Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Amanda Neo’s write-up
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2010/01/17/image6107797x.jpg
I will be discussing on the challenges faced by US in the provision of aid to Haiti that resulted from a poor organizational practice.
Let me start by giving a background of Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Over 80 percent of people in Haiti live in abject poverty. Over half the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Over 80 percent of the people do not get the minimum daily ration of food as defined by the World Health Organization. Less than 45 percent have access to potable water. Life expectancy in Haiti is 53 years. Only one in every 100,000 Haitians has access to a physician. Being plagued by political violence all its years, in May 2006, Haiti was finally put under control as it inaugurated a democratically elected president and parliament.
Unfortunately, a massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 which called a catastrophe in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. An alarming 100,000 people were dead within 60 seconds; this catastrophe is indeed a nightmare for the Haitians. Having such detrimental effects, Haiti required plentiful international aid assistance to help them tide over this nightmare.
Being less than a 100miles away from Haiti, US failed to deliver the food, water, medical supplies, and rescue teams and medical personnel that Haiti needed desperately during the first few days after the earthquake struck Haiti. It was only a week after the earthquake, on January 18, that the first US airdrop of food and water were made. Also, it was reported that the tons of supplies were stacked up at the airports, not moving after three days since the earthquake happened.
Why did US experience delay in giving aid to Haiti? The cause of the delay can be mapped up by a few factors such as Haiti’s main demolished seaport, a congested one-runway airport, road congestions and a shattered communication system.
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/img/news/2010/800px-Haitian_Port_Damage1.jpg
With a demolished seaport, there were no land points for ships which were carrying supplies for Haiti such as humanitarian aid, food, water, rice, beans, oil, MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat), USAID food packages, construction materials and tents.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011531716311291.html
The downfall of the seaport has made aid bottleneck at Haiti airport as it was an impossible task for such a small airport to coordinate such large numbers of aircrafts. The arriving aircraft have been hampered a lack of staircases used to access the planes and allow crews to disembark. Moreover doctors, sniffer dogs, troops and rescue workers had to contend with airport congestion, limited jet fuel for return flights and an airport without an air traffic control tower or working radar as the tower had collapsed when the massive earthquake struck Haiti.
http://sydsvenskan-img.se/archive/00337/sxe32426_337906a.jpg
Even after the relief teams have managed to unload the supplies from the aircraft, the road posed created another problem for them as it was filled with debris or quake survivors seeking shelter. Adding to this set of problems will be the shattered communication system. Because of the earthquake, communications were disrupted as electricity supplies were cut off at certain parts of Haiti; this made it impossible to determine the number of casualties. Therefore, relief teams were unable to get a clear picture of what is going on in Haiti. In a nutshell, we can see that Haiti’s air, road and sea were all affected badly by the earthquake.
Now, I will like to provide a few recommendations on how these problems may be curbed. First of all, I think that there should be an expansion of the airport in Haiti. By doing so, it will not only assist Haiti in handling emergencies but also create economic opportunities in the long run, as a new airport will facilitate travel and boost business opportunities too. Secondly, sophisticated military vehicles can be deployed to facilitate aid provision in the rough roads of Haiti. These military vehicles can be used for defense purposes too. Thirdly, wireless network can be installed at all parts of Haiti to speed up communications and information will then be conveyed efficiently. Furthermore, local disaster workers in Haiti should all be equipped with emergency preparedness skills such as emergency teamwork. This is because during a rescue mission, you can never work alone. Rescue workers have to depend on each other and listen to instructions promptly in order for coordination to go smoothly. Besides, crisis coaching is essential too. Crisis coaches are practiced when you are instructed to lead a group of refugees to a safe location. This is not an easy task at all as most of the Haitian survivors have been traumatized by the earthquake; hence rescue workers are required to cope with the emotional side of disaster victims too. I believe that emergency preparedness is essential especially in disaster-stricken areas like Haiti.
In conclusion, I feel that US can increase their organizational practice efficiency by creating contingency plans as you will never know when disaster will strike again, but will never be afraid if you are prepared for it.
Resources
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications//the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/14/haiti-earthquake-left-100-000-dead-in-60-seconds-and-toll-could-reach-500-000-115875-21965474/
• http://www.rwor.org/a/189online/Haiti-en.html
• http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/01/calm-before-storm-in-haiti.html
• http://www.soulwork.net/emergency.htm
• http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011531716311291.html
We Loved11:33 PM
April 2008