Pain and Anarchy in Haiti

[aristotle]

Throughout the horror and destruction caused by the earthquake in Haiti, suffering is made worse by the absence of a functional government. Haiti appears to not have much of a professional police force or emergency rescue services. A reliable electrical grid is a luxury many Haitians have never known. Distribution of food, water and medicine by truck doesn't seem safe or practical since clean gasoline and/or diesel is scarce. Open sewage and dead bodies will soon lead to disease. Social unrest cannot be far away.

The Port-au-Prince airport is bottlenecked by reduced capabilities. The neglected and primitive sea port facilities struggle at a snail's pace to offload supplies. The island nation lacks earth-moving equipment to clear debris, to clear roads, to save lives. It may take weeks for overland travel by car to be restored.

Time to mobilize a huge helicopter caravan for Haiti. Drop stations could be established in most places. If food, water and medical assistance doesn't get directly to the people in quick fashion, many more thousands will die. An increase in anger, frustration and desperation would be understandable.

If and when the immediate humanitarian crisis is ameliorated, long term solutions must be found such that Haiti's people never again find themselves looking for help from a government that doesn't exist.

 

[layoutshooter]

The U.N. (useless nuts) the U.S. and half a zillion non-government groups have been working there for years with no positive effect. I don't know if there is a real solution there. decades of corrupt governments, no real economy to speak of and an overall feeling of hopelesness has taken their toll.

They need real jobs, not more aid. I hope that they can survive this horror that has befallen them, I cannot imagine what they are going through.

 

[greg334]

This is going to sound really mean but the entire country was a disaster in the making for a long long time. I feel for most of the people there but it is not like its neighbor the Dominican Republic and it is not like any other nation in the Caribbean and there comes a time when the people have to decide what they want to do.

The people are nice but not educated, they want to see better but don't know what to do and in many cases some refuse to look forward with a backwards attitude so to control others. Unlike other countries where we exported our way of life, the opposite has been true there we have been meddling there and the result is a country worst off than most of the rest of the world - from the US being involved with the messes of who is running the place to the UN watching over the elections and allowing very bad things to happen, most of the people are still living in the 19th century by our standards in the 1920s.

I think at this moment we need to step up and give what we can to help but after that, we need to take a serious look at how we involve ourselves with rebuilding any country without a means to pay for it or attaching some strings to it to get the people educated and on the right road.

If you ever been there, you will understand what I am getting at.

 

[layoutshooter]

I do know some who work there from time to time and the horror stories are hard to believe, this mess just adds to it.

I feel for those people having to deal with this mess, I would not wish that on anyone.

As to the rest of the mess, I have no answer. It may be time for the people there to stand up and say, "enough is enough" Nothing else has worked there.

 

[skyraider]

No infrastructure, no industry, no roads, 2 bucks a day income and from what. If there is a way out of there, I would take it. some of my neighbors went north in the early 50s when there were no jobs in the south, so its a thought when ur down and out..................

 

[aristotle]

Haiti could have a thriving tourism industry if they got their act together. Foreign investment would come in if a stable government was present and peaceful transitions of power happened on schedule.

 

[chefdennis]

The country as had a corrupt government for as long as anyone can remember, between papa doc and baby doc they stole most of any money that came into the country in the form of foreign aid..i think i read baby doc stole what is believed to be between $300-$800 million dollars for the treasury of the country between the time papa died and Ronald Reagan hauled him out of there and sent him to France before the people there killed him....

There is nothing there other then the people that is worth saving....but has i said in anther post, we aren't there for the long haul..and neither will anyone else be...haiti will be nothing but a mess worse then it was for more yrs then any of us willo be here.....

 

[bluejaybee]

There is nothing there other then the people that is worth saving....but has i said in anther post, we aren't there for the long haul..and neither will anyone else be...haiti will be nothing but a mess worse then it was for more yrs then any of us willo be here.....

There IS nothing left to save but the people.

It may be my age, but the news coverage of the people suffering there truly moved me. Just as Katrina and Louisiana did. The pictures of the people looking for something, anything, just a drink of water, oh so sad they are. Me knowing that help maybe still days away and how many of them won't make it that long. No matter how big and good we are as a nation, no matter how much aid we have to give, this was indeed a major disaster and it takes time to get it rolling. Meantime, lives are lost. It is hard to watch it unfold. May God comfort the suffering.

 

[greg334]

It is a lot different than Katrina, the problems there are too many are trying to help while too many people are in the way making a name for themselves.

I really think it comes down to our arrogance and halfa** way of thinking. we assume that just because they are poor, they can't handle it. We assume that because they are poor, they need special help with our money and our way of thinking, as we have helped Detroit and New Orleans.

 

[aristotle]

It is a lot different than Katrina, the problems there are too many are trying to help while too many people are in the way making a name for themselves.

I really think it comes down to our arrogance and halfa** way of thinking. we assume that just because they are poor, they can't handle it. We assume that because they are poor, they need special help with our money and our way of thinking, as we have helped Detroit and New Orleans.

greg334... I watched no fewer than 4 different physicians being interviewed on site in Port-au-Prince this evening. Each expressed alarm about the impending second wave of death that is coming if the dead bodies aren't buried or burned in the next 24 hours. It sounds horrific, but those rotting bodies in a subtropical climate are about to unleash all manner of disease.

There is no organized effort to remove the dead. There was video footage of a small dump truck hauling a few bodies away to a mass grave. Unfortunately, this gruesome scene will play out for days to come. I didn't think we would live to see this in modern times. No, Haiti cannot handle this situation alone.

