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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| But people are dying – thoughts on the Haitian disaster |
| 2010-01-16 |
| The print and broadcast media have swarmed into Haiti and now the news is filled with their perception of what isn't getting done. I would like to address some of these in order to bring some perspective to the wails from the media. IT IS A DISASTER When there is a disaster, people are at risk and people die. That's why it is called a disaster. We need to recognize that a great many people have died and many more are going to die despite our best efforts. PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY Most of the population of the Port-au-Prince area relied upon charitable aid from outside Haiti for part or all of their daily existence. Let' engage our brains and look at some numbers. Assume that a million people in the PaP area have no food. That means that they need at least one meal today, and tomorrow, and so on. If a plane brings in enough supplies for ten thousand meals, that means that 990,000 people go hungry today and 1 million go hungry tomorrow. Supplies have to be produced. If all the disaster relief storehouses are emptied, more must be manufactured, shipped and purchased. That takes time. And, let's not forget that millions of people elsewhere in the world also need those supplies and they were in line first. In Haiti's climate, people need about 2 quarts of water per day. 2 million quarts of water every single day. Just where do the bottles for that water magically appear from? The water tankers? PEOPLE ARE TRAPPED Most of the people who were buried alive by the earthquake will die. There is no way to rescue all of them. If, somehow, every search and rescue team in the world had arrived just after the quake, most of those trapped would still die. Urban search and rescue takes time. Every building must be examined and searched carefully and safely. There are tens of thousands of buildings in ruins in the quake zone. It is and was never humanly possible to search even a fraction of them before people that are trapped die from lack of water or their injuries. PEOPLE ARE INJURED For every injured person you need several aid workers. If 100,000 Haitians are injured in Port-au-Prince, you would need 300,000 plus aid workers just to treat their injuries. The workers need places to work, places to sleep, food and water and medical supplies - all of which are in very short supply. And all of that material is needed on top of the needs of the people in the city. MEDIA The media in general have little understanding of logistics. Their food comes from a supermarket or a restaurant. They sleep in hotels. They cannot grasp the concept that in a DISASTER all of the necessities people need to survive must come from outside the area. They cannot understand that food does not come from the supermarket but through a long supply chain that stretches back to a farm somewhere. Port-au-Prince has one airport, all of Haiti has one airport that can handle the large freight carrying planes. It is a bottleneck that cannot be changed. Until the port is safe to use, all the supplies are coming through the airport. With the arrival of the United States military, some other options open up. Only the United States has the ability to move supplies to beaches, small landing strips and open areas. That said, it only changes the bottleneck from a very large one to a large one. Most media have no grasp of the amount of material a ship can carry when compared to even the largest plane. Only a working seaport will begin to make a dent in the human need that we see in the news. Until we have Star Trek's transporters and food synthesizers, shipping and travel will take time and food must be grown, processed, packaged and shipped. HOW TO HELP The thousands of charities that work in Haiti or want to work in Haiti are all competing for your donations. Give to those you have given to in the past and trust. Give through their local branches. Ask if they need volunteers because if you can fill a slot locally, they might be able to free staff to assist in Haiti. Pray for the people of Haiti, the aid workers and everyone who is working so hard to save those we can. And, pray also for those we cannot save. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #2 Until we have Star Trek's transporters and food synthesizers A food printer? slowly approaching that.... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-01-16 12:16 |
| #1 Saw the same reaction on a smaller scale here in Katrinaland. From the lack of any appreciation for perhaps the largest evacuation and largest rescue operation in US history to the emphasis on pointing out what didn't work. And the total inability of the local political institutions to actually DO anything - while insisting on their right to be informed and approve of anything others were doing in their place. The helplessness of the victims, who had been pretty much helpless before the disaster. The haplessness of the government, which had been pretty much hapless before the disaster. The breakdown of social order and the persecution of those who acted to restore it. Whatever we (US and everyone else) do to help will be woefully insufficient, and no matter how hard we try we will be blamed for not doing enough. Yet we will try anyway. Over and over and over. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-01-16 11:03 |