Posted on 01/26/2010 1:25:41 AM PST by myknowledge
Haiti's premier is begging foreign donors to back the reconstruction of his quake-hit country as looting and chaotic food handouts show the grim conditions facing survivors.
Nearly two weeks after the disaster, which killed around 150,000 people and left a million homeless, international powers meeting in Montreal heard that it would take at least a decade to rebuild the stricken Caribbean nation.
Haitian police shot two people in the head as scavengers plundered the debris in the ruined heart of Port-au-Prince, while thousands more people joined a mass exodus from squalid tent camps in the capital.
"The country is ravaged, I ask myself how it can be rebuilt after this catastrophe. The Haitian government is very corrupt," said Gesnel Faustin, 29, living in a tent outside Haiti's destroyed presidential palace.
In Montreal, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the world must map out a long-term strategy for the Americas' poorest country, after meeting immediate needs for food, water, shelter and health care.
"I just want to say that the people of Haiti will need to be helped to face this colossal work of reconstruction," Bellerive told world officials including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned of a long path ahead to rebuild Haiti and urged the world to hash out a "co-ordinated" plan for the ill-starred country.
"It was not an exaggeration to say that at least 10 years of hard work awaits the world in Haiti," Harper said.
Donor countries had agreed to hold a full conference on aid to Haiti at the UN headquarters in New York in March, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said.
Haiti's President Rene Preval, in a statement from Port-au-Prince, urged the world to urgently airlift a further 200,000 tents and 36 million ready-to-eat ration packs before the country's rainy season starts in May.
International rescuers led by 20,000 US troops have struggled to get enough aid in the capital and badly-hit towns near the epicentre of the 7.0-magnitude quake, increasing fears about post-quake security.
A group of Haitian police, trying to keep control among a desperate population after the quake which was also wrecked the city prison, opened fire on a warehouse in the capital where many looters were hiding out.
An AFP photographer inside the building said two men were shot in the head, one of whom received medical attention.
Two others were lying prone on the floor, one lifeless. The other was treated for a serious head wound.
Bulldozers cleared corpse-filled houses elsewhere in the city centre, as hopes dimmed of finding more miracle survivors in the rubble. The last, a man who survived for 11 days by drinking cola, was found on Saturday.
The UN said more than 235,000 Haitians have taken advantage of free buses to flee the filthy conditions in Port-au-Prince for more hygienic camps outside the capital.
Others have used private transport.
Health Minister Alex Larsen said tents were being readied for 400,000 quake victims at mini-villages outside the capital that will initially hold 20,000 people, and in the long term accommodate around one million.
Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize-winning NGO Handicap International is moving fast to help Haiti deal with the futures of the many amputees.
"The first plane-load of short-term DynaCast prosthetics is already in the country," said Wendy Batson, executive director of the US branch of Handicap International.
"We're setting up a database and moving in the medical equipment we need so that as soon as stumps are healed enough after surgery, we can put on DynaCast prosthetics, which last four to six months," she said.
Batson said the disabling injuries in Haiti "surpass anything we've ever seen anywhere else".
The NGO, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, pulled staff from emergency and long-term programs in China and Pakistan and sent them to Haiti to help with relief efforts.
Twenty expatriates are working alongside 130 Haitians "in the remnants of the medical system and out in the neighbourhoods where they identify people with serious injuries and tell them they should get medical care immediately.
"But given the devastation to the medical system, more sophisticated interventions that would allow you to save limbs can't be done, and anyone who can't in the most rudimentary way have their limb saved is having it amputated, so that infection doesn't kill them," Batson said.
I do not feel if this question I plan to ask is appropriate, but is this a way for Haiti's corrupt government to suck up the aid money into their 'begging bowls'?
Because history shows that corrupt 3rd world dictators stash their ill-gotten loot into offshore accounts.
“”It was not an exaggeration to say that at least 10 years of hard work awaits the world in Haiti,” Harper said.”
He’s right. Note that “the world” will be doing the hard work, not Haitians. Thus the disaster that was awaiting this disaster that will always be a disaster that is Haiti.
Where is the lord god Obammie?
I thought he could be all things to all people, especially
his bros.
Seems to me our aid in the Indian Ocean Tsunami was
exceptional, and that is on the other side of the world.
In all seriousness, the idea of turning thousands of Haitians loose in south Florida sounds like a disaster.
True Americans will soon be outnumbered.
WTF is he doing there?
Attending parties and enjoying the salmon.
I do believe Sean Penn and John Travolta going there does more than all the worlds politicians posturing about "how to help".
So is the whole island made up of Port Au Prince? I mean at this point I think if I were strong enough, I’d start to wander into those mountains and start foraging and killing some squirrels or something. It’s not like your threat level is increased, you are at risk for lots of nasty ways to die by sleeping in the street next to bodies.
Just curious if the whole island is this devastated or just the capital. Not familiar with Haiti to know if this is even possible.
The rest of the world is more than aware that just giving money would be worse than useless. So only one question remains: will the Haitian government *allow* foreigners to help their people, or will they refuse aid unless they get their graft money?
This is actually the norm of third and fourth world tyrants. Unless they get their corruption needs met, they don’t care at all what happens to their people. “No food for starving children unless you pay me off first.”
The only people worse off are those of a minority group the tyrant hates. In their case, the tyrant doesn’t want *any* aid going to them. So they graft off 100%, and try to destroy what they can’t steal.
The money that goes into Haiti should be controlled by a foreign power or powers or companies. Not one single cent should go to the government of Haiti.
“Haitian police shot two people in the head as scavengers plundered the debris in the ruined heart of Port-au-Prince”
~~~
I found a happy part in the story,,,
From what I’ve seen on Fox and CNN large crowds (50-60?)
stand around while 5-6 guys try to dig out folks,,,
All these looters should be shot on sight,,,
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore don’t like this idea,,,
From what I’ve read he wants to send a “plane load” of
money and “PAY them to rebuild THEIR country”!!!,,,
He also wants to bring them to this country/state,,,!
POINT : If the looters are not killed they will just steal
the AID/food/water/etc. that the weak need to live...
Let the African countries foot the bill for assistance and aid. Haiti is not an American problem, so they should fend for themselves.
Funny when America has a crisis which affects Causcian Americans the stars and liberals are not concerned.
Odumbo is running loads of toliet tissue over there and I hope Michelle will wipe all their haitian asses to completion.
The Hatian PoPo need to declare open season on all the anarchists, muslims, looters and govt officials over there in that cess mess pool of filth/inhumanity.
P.S. Two thugs shot= two more pennys in the jar for non entitlements.
Molon Labe,
NSNR
“Nearly two weeks after the disaster, which killed around 150,000 people and left a million homeless, international powers meeting in Montreal heard that it would take at least a decade to rebuild the stricken Caribbean nation.”
One correction: the total number of deaths is not yet known, and may well exceed 300,000. This disaster’s main message is: don’t neglect earthquake-proof construction in known seismic risk areas.
It’ll take a heck of a quake to exceed the human toll from this one.
Spot On!!!
This country is stone cold BROKE!!!
We just cannot afford to throw any money at every turd
world shiit hole that has a NEED!,,,
To many American Tax Payers are out of a job that NEED help!
Yes, billions have been stolen-like the 3 billion the US has sent in the past 15 years. Where did it go? Why is the country so in debt, they certainly weren’t building any infrastructure? Why are charities feeding a million people continuously? The country is a cesspool and much thought needs to go into any rebuild.
On another note, I see dear Hillary tied up the airport for three hours while doing her photo op, three hours that needed aid could not get in. This whole thing makes one sick!
Beat me to it.....
This is an historic opportunity to instill a work ethic in that culture.
The world will help you, however you need to work for it.
We saw this in Katrina, too. The military’s Job One is to kill people and break things, the direct opposite of what needs to be done in a Haiti or Katrina situation.
We know there's going to be another earthquake, tidal wave, volcanic eruption, hurricane, etc. The list of potential disasters goes on and on. And always, our military is called on at a moment's notice to get in and get things done. And in the excitement of the moment NO ONE every seems to remember that it's NOT THEIR JOB! And yet they are held to a standard that suggests the world considers that one of their main objectives.
God bless them each and every one. They drop what they're doing, leave families, etc. and move in to do what they can. And it's always the same. Thousands of people, hundreds of tons of supplies, state-of-the-art communication facilities, the expenditure of millions and millions of American taxpayer dollars,etc. And the outcome is always the same, bitch, bitch, bitch.
Seems to me we should have some sort of standing orders and protocols for responding to disasters. Even though each one presents challenges unique to that particular disaster, they have a lot in common too. Depending on the location of the disaster and its nature we should have an idea of who will be going and what they will need. Goodness knows we have the people and the ability. What we seem to lack is pre-planning for our response.
I know this will be expensive, and we're broke as it is. But we end up getting stuck with the lion's share of the responsibility, and the blame, in these situations anyway. It would be less expensive and a whole more efficient to have protocols to handle them.
Just my musings after hearing Italy, of all people, give us a hard time about our response in Haiti.
“
As always, the US is taking heat for its response to this disaster.
“
As has oft been said:
“No good deed goes unpunished”
(or at least not appreciated)
New today from the Center for Immigration studies:
Fact Sheet on Haitian Immigrants in the United States
WASHINGTON (January 25) - Since the terrible tragedy in Haiti, many have sought information about the Haitian community in the United States. Below are some basic socio-demographic statistics:
* The last Census Bureau data (2008) indicates there are 546,000 Haitian immigrants in the United States. That is up from 408,000 in 2000 and 218,000 in 1990.1
* Of the 546,000 foreign-born Haitians in the United States, 48 percent are naturalized U.S. citizens; this compares to 43 percent for the overall foreign-born population.2
* The top states of Haitian immigrant settlement are Florida (251,963; 46%), New York (135,836; 25%) New Jersey (43,316; 8%), Massachusetts (36,779; 7%), Georgia (13,287; 2%), and Maryland (11,266; 2%).3
* Our best estimate is that there are 75,000 to 125,000 illegal Haitian immigrants in the country. In 2000, the INS estimated there were 76,000 illegal Haitian immigrants.4
* When it extended Temporary Protected Status to Haitians, the Department of Homeland Security estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people could be eligible. While most are illegal immigrants, this estimate also includes those on temporary visas such as tourists, foreign students, and guest workers who will not have to go home.5
* Between 2000 and 2008, 183,188 Haitians were given green cards (permanent residence). These figures do not include those who entered on a long-term, temporary basis such as guest workers and foreign students nor does it include short term visitors like tourists. Of those given permanent residence, 135,913 (74 percent) were admitted under family-based immigration.6
* There are 310,000 U.S.-born Americans who have at least one parent born in Haiti.7
* Of Haitian immigrants (ages 25 to 65) 22 percent have not graduated from high school and 18 percent have a college degree. This compares to 9 percent and 30 percent, respectively, for native-born Americans.8
* The share of Haitian immigrants and their young children (under 18) living in poverty is 20 percent. For native-born Americans and their young children it is 11.6 percent.9
* The share of Haitian immigrants and their young children who lack health insurance is 29.5 percent. For native-born Americans and their children it is 12.6 percent.10
* Of households headed by Haitian immigrants 46 percent use at least one major welfare program. For households headed by native-born Americans it is 20 percent.11
* The share of Haitian immigrants who own their own home is 49 percent. For native-born Americans it is 69 percent.12
http://cis.org/HaitianImmigrants
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