Aid Finally Getting Through: Confusion on the ground led to bottleneck of supplies in Haiti

[Turborama]

Aid For Haiti Earthquake Victims Finally Getting Through

Confusion on the ground has led to a bottleneck of lifesaving supplies.

By Gil Kaufman
Jan 21 2010 10:46 AM EST

More than a week after a massive 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, nearly leveling the capital of Port-au-Prince, desperately needed aid shipments are finally speeding up and getting to the victims of the disaster.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/21/haiti.earthquake/">According to CNN, U.S. officials have begun taking steps to alleviate the bottleneck that has slowed down the flow of food, water and medical aid to the thousands of wounded and dying living on the streets of the ruined port city.

An unnamed senior administration official acknowledged on Wednesday that the food and medical supplies were not getting to victims fast enough, explaining that military personnel on the ground were sometimes confused about what was on the dozens of planes flying into Port-au-Prince airport carrying supplies in the week since the quake struck on January 12.

To alleviate that problem, the U.S. military has stationed aid officials in the airport control tower to assess and log the contents of each flight to speed up the flow of aid. Additionally, a Web-based system has been set up that will allow aid groups and donor countries to track when flights are scheduled to land and what supplies are onboard. One of the challenges is that the single-runway airport has been struggling to handle the crush of air traffic of up to 180 flights a day.

Full article: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1630137/20100121/story.jhtml

[tabatha]

1. Maybe, someone will devleop a software app.

to handle disaster relief.

[Missy Vixen]

4. Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft would do this for free?

Maybe Bill Gates' foundation should consider doing so.

A software app would really speed things up.

[tabatha]

6. It would probably be better if an open source outfit did it.

Too many bugs with MS.

[virgogal]

2. So the military were confused? I'm sure they weren't the only ones in a

chaotic,tragic situation.

[Turborama]

3. War is a chaotic and tragic situation

That's why the military are supposed to be able to handle emergencies like this.

[EFerrari]

5. The "confusion" was about the idea that there was a massive security problem

when medical personnel are reporting no such thing.

Those forwarding this "confusion" introduced misinformation to a difficult situation.

A good example of this is our troops being briefed that all the prisoners had escaped from the main prison. When in fact, 80% of those prisoners had never even been charged with a crime, let alone found guilty and that many of them were political prisoners, not rapists and murderers.

Our media is a real piece of work. And so is the Pentagon.

[omega minimo]

7. Amy Goodman described what she saw in Haiti on Hartmann's show today.

"We need gauze, not guns." Soldiers guarding bandages -- against whom? -- while doctors did kitchen table amputations. Hospitals with no supplies.

[thunder rising]

8. Tragic...supplies delayed long enough for death, gangreen and amputations