Jan 19 2010

Haiti: Six Days Without Sunlight……..

(6:00PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Below are a series of reports from the PBS NewsHour on Jan. 18th 2010 show, the first is of a very heartwarming rescue when all hope should have been gone especially in that pile of rumble once a building. For many the interview with the American Ambassador should be paid close attention to. While everyone would like to see much more rapid rescues and aid supplies to reach those tens of thousands of Haitians who need it so desperately Haiti is one of the many poor countries, not a resort island, where what is needed, like a larger airport or seaport and warehouses, where when extreme devastating natural occurrences aren’t available for such a massive undertaking. Those thousands there as volunteers and more as well as the Haitians understand that.  

AIR DATE: Jan. 18, 2010

Six Days Without Sunlight: Woman Survives in Bank’s Rubble

SUMMARY

The arrival of fresh aid was a welcome sight in Haiti on Monday, but aid workers struggled to get food, water, and medical supplies to survivors of last week’s earthquake. Bill Neely of Independent Television News reports on one woman’s unlikely survival story.

Transcript

The Haitian Government has been decimated, the Ministry buildings are gone, many of the Government officials have been killed, the police forces as well as the UN peace keepers have also lost many of their personnel and as with that whole society of losses many of the health care workers were killed as well. From top to bottom this country needs, and many have answered that call, to help the Haitians who are themselves trying to help each other.

AIR DATE: Jan. 18, 2010

Aid Groups Look to Break up Bottlenecks After Haiti Quake

SUMMARY

While 7,000 U.S. forces were scheduled to be in Haiti by the end of Monday, the U.N. is seeking to send additional peacekeepers to help break bottlenecks chocking the aid effort. Jon Snow of ITN reports.

Transcript

AIR DATE: Jan. 18, 2010

Relief Effort Improves in Haiti While Security Concerns Linger

SUMMARY

In an interview with Jeffrey Brown, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten discusses the pace of the relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, security concerns in the capital, and complaints about U.S. management at the Port-au-Prince airport.

Transcript

AIR DATE: Jan. 18, 2010

Texting for Charity: Cell Phone Users Sending Relief for Haiti

SUMMARY

In just five days, the Red Cross has raised more than $21 million for the relief effort in Haiti through text messages. As Tom Bearden reports, cellphones have emerged as the new big player in charitable giving.

Transcript

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    • jimstaro on January 19, 2010 at 13:18
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    Geographical agency’s Earth movement analysis assists Haiti rescuers

    The federal agency charged with monitoring the Earth’s geography has been providing round-the-clock movement analysis of the Haiti situation using a new Caribbean seismic network funded in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

    “Twenty minutes after the earthquake we could provide the U.S. government with an estimate that nearly 2 million people had been exposed to severe shaking,” said David Applegate, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey. “That estimate enabled them to not have to wait for the news reports to trickle in and get a sense of the scale of the situation.”…>>>>>

    • jimstaro on January 19, 2010 at 13:35
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    Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts

    Workers load an Air Force jet with supplies and equipment at March Air Reserve Base in California.

    As personnel representing hundreds of government and nongovernment agencies from around the world rush to the aid of earthquake-devastated Haiti, the Defense Information Systems Agency has launched a Web portal with multiple social networking tools to aid in coordinating their efforts.

    On Monday, Jean Demay, DISA’s technical manager for the agency’s Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane. After the earthquake hit on Tuesday, Demay said SOUTHCOM decided to go live with the system. On Wednesday, DISA opened up its All Partners Access Network, supported by the Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, to any organization supporting Haiti relief efforts.

    That second link in the blockquote is one some may want to check out.

    • jimstaro on January 19, 2010 at 13:52
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    Humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake

    • jimstaro on January 19, 2010 at 16:05
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  5. http://www.trinidadexpress.com…

    THE CARIBBEAN Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devasted country’s aiport, now under the control of the United States.

    Consequently, the Caricom ‘assessment mission’, that was to determine priority humanitarian needs resulting from the mind-boggling earthquake disaster of Haiti last Tuesday, had to travel back from Jamaica to their respective home destinations..

    On Friday afternoon the US State Department confirmed signing two ‘Memoranda of Understanding’ with the Government of Haiti that made ‘official that the United Stateas is in charge of all inbound and outbound flights and aid off-loading…’

    Asked whether the difficuties encountered by the Caricom mission may be related to reports that US authorities were not anxious to facilitate landing of aircraft from Cuba and Venezuela, [Jamaica’s] Prime Minister Golding said he could ‘only hope that there is no truth to such immature thinking in the face of the horrific scale of Haiti’s tragedy…’

  6. here

    But right now the city that needs it most gravely is Port-au-Prince, whose 2 million residents are surrounded by little more than rubble. An increased water flow could also ease tensions in the Haitian capital, where there has been sporadic rioting over relief supplies that only began to reach adequate levels over the past weekend, more than three days after the quake. A new shipboard drill on the Vinson in recent days has involved timing how fast the crew can fill each of the new containers with desalinated water. Result: 36 seconds. This week the carrier will find out how many of those jugs can reach the Haitians each day, and how quickly. If the effort is successful, the new flow of water could outpace Haiti’s flood of tears.

    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/speci…

  7. jeezuz.

    Every day, a United States Air Force cargo plane specially equipped with radio transmitters flies for five hours over the devastated country, broadcasting news and a recorded message from Raymond Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador in Washington.

    “Listen, don’t rush on boats to leave the country,” Mr. Joseph says in Creole, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon. “If you do that, we’ll all have even worse problems. Because, I’ll be honest with you: If you think you will reach the U.S. and all the doors will be wide open to you, that’s not at all the case. And they will intercept you right on the water and send you back home where you came from.”

    snip

    So far, there has been no sign of Haitians trying to flee the island by boat, United States officials say. Nor has there been a mass exodus of Haitians into the neighboring Dominican Republic, except for about 3,000 injured people who are being treated at hospitals just over the Dominican border, officials there say.

    snip

    Customs officials have allowed a total of 23 Haitians into the United States on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment, said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

    source

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