Rachel just showed a pic of the port in Haiti -- non-operational. The cranes

[gateley]

have collapsed and the docks are partially submerged. :(

[northzax]

1. give the US Navy and the Corps of Engineers a week

if that. they are really quite good at this sort of thing. it may not look pretty, but I wager supplies will begin to hit the shore in the port within three days of the Vinson's battle group getting there.

[annabanana]

3. I'm looking forward to seeing

them do their stuff. If I ran the world, this kind of work would be the primary mission of our military, as long as we are not under threat of an imminent, massive, attack.

[blondeatlast]

5. They really are amazing. I was so proud to see pics of the Vinson

yesterday--a truly amazing vessel that I didn't know about until yesterday.

[gateley]

7. I didn't see that -- I'll go look it up. nt

[northzax]

13. oh, you knew about it

just not by name. among other things, that was the Vinson in the movie Top Gun.

it's amazing, isn't it? we can build such a massive, complex device for the sole purpose of killing people more efficiently from distance? and then get the side benefit of stuff like this?

[gateley]

14. Good lord -- I'm reading about it ant at first glance I thought it said 'the ship

is 332 MILES long'. It's meters, of course. :7

[Matariki]

10. people are probably dying of dehydration already.

I'm going to cry. again.

[TornadoTN]

12. They will have some capability to unload up very quickly

It will take about a week for them to get that port up to speed to get the supplies moving. They've probably already got some capability already in place for the initial shipments.

They also have some amphibious capability to get equipment to shore as well. Couple that with the choppers that can land on the carrier's for supply pickups, and things should be moving pretty well in short order.

[TheMightyFavog]

2. This is why we have CH-53 Stallions and CH-47 Chinooks.

IIRC, those choppers can carry a lot of cargo.

[northzax]

9. not compared to a ship

airlifting liquids (such as fuel) is remarkably expensive and inefficient. a Chinook, for instance, can carry 14 tons total cargo. that's not even one large shipping container.

[blondeatlast]

4. Self-delete. nt

[KharmaTrain]

6. The Problem Is Getting The Supplies Inland...

Streets are impassible...crudded with debris, garbage and, sadly, dead bodies. With no communications and growing desperation, the mission will become more dangerous. Any truck with supplies risks being swamped and until distribution centers can get up and running, it's going to be difficult to pass out the aid. Someone asked why the military is involved...and in addition to their organizational and material expertise, they'll be needed to protect the aid workers and try to restore order.

This situation is bound to get worse as the scope and extend of the damage and desolation is still being assessed. While I'm confident that aid will get to many it's still days away...very long, difficult and dangerous days.

[gateley]

8. I heard where people who were distributing water were swamped - understandable.

I would have no idea of how to go about trying to distribute the needed supplies in an efficient, smooth way.

I also heard that some people were selling water. That broke my heart.

[KharmaTrain]

11. Rachel Is Discussing This...

I have faith in the military and NGOs in eventually getting a handle on things here...but it's not going to be easy. The lack of true centralized government is what's making this situation worse...in many ways it's like Somalia.