Security Before Aid
Aftershocks still occurring in Haiti, further terrifying the injured, the homeless, the horribly needy, starving, thirsty people of the capital city and environs. Oh yes, and the other cities of Haiti also struck by the devastating effects of the earthquake. Buildings that had been partially destroyed reacted to further shocks by crumbling into dust and rubble.Survivors desperately seeking safety sleep wherever they can, as far away from further collapses as possible, out in the open.
"Everything in Haiti is broken. there is not one person in the country without a friend or family member dead", grieved the country's Information Minister. The international community's shock and horror was instantly transformed into pledges of immediate assistance for the hundreds of thousands of starving, desperate Haitians, awaiting medical treatment, coping with the stench of decaying bodies and human excrement scattered everywhere.
And UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, wringing metaphorical hands, said what all such officials have said since time immemorial: "This is one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. The damage, destruction, loss of life is just overwhelming", visiting Port-au-Prince. The thing of it is, everyone seems to be 'visiting' Port-au-Prince; the world's news media, government officials, humanitarian groups.
The single landing field with its destroyed air traffic control tower has seen landing preference given to visiting elites, re-directing humanitarian missions like that of Doctors Without Borders' urgently-required medical equipment to land elsewhere, in the Dominican Republic, and from there to make their way overland to Haiti. Elites cannot wait; suffering people must.
Looters have taken to smashing into shops in the downtown area to extract whatever of value they can, while they can. Troops have been dispatched from the United States and from Canada to ensure that order can be reinstated, to enable medical personnel to work in safety, tending to the dire wounds of Haitians, before too many more die from lack of medical attention.
Heavily outnumbered police may feel somewhat inadequate to the task, facing off against machete-wielding looters as gangs battle each other over stolen goods. Just as all government institutions collapsed in the earthquake, so too did the national penitentiary holding thousands of Haiti's most dreaded criminals and thugs, releasing them to their former neighbourhoods, to prey on those unable to defend themselves.
Many of the three thousand escaped prison inmates are now armed with assault rifles and guns which they wrested from prison guards. A rumour has gone the rounds that gangs deliberately set fire to the country's collapsed Justice Ministry to ensure records of their criminal past and their incarceration could not be retrieved.
Amid all the chaos and misery the UN has been able to feed about 40,000 starving Haitians. Leaving millions more desperately awaiting help and sustenance. Trucks carrying food and water stream out to various parts of the city only to be halted by clogged streets full of debris and wrecked vehicles hauling away corpses for disposal.
"The distribution is totally disorganized. They are not identifying the people who need the water. The sick and the old have no chance", critiqued one aid worker. But the aid workers and the medical personnel are doing what they can under horribly distressed conditions. Rescue workers from France, Belgium, Spain, Turkey; medical teams from Israel, The U.S., France.
Haitians take comfort in singing God's praise, in praying to Him most high.
Labels: Nature, Poverty, Societal Failures, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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