20,000 soldiers & the best stocked medical airport around, but

[SoCalDem]

it's apparent that once the "stuff" reaches the airport, it just sits there until intrepid reporters (who have no problem getting around) go there and basically present a trashbag, and get it filled with medicine, then take it to doctors at a hospital..

Excuse me, but I expected better this time around.

We are 8 days into this disaster, and I cannot imagine why there has not been a more focused plan to actually distribute the "stuff". It should not take doctors and newspeople begging at the airport.

I know there are logistical issues, but more soldiers and more "stuff" flown in, is NOT the biggest problem..

Getting the "stuff" OFF the airport property is step one... and if the military does not feel safe off the airport premises, maybe they could deputize the media and have them distribute the "stuff".

Hungry, injured people are doing without, while supplies pile up, and soldiers trip over each other ...at the airport...

[tabatha]

1. Where did you see that?

CNN?

[SoCalDem]

5. Yep.. Gupta showed up with a trash bag & got meds..n/t

[tabatha]

8. Did you know that the air traffic

is being managed by controllers sitting at tables outside.

The US has sent a control tower so that they can better do their job.

[tabatha]

10. I also think it was probably "for show".

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Agenda driven, GUPTA? NAh you don't say

I do notice that I posted what the ICRC said today, but not that this matters...

[LakeSamish706]

2. Yep, nobody wants to get down and dirty and actually venture out to the outback.

Funny how we criticize the media like CNN (most often it is justified) but right now they seem to be the ones that are doing the leg work for those in need.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. And they are. Troops and aide workers are in the outback

CNN is doing disaster porn.

Their agenda is so damn transparent... government does not work.

I guess we should have Xe do this next time.

[Captain Hilts]

6. SeaBees and 82nd Airborne just opened a new drop site and distribution on a golf course inland. nt

[PacerLJ35]

12. CNN and other media sources are glory hounds

If they put half their effort into distributing aid as they do carping about everyone else's drawbacks, they might have a place to complain. But the folks I've talked to and read about are doing back-breaking work, while media prima donnas like AC criticize them on the sidelines.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. On this same thread I posted the ICRC latest report

as of this morning... not that it matters, it contradicts CNN, I guess ICRC is lying :sarcasm:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. And you are wrong... the ICRC reports that they are seeing the aid

now in the field.

I am getting like fucking tired of actually busting my balls to do the job the press is not doing, since they do have an agenda

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7533972

That by the way might be a single reporter trying to tell you a story that will outrage you... but that is not the case. Oh and I have actually seen that in real life too.

Oh and by the way, it is not just the ICRC... but that's ok.

[HeresyLives]

7. It's because there is no master plan.

One that's put into effect every time there is a natural disaster...and there should be one by now, as these things happen on a regular basis, and the shake-down is very predictable.

It's always made up on the fly...and that's just not acceptable anymore.

[tabatha]

9. Because they have never been faced with a disaster of this

proportion before.

Every time there is a disaster, the rescuers learn something for the next time.

By the way, this is all being managed by Haiti and the UN.

[PacerLJ35]

11. There is a general "master plan"...

I worked in the Plans & Programs office for a year while assigned to a unit in Texas, and there is indeed a number of generalized plans for responding to disasters. The problem is you just don't know all the specifics (ie, like having only one runway with limited ramp space, on an island with no large roadways) until it actually happens. You simply can't plan for every detail. But yes, there are general plans in existence for mobilizing personnel and equipment for disaster relief.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. And on a more specific basis, which did not exist for Port Au Prince

when I helped write the one for where I worked, I did ask the questions, how the hell do I get around the ONE access road to my airport? How do I deal with it if I got one lane closed? But I was writing a more specific one that had to fit, in the puzzle of a state and federal civil defense plan.

[PacerLJ35]

15. Nearly every photo and video I have seen of the airport shows Navy helicopters

those helicopters are moving the aid over the roads and to the places that need the aid. I've seen dozens of videos and photos of US military personnel handing out aid throughout the city.