Haiti roads complicate Mormon relief effort [LDS Caucus]

Deseret News ^ | Jan. 25, 2010 | Scott Taylor

[TheDon]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Richard Long has managed on-site emergency-relief efforts after tsunamis in Indonesia, Samoa and Tonga and earthquakes in Peru. He arrived at massive California and Utah wildfires before the ashes cooled. And he knew hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and Gustav on a first-name basis.

As he scrambles to deliver relief in the wake of the most recent major disaster, Long says efforts following the deadly Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti have proved to be the most challenging.

"This by far has been the most difficult one," said the field operations manager for Bishops' Storehouse Services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as he watched supplies from two large trailers being unloaded Sunday, Jan. 24, into Third World-quality warehouses made of cinder block, cement and corrugated-metal roofs.

No worry about security, though -- all supplies are carefully inventoried upon arrival and departure, and the premises are carefully watched by shotgun-toting guards.
Long has been in Port-au-Prince 10 days and counting, as emergency-response officials from the church work with the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations and reputable international relief agencies to provide relief in a Caribbean nation where the death toll has now reached an estimated 150,000, the Haitian communications minister told the BBC Sunday.

The two trailers carrying 160,000 pounds of supplies -- mostly food and water -- arrived Sunday from the Mormon Church with a welcome assist from Islamic Relief USA, which covered the $65,000 cost for chartered air transportation.

"It's very expensive to move freight," Long said.

Those supplies join an initial 80,000 pounds of supplies purchased by the church in the neighboring Dominican Republic and trucked across the island to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and some 30,000 pounds the church has been able to place on United Air Cargo flights into Port-au-Prince whenever space has been available over the past few days.

Mormon workers have willingly collected surplus relief supplies other organizations have left unclaimed or available following airlifts to Haiti, adding a handful of pallets here and there of extra items to its own growing supply.

The church will send another 80,000 pounds of supplies on Tuesday -- mostly tents, blankets, hygiene kits, rice and beans. Another shipment is planned for Friday.

And rather than making relief shipments directly to Haiti, the church is finding it more efficient to fly them into the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo and then truck them on Port-au-Prince.

That's because Haiti is a logistical nightmare. Streets and roads were hole-riddled obstacle courses even before the earthquake, and deliveries into Haiti are snarled by traffic, access and distance problems.

"Regrettably, everything is horrible here," Long said, bemoaning all the planning, security and transportation challenges required for any movement of relief supplies.

"There's no infrastructure, no communications -- we're down to the very basics, of supplying food to keep people alive."

For several days, food and supplies have been delivered to people housed on church meetinghouse grounds. Sunday, additional relief supplies -- particularly food and water -- were being forwarded on to local hospitals as well as to the meetinghouses.

Church officials have said plans are to help Haiti for the long haul. Bishop's Storehouse Services will be in Haiti for at least two months to coordinate the delivery and distribution of relief supplies; Long will be back in Port-au-Prince as part of a later rotation of leaders.

But those from church headquarters in Salt Lake and its Caribbean Area office in Santo Domingo are quick to point out their role in the church's efforts in Haiti -- and that is to provide logistics support at the direction of the local priesthood leaders in Port-au-Prince and to allow those leaders to directly minister to the Haitian members.

"We want to show respect to the local priesthood committee," Long said. "The committee is the ultimate decision-making group -- they're in charge. We support them in everything they do."

[TheDon]

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[TheDon]

LDS Ping!

“The two trailers carrying 160,000 pounds of supplies — mostly food and water — arrived Sunday from the Mormon Church with a welcome assist from Islamic Relief USA, which covered the $65,000 cost for chartered air transportation.

“It’s very expensive to move freight,” Long said.

Those supplies join an initial 80,000 pounds of supplies purchased by the church in the neighboring Dominican Republic and trucked across the island to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and some 30,000 pounds the church has been able to place on United Air Cargo flights into Port-au-Prince whenever space has been available over the past few days.

...

The church will send another 80,000 pounds of supplies on Tuesday — mostly tents, blankets, hygiene kits, rice and beans. Another shipment is planned for Friday.”