haitians on Friday. Dangerous and difficult rescue of survivors still in the rubble has been in some ways the simplest task, with still a dire shortage of doctors, medicine and facilities, and the stores of water and food had not reached many of the needy. Some of the logistical slowness is hard to understand to an outsider--why weren't more trained medical personnel on that aircraft carrier? Why aren't supplies and personnel parachuting in? But while there has been some violence, I heard one (black) U.S. general caution that people get a little too nervous about crowds of black people, and exaggerate the threat of widespread violence--as indeed turned out to be the case in New Orleans after Katrina, where there was much less crime than first reported. While many of the aid efforts now underway are nothing short of heroic, we all hope and pray things get a lot better Saturday.

(Here's another LA Times story--I like their reporting--that goes into the military's efforts, and why they didn't do air drops. Apparently a paratrooper on NPR suggested that troops could be dropped along with supplies to prevent rioting, but perhaps that was impractical, too.)

Late Saturday Update: Water, food and medical care reached more people on Saturday, and rescuers freed people who incredibly survived four days in the rubble, but the massive problems coupled with the massive influx of stuff still meant that distribution was still difficult and many needs were not yet being addressed. With some reports of looting and violence, but also with more soldiers and police to keep order, aid officials emphasized progress, with more progress expected Sunday and in succeeding days. Some were beginning to turn their attention to longer run needs, and as enormous as the immediate need is, there is a long haul ahead.

"You Will Not Be Forsaken, You Will Not Be Forgotten"

With visible emotion, President Obama pledged this morning: "To the people of Haiti, we say clearly, and with conviction, you will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you."

Water, food, medicine, doctors and rescue personnel arrived all day to the only airport in Haiti, but travel is still extremely difficult because of devastated roads, and communication is still lacking. Rescue teams are working, and heavy equipment is arriving to clear or even create roadways. For the first time since the earthquake, there are runway lights at the airport so flights can land and take off at night. U.S. ships have begun arriving, and an aircraft carrier will arrive Friday with helicopters, supplies and U.S. Marines.

CNN reports that some 400 Americans have been flown out of Haiti, but many of the 40,000 or so Americans there are remaining to help with relief efforts. The Red Cross estimates some 50,000 deaths, including several UN personnel and at least one U.S. State Department worker. The Haitian governmental infrastructure remains practically nonexistent.

Friday update: This LA Times story tells the tale: airport and seaport damage, roads and other logistical problems mean aid is only slowly reaching those who need it. The weekend could be crucial.

Help Is On the Way

Those whose experience of disasters is mostly from disaster movies may be wondering why more wasn't being done Wednesday to respond to the utter catastrophe in Haiti, in the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake plus numerous aftershocks in the 5. range. It certainly is horrible and tragic to see the dying and suffering continuing, and survivors mostly spending a second night sleeping on the streets.

But those of us here on the North Coast of CA, where we've been counselled that our Big One is inevitable (and where we got a scare on Saturday with a 6.5 offshore), know not to expect much help from the outside for the first 48 hours, even when we're within the U.S. That's the nature of catastrophic disasters. It takes time to get the resources organized and transported, and even to prepare to receive them.

In Haiti of course it is much, much worse. Vulnerable old buildings, poor public services, widespread poverty and overcrowding in the city of Port-au-Prince, all on an island. The earthquake destroyed what infrastructure there was, including all major government buildings. Many key people were killed or are missing. Roads are impassable. Electricity, water, telephones including cell phones, all down. Just communicating from one part of the city to another has been next to impossible.

But while relief workers already there (those who survived), including Doctors Without Borders, traveled on foot and worked with their bare hands to treat the wounded, and pull out survivors from the rubble, the U.S. federal government (as well as other countries, and states and even local governments, organizations and businesses with the U.S.) was working all night to mobilize resources and plan relief efforts. (Here are links to accounts of those first hours.)

The first task in Washington and especially in Haiti was assessing what resources were needed and how they could be marshaled and applied. When U. S. military teams arrived Wednesday afternoon, one of the first important efforts was to get the airport up and running, which required setting up air traffic control--the facilities there were destroyed.

On Thursday, the pictures from Haiti should start to look different, as help begins to stream in--and there is a lot of it on the way. It will pick up even more on Friday, when the ships start arriving--including an aircraft carrier loaded with helicopters, personnel, food and medicine.

President Obama is taking charge of "a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives." Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates are both returning from foreign trips to coordinate efforts. "... given the many different resources that are needed, we are taking steps to ensure that our government acts in a unified way," President Obama said Wednesday morning. "My national security team has led an interagency effort overnight. And to ensure that we coordinate our effort, going forward, I've designated the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Rajiv Shah, to be our government's unified disaster coordinator."

There will be more tragic news from Haiti over the next days, but there will also be help. In addition to massive and skilled aid from the U.S. and other governments, and the efforts of other organizations, individuals who wish to contribute to relief efforts can do so in many ways. Two sources of information on how are White House.gov and this page at the Rachel Maddow Show.