Haiti Flattened by Earthquake – Anybody Bothered?

Nature does not discriminate and has no mercy.

Unless someone(brought up in a first world country) has lived in a third world country, they will not understand why third world countries are as they are. Much has to do with the greed and arrogance of their leaders, and the agendas of first world governments who stand back and watch while those guys do what they do. It is much more than a two beer story, but I have seen many westerners come to Africa (and I’m sure that goes for 3rd world countries on all continents) with a particular opinion and leave with a very different one.

I may have the wording wrong, and most likely have, but a North American Indian chief said something along the lines of “never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his shoes” and your statement bears that out. I think it is only when we visit a place and see first hand what the conditions are that we are able to form an accurate opinion of that place

Another way of looking at it is that people who had next to nothing in the first place now have even less.
Nature’s hardly a benign force is it ?

Any sailor, be it operating a warship or off shore yachting, will tell you the sea is a reluctant servant and a cruel master. The same applies to most natural phenomenon as applies to the sea.

Another way of looking at it is that people who had next to nothing in the first place now have even less.
Nature’s hardly a benign force is it ?

Nature does not discriminate and has no mercy.

Unless someone(brought up in a first world country) has lived in a third world country, they will not understand why third world countries are as they are. Much has to do with the greed and arrogance of their leaders, and the agendas of first world governments who stand back and watch while those guys do what they do. It is much more than a two beer story, but I have seen many westerners come to Africa (and I’m sure that goes for 3rd world countries on all continents) with a particular opinion and leave with a very different one.

Another way of looking at it is that people who had next to nothing in the first place now have even less.
Nature’s hardly a benign force is it ?

Call me cynical if you will but I have noticed that these disasters have a habit of occurring in areas where over population is a problem as though nature was finding its own way of solving the problem.

Mmm – nature’s way….are you allowed to suggest such a thing?

Call me cynical if you will but I have noticed that these disasters have a habit of occurring in areas where over population is a problem as though nature was finding its own way of solving the problem.

As I said,out of sight,out of mind.
It’s easy to see that there’s been an earthquake/flood/cyclone or whatever natural disaster somewhere remote,say oh that’s terrible and do nothing .
It’s not until you actually see the people affected and hear their stories that you might feel like doing something.
You said yourself,interviews with desperate,starving survivors.That’s what really brings it home,isn’t it ?
I think news reporters are just as vital as any of the other aid services.

To some extent, that is true, although the reality is that the aid from donors is minute when compared to governmental aid. But let us steer a middle course and suggest it would make sense, in these exceptional circumstances for the news media to agree that one or two global organisations cover the reporting – like Reuters and Sky, perhaps.

Then we would still get the pictures you want but the destitute country would not be overun with news hounds competing for the best stories and absorbing valuable and scarce resources on the ground.

As for out of sight, out of mind. Doesn’t that happen all the time? Everyone is galvanised by a catastrophe for a few days or weeks and then the media get bored and little more news is forthcoming but the po[pulation affected have to live with the ramifications of the disaster for months and years, perhaps.

News is a fickle beast in the 21st century, such is the publics’ insatiable demand for new news all the time.

As I said,out of sight,out of mind.
It’s easy to see that there’s been an earthquake/flood/cyclone or whatever natural disaster somewhere remote,say oh that’s terrible and do nothing .
It’s not until you actually see the people affected and hear their stories that you might feel like doing something.
You said yourself,interviews with desperate,starving survivors.That’s what really brings it home,isn’t it ?
I think news reporters are just as vital as any of the other aid services.

A humanitarian disaster on this scale and you’re proposing a complete news blackout ?

If it improves the chances of delivering aid and saving lives, then yes, of course. The problem is that we demand 24 hour news from everywhere. Well, perhaps there are some occasions when news has to take a lower than top priority, which is not what seems to be the case in Haiti today.

A humanitarian disaster on this scale and you’re proposing a complete news blackout ?

Exactly the same thought I had! Each reporter and crew will be knocking back 6 litres water per 24 hours. How many crews are there? Let’s go wild and assume about 75 of the 220 nations have put crew there. 75 * 2 = 150 * 6 = 900 litres per day and they’ve been there 8 days. 7,200 litres or 3,266 pounds in weight. That’s at least 2 air drops a week for the reporters. They all look clean too, but let us assume they are using wet-wipes or the dew off the morning grass to wash.

Seems like we are on our own on this one, Old Shape. And even if we halve your rule of thumb calculations that effort to support those who don’t need it, is outrageous.

Soldiers told to stop handing out food

By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

January 19, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Food handouts were shut off Tuesday to thousands of people at a tent city here when the main U.S. aid agency said the Army should not be distributing the packages.

It was not known whether the action reflected a high-level policy decision at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or confusion in a city where dozens of entities are involved in aid efforts.

“We are not supposed to get rations unless approved by AID,” Maj. Larry Jordan said.

Jordan said that approval was revoked; water was not included in the USAID decision, so the troops continued to hand out bottles of water. The State Department and USAID did not respond to requests for comment.

Jordan has been at the airport supervising distribution of individual food packages and bottled water since his arrival last week. Each package provides enough calories to sustain a person for a day.

The food is flown by helicopter to points throughout the capital and distributed by paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. At the tent city, set up at a golf course, more than 10,000 people displaced by the Haitian earthquake lay under makeshift tents. Each day, hundreds of people, many young children, line up for a meal.

Tuesday morning, the helicopters came only with water. Soldiers carried boxes of water in the hot sun and supervised Haitian volunteers who handed the supplies out.

