![U.S. Takes Over Control Airport and Aid Logistics [Update]](https://progresspond.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/pattern-1-1280x640.jpg)
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(KVUE news) – An Australian TV crew pulled a healthy 16-month-old girl from the wreckage of her house Friday – about 68 hours after the earthquake struck. In a collapsed house, neighbors and reporters heard a cry and found an air pocket: part of the top floor had been held up by a cabinet.
“I could see a dead body that was there, sort of on top of the cabinet; I could hear the baby on the left side of the body screaming,” said David Celestino of the Dominican Republic, who had been working with the TV crew.
Although her parents were dead, Winnie Tilin survived with only scratches and soon was in the arms of her uncle, whose pregnant wife also was killed.
US takes control of Haiti airport …
(ABC News) – The government in Haiti has given the United States temporary control of the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince in an effort to get aid supplies moving more quickly to survivors of Tuesday’s earthquake.
More than 30 countries are contributing aid and helicopters from a US aircraft carrier have begun delivering supplies to the capital.
A boat carrying bananas and coal arrived today, but the joyful event did little to change the overall grim situation.
Aid begins trickling in to Port-au-Prince
State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid says aid is starting to get through.
“You need supplies in sufficient numbers that it will start to meet the need. We do need to clear the roads, we do need to have networks. We need to find places that are safe for people to congregate,” he said.
As the city waits for desperately needed aid many have now resorted to scavenging through the rubble and rotting corpses to look for food, and the queues for fresh water are growing.
The mood of patience and resilience is being replaced by anger and frustration.
PORT-AU-PRINCE SURVIVORS MOVING OUT
For many of the homeless there is now only one option – getting out of Port-au-Prince – but they have no destination in mind, they just want to get away.
People fight over goods scavenged from the rubble of buildings collapsed
during Tuesday's earthquake in Port-au-Prince. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2010 – President Barack Obama said today said he’s made helping Haiti in the wake of a crippling earthquake the top priority of every U.S. government agency.
Obama called the quake an unimaginable tragedy, and said the United States has launched “a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort” to help.
“I’ve made it clear [to Cabinet officers and government agency heads] that Haiti must be a top priority for their departments and agencies right now,” Obama said. “This is one of those moments that call out for American leadership.”
The United States is deploying a Marine expeditionary unit, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the hospital ship USNS Comfort.
US sending 10,000 troops to earthquake-hit Haiti for food distribution
NORFOLK (NNS) — More than 1,700 Sailors and Marines aboard ships from the Bataan Amphibious Relief Force departed Hampton Roads area Naval bases Jan. 14 en route to Haiti to assist with relief efforts following the tragic earthquake that struck the island nation Jan. 12.
Within 48 hours of receiving tasking from U.S. 2nd Fleet, the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), amphibious dock landing ships USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) were underway. The ships began loading Marines, aircraft and equipment from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in less than 24 hours of their departure.
“We’re moving with a sense of urgency to provide a swift and coordinated response to assist Haiti,” said Capt. Thomas Negus, commander of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. “The unique capabilities of our amphibious ships can bring much-needed assistance in the multinational efforts to relieve suffering in Haiti.”
The three ships typically use air cushion landing craft, conventional landing craft and helicopters for their primary mission to move Marines ashore, but their inherent capabilities and complement of assets make it ideal for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
“Disaster relief and humanitarian assistance is something we train for,” said Capt. Sam Howard, Bataan’s commanding officer. “We are absolutely equipped and prepared to perform the mission we’ve been called upon to do.”
Bataan’s medical capabilities are second only to U.S. Navy hospital ships and include nearly 50 medical professionals as well as X-ray facilities, a 600-bed hospital, operating rooms, an intensive care unit, pharmacy and laboratory.
At last …
Imcomprehensible Devastation, Chaos, Violence
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The number of people homeless or effected is 3 million, number of injured 200,000, the number of deaths between 50 and 150,000. Dead bodies are dumped on piles in the cities, there are bodies in the collapsed buildings and homes, bodies being dumped with rubble outside the city. There is no government infrastructure intact, not enough police and/or nurses and medics. People tend to their close relatives and friends, all relief stations and hospitals are in ruins and don’t function. People are hungry, thirsty … aid is not getting through and not in sufficient numbers.
People cover their faces as they walk past bodies. Photo: AP
In many instances, packages get dropped by low flying helicopters, contrary to earlier goals of handouts on the ground. This just isn’t possible due to lack of trucks, vans, thoroughfare, roads are blocked and when the U.N. or W.F.O. are on the ground with supplies and start distributing, the masses gather as does the fighting, violence leading to broken arms and other injuries. The relief workers close-up shop and move on. All relief is now accompanied by guards, soldiers or U.N. security. There is little support from government officials, many have been unaccounted for, some injured Haitian officials and U.N. workers have been transferred to the Dominican Republic. The people are becoming frustrated and very angry. They see and hear the U.S. helicopters flying overhead, yet they are not being reached in sufficient numbers.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Street vendors hawked their wares, music replaced frantic news reports on local radio stations and cars were obeying traffic signals Saturday as the routine signs of a normal urban life began to reappear on the broken, body-strewn streets of Haiti’s pulverized capital.
But beneath the veneer, Port-au-Prince was still teetering on the brink of chaos, being pushed closer to the edge by a worsening security situation and a relief effort that many Haitians feel has been far too slow in coming.
Canadian police officers serving with a local United Nations policing effort, known as Minustah, have been called upon to provide protection and direction to search-and-rescue teams. Most of the Canadian police contingent has been in country for several months, and their knowledge of Port-au-Prince’s Byzantine network of streets and alleys – all the more difficult to navigate from the latest chaos – has become invaluable.
In one of many bitter ironies in play in Haiti at the moment, it is the insecurity in the streets – a symptom of a shortage of food, water and help – that’s contributing to delays distributing food supplies.
A Minustah official said the situation in the outlying slums of Cite Soleil and Carrefour had deteriorated, with crowds reportedly attacking UN vehicles and accusing the international community of doing too little to distribute food.
Water shortages have, nonetheless, begun to ease; the 15 major food distribution stations in the city are now being complemented by several smaller ones.
Port-au-Prince: Without vital port, 'We'll starve to death, that's all'
A violent scuffle broke out among several hundred people jostling to be first in line as three U.S. military helicopters were landing at the golf course with food and water.
The chopper pilots decided it was too dangerous to remain and took off with their precious cargo still inside.’
“People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy,” said Henry Ounche, an accountant who was among the crowd.
Scuffles also erupted at a downtown football stadium transformed into a rescue centre as U.S. Navy helicopters dropped food rations and Gatorade. About 200 youths fought each other to get at the aid, and some threw stones.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