 

[greg334]

The last I heard, there seems to be a command structure in place, assignments are taking place and people are making arrangements for equipment to be moved in for the proper disposal of the bodies.

The problems I am hearing are not being reported in the media, like the US army stopping aid and medical treatment because they want to make sure the doctors are actually doctors and that supply drops are being held up by officers who are not sure who is approving the flights. It is a mess in some parts because there is confusion of who is in charge, the Haitian government or the US government.

Some of the priorities of the US military are not of those of the aid workers and organizations on the ground.

Of course there is chaos, of course it is bad enough what happened but it is not that there isn't hope like we are being told and have been by our great media with past disasters.

 

[aristotle]

The able-bodied would be well advised to evacuate the city and retreat to small rural villages for a month or two.

 

[jaminjim]

But at least we have the anointed one (Anderson Cooper) sticking a microphone down near a slab of concrete so that we can match the video of her feet to her screams of pain/fear.

Reminds me of the reporter during Katrina. The idiot gave a bottle of water to a mother with an infant, trying to make her way to safety. He continued on his way riding in a pickup truck or something similar lamenting that there was nobody from the Government helping. Heres a news flash, take her and her baby to safety and then continue with your story.

If all of the reporters (talking heads) and their camera crew each helped save one person, that would be more important then me hearing the cries of the dying.

 

[Poorboy]

But at least we have the anointed one (Anderson Cooper) sticking a microphone down near a slab of concrete so that we can match the video of her feet to her screams of pain/fear.

Reminds me of the reporter during Katrina. The idiot gave a bottle of water to a mother with an infant, trying to make her way to safety. He continued on his way riding in a pickup truck or something similar lamenting that there was nobody from the Government helping. Heres a news flash, take her and her baby to safety and then continue with your story.

If all of the reporters (talking heads) and their camera crew each helped save one person, that would be more important then me hearing the cries of the dying.

And Now we Have Hilliary over there, So with the Two of them things will be Done On the Up and Up-----------Yeah Right!!

 

[skyraider]

Yeah, how did Hillary manage to get away,,like she gives a blank and blank. government people need a real job

 

[FIS53]

Yes Haiti is in sad shape not only now but prior to the quake. The UN has been trying to help with police training and have had a program in place for several years. Unfortunately it is very hard to get rid of corruption and train a poor police force to become a decent one with very deep mindsets from the past. This quake has destroyed communications, roads and buildings rendering over half the policing system useless.

As we have seen at the airport no one was really in charge and no one had after several planes had landed setup a proper clearing system. Note also that there was extremely poor cargo handling systems in place making it hard to move goods once off the planes. What this means is the US and Canada and others had to send in another aircraft with cargo handling equipment just to clear the taxi strip near the terminal so as to accommodate more aircraft.
Remember also this airport used to handle only 20-30 flights a day at most and not all were large aircraft (one runway only, not too long). Now you have 60-80 military and civilian large craft trying to land and unload, refuel (no electricity to pump fuel from ground tanks) and move out as well as load refugees and others wishing to leave the country.

Yes there is a lack of earth moving equipment and cranes and such as not enough building around to demand such equipment. Not only that it has to get to the areas needed.

The port has suffered with damaged docks, cranes and the roads have heaved badly making access really bad. Now you also have the problem of no vehicles around to move goods and no workers as they've either died or are hunting relatives.

Where do we stop trying to support and hand hold a country that really has no one left to help the ones who want it and need it. Most of the middle class have left due to crime and lack of government support. Over half of the wealthy have also left as well for similar reasons. Without these people you have little to no real investment in the country for job creation or wealth creation of any type. Basically little to no hope of a better future. If you show any money it is likely you'll be kidnapped in a week. I know a few Haitians and they refuse to go back home even for retirement due to the danger of being kidnapped or robbed. Education is poor, infrastructure is poor (lack of companies to build it), building codes are basically non-existent, no insurance industry to speak of, archaic communications systems and an extremely poorly built electrical system.
Rob

 

[OntarioVanMan]

soo that said...a country like this is ripe for conquest? Maybe we should annex Haiti before Cuba does...or even Argentina.

In times gone by it would be more humane to conquer the people aka Romans and give them another way of life...within an established system.

 

[jaminjim]

soo that said...a country like this is ripe for conquest? Maybe we should annex Haiti before Cuba does...or even Argentina.

In times gone by it would be more humane to conquer the people aka Romans and give them another way of life...within an established system.

Why on earth would we want to take/have Haiti? Don't we have enough going on in our little corner of the world?

 

[layoutshooter]

No, don't take over Haiti, we already have way too many on welfare. No, don't let Cuba have it either. Let General Electric buy it. Then ALGORE and Co can put up 2 or 3 zillion of their stupid windmills and a half a zillion solar collector hickeys and then Haiti could export electricity to Cuba. Cuba needs it because their socialist utopia can't make enough to support themselves!!

Haiti would have an industry, Cuba could finally have enough electricity so that they can bake the one cake a year that they are allowed and everyone would be hunkydorey!!

Man, am I good!!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

No, don't take over Haiti, we already have way too many on welfare. No, don't let Cuba have it either. Let General Electric buy it. Then ALGORE and Co can put up 2 or 3 zillion of their stupid windmills and a half a zillion solar collector hickeys and then Haiti could export electricity to Cuba. Cuba needs it because their socialist utopia can't make enough to support themselves!!

Haiti would have an industry, Cuba could finally have enough electricity so that they can bake the one cake a year that they are allowed and everyone would be hunkydorey!!

Man, am I good!!

Joe you are in the wrong business...*LOL*

Hey Jim why not we got Pourto Rico...what good is that? *LOL*