Soldiers in Haiti told to stop handing out food

[unhappycamper]

Soldiers work to organize earthquake survivors who gathered for disaster relief supplies in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 19.


Soldiers in Haiti told to stop handing out food
By Jim Michaels - USA TODAY
Posted : Wednesday Jan 20, 2010 7:46:57 EST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Food handouts were shut off Tuesday to thousands of people at a tent city here when the main U.S. aid agency said the Army should not be distributing the packages.

It was not known whether the action reflected a high-level policy decision at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or confusion in a city where dozens of entities are involved in aid efforts.

“We are not supposed to get rations unless approved by AID,” Maj. Larry Jordan said.

Jordan said that approval was revoked; water was not included in the USAID decision, so the troops continued to hand out bottles of water. The State Department and USAID did not respond to requests for comment.

Jordan has been at the airport supervising distribution of individual food packages and bottled water since his arrival last week. Each package provides enough calories to sustain a person for a day.


Rest of article at: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2010/01/gns_soldiers_food_handouts_haiti_012010/

[Junkdrawer]

1. WTF?

:wow:

[sharesunited]

2. What is the Agency for International Development up to?

[ret5hd]

3. I'm sure the usual apologists will soon be here telling us...

"this is all SOP"
"you can't see the absolute necessity of this"
"you need to see the big picture"
"my three lifetimes of experience see this as a good thing"
"this just says that everything is going as expected"

[glowing]

4. I think response for natural disasters should be better globally.

Each country that would normally send aid or support should get together and write an SOP guide, train together at times, and become a well-oiled machine for these emergencies... because during an actual disaster, communication will be down and finding people and routes around an area that no longer looks as it did the day before on a map will be harder for non-locals coming into the area to lend aid... Along with this all the independent agencies (non-profits) that normally step in need to be written into SOP guidelines. Essentially, the world needs to work better with one another. Borders need to be erased.

The biggest problem I see with this disaster is that there isn't a way to evacuate or places within Haiti that can be used as evacuation areas. No viable working Govt, no building codes, 80% of the population in poverty..... It was a disaster before the earthquake.

[Christa]

5. WTF?

Is bureaucracy getting in the way of hungry earthquake survivors?

[TexasObserver]

6. Recommend

[Bobbieo]

7. Please keep updates coming on this situation!!!. What are people giving their donations

for if not to help the Haitian people in any way they can who have undergone such a horrendous disaster.

[roody]

11. Please do not send your donations to White House.

Send them to a reputable humanitarian org.

[Raejeanowl]

8. Here We Go

Does this have anything to do with what's left of their government insisting on a low-key and brief military presence?

I'm sorry, but (blank) that (blank). The people need the relief. Who else is there to distribute it? Nobody? Okay, end of discussion.

[galileoreloaded]

9. Where in the fuck are the soldiers GUNS!! I know this is one picture..

but after being told we needed security over and over, they send soldiers with... NO GUNS!?

You could have paid a poor Haitian in potato chips to stand there and essentially perform the same function as a soldier without a visible means to defend themselves or others.

holy crist........facepalm.....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. They were most likely out of the picture as backup

When dealing with large crowds, those in direct contact do not often carry weapons.