Does it matter who hands out the food? To some people, yes (from an Instapundit reader):

The “aid” agencies did the same thing in Afghanistan. Being a logistics specialist, I volunteered to help an American NGO [non-government organization] with rebuilding schools, and was on the ground in Kabul in January of ‘02. (I later ended up in charge of UNICEF’s warehouse/distribution operation for all of the new school supplies…leaving me with a complete and total disdain for all things UN-related.)

For the NGO community, to be seen co-operating with the US military was the kiss of death. NGO co-ordination meetings specifically warned against co-operation with the US military, as opposed to UN agencies. The supposed reason was that they wanted a clear line between the “killers” and those that were “there to help”. They would actually COMPLAIN that the military was out doing things like rehabilitating wells and such, whining that these were things that should be left to the aid agencies. The irony of the fact that we were all sitting in a meeting, DISCUSSING it, while the US military had already been out DOING it, was completely lost on them.

Sounds like it’s same-old, same-old. Nothing but tools, the lot of them.

I was just wondering, hearing interviews with desperate, starving, people how the hundreds of media and and NGO representatives are surviving.

Where is their shelter, food and water? And if they have it, why have they?

Shouldn’t every resource be focussed on the survivors, only? Apart from the US servicemen and logistics, isn’t there an argument for everyone else to leave the country until some order, food, water and sanitation is restored?

Exactly the same thought I had! Each reporter and crew will be knocking back 6 litres water per 24 hours. How many crews are there? Let’s go wild and assume about 75 of the 220 nations have put crew there. 75 * 2 = 150 * 6 = 900 litres per day and they’ve been there 8 days. 7,200 litres or 3,266 pounds in weight. That’s at least 2 air drops a week for the reporters. They all look clean too, but let us assume they are using wet-wipes or the dew off the morning grass to wash.

Giving to charity is sometimes a question of out of sight,out of mind.
Yesterday Sky news showed a nine month old baby boy who’d lain alone under rubble for a week.One of his legs is gangrenous and will have to be amputated before he’s even old enough to walk.
That sight alone would have been enough to make me want to give something if I hadn’t already done so.
The more publicity the better,I think.

I was just wondering, hearing interviews with desperate, starving, people how the hundreds of media and and NGO representatives are surviving.

Where is their shelter, food and water? And if they have it, why have they?

Shouldn’t every resource be focussed on the survivors, only? Apart from the US servicemen and logistics, isn’t there an argument for everyone else to leave the country until some order, food, water and sanitation is restored?

Any charity, I don’t care who they are…if there is any sort of minimum payment recommended, they can go to hell. It is the absolute insult to suggest such IMO, vulgar to the extreme. My prefered charity wasn’t on that big list, I presume they will be involved in Haiti one way or another but they are more into health education and development than Rapid response.

An odd experience tonight, I was watching a charity worker being interviewed in Haiti. Was on BBC News Ch. about 19:10. In the background, hundreds of people were milling past, all spotlessly clean, some carrying books and papers….as if nothing had happened. One was even on a mobile phone whilst walking at the same time as the charity worker was saying how the comms networks are down. Trucks and cars were driving past as she was complaining that fuel was scarce.
I am in no way doubting any of the suffering there, but the whole thing was very very surreal.

Just as a reply to jetflap’s post no 15, I posted this on another forum a couple of years ago.

My Uncle Joe is a very pleasant 81 year old, some of you will have met him at OW or Duxford. Some might go so far as to say he’s a very charitable man. But even his patience is tried by the unsolicited mail he receives from charities both large and small.

Just out of interest I asked him to keep what he received over a two month period just to see who was asking for money and how regularly.

I was astonished to find that in the last two months he had received some 58 letters from charities. It is true to say that some were suggestions for a legacy or just information sheets. However, of those 58 some 45 were asking for either a minimum donation or a specific minimum payment per month.

If all those requests are added up, it comes to the Princely sum of £437.63p over eight weeks or just over £200 per month. However, as inducements he has received two calendars, a headscarf, a pair of children’s socks, a shopping bag, two pens, a sample of tea, 18 cards of various types, a bookmark, a framed photo of Mother Teresa, a cardboard cross and three shiny new pence.

A list of charities involved is given below.

World Cancer Research
RSPCA
IFAW
RNID
Unicef
Amnesty
Mother Teresa’s Children’s Foundation
World Children’s Fund
Medical Mission International
World Villages For Children
Dog’s Trust
PDSA
Barnardo’s
Sound Seekers
St. John Ambulance
Marie Curie
RNIB
Action Ethiopia
Walsall Hospice
International Animal Rescue
Four Paws
Bread & Water for Africa
St. Dunstan’s
RBL
Zulu Mission
Salvation Army
Feeding People
Lighthouse
WRVS
Breadline Africa
Cancer Research
Elizabeth Finn Care
British Red Cross
Child Survival Fund
Habitat for Humanity
World Assist
World Relief Mission
World Caregivers
British Heart Foundation.

Just to put it into perspective, that little lot was just over seven pounds in weight!

Surprising what you find out when you’re bored.

Regards,

kev35

I’m not letting them have my personal details again, so they and other charities can bombard me with begging junk mail. I’ll be donating cash at the bank, nice and anonymously.

I haven’t looked, do they have an “unsubscribe” link? Surely the RC are obliged to respect that? :confused: Hope they realize that if they annoy people who generously donate, they might put that person off from donating in future.

Maybe so,but at least they’ve had the guts to go there.
No doubt they were kept away from the worst of it,but from what I’ve seen on TV I wouldn’t go there for a million pounds.
Thank God we don’t have serious earthquakes in this coumtry.When there was one in the midlands my daughter just thought it was her boyfriend reacting to a particularly vicious curry earlier that night.

The airport is in chaos and clogged to saturation point but at least the Clintons and Banky-WhatsMoons can get in, in order to contribute precisely nothing to the appalling situation.