Aid makes it to Haiti, but not onto the streets

[Waiting For Everyman]

CNN January 22, 2010 9:49 a.m. EST

Large quantities of medications, baby formula and other relief supplies are sitting on the tarmac and in warehouses at the Port-au-Prince airport, but no one is moving it out, according to CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

"It's like everywhere we go, just walking through the airport, outside the airport even, people are saying, 'We need supplies,' " Gupta said.

Gupta found pallets of formula, pain medication and antibiotics standing unattended next to the runway.

U.S. military personnel in a warehouse tent at the airport gave Gupta a trash bag full of supplies to take back to a hospital he had visited earlier but couldn't explain why there seemed to be no organized system for distribution.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/22/haiti.earthquake/index.html


There seems to be no plan for distributing the aid once it comes in. Some of the clinics don't even have rubber gloves.

Seems to me, if those in charge simply watched the news reports, or better yet coordinated with the news teams, or listened to local radio in Haiti (which is on), they'd know some immediate places to take basic relief supplies.

And if the "government" of Haiti is doing nothing else, why can't it at least start making a list of locations where aid needs to go?

I just don't think this needs to be complicated.

[Democrat_in_Houston]

1. The Telegraph in the U.K. is reporting that gangs are controlling areas of Port-au-Prince

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/7030248/Haiti-earthquake-police-admit-gangs-have-taken-over-Port-au-Prince.html

And I think it's only going to get worse. :( It only takes a few bad apples...

"Haitian authorities conceded they had lost their battle to maintain order in Port-au-Prince after the leaders of the city's crime gangs reclaimed their old turf since being freed when the national prison collapsed last week."

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. The Haitian cops shot some people who weren't looting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4237733#top

This happened across the street from the stalled stockpiles at the airport, which has a huge military presence. I doubt very much that anyone would be fool enough to be looting there, right in front of the military - it just isn't plausible.

The Haitian authorities are shooting hungry people just for picking up bags of rice which fell off a truck, while completely dropping the ball on getting aid to them, which is sitting right across the street. This is just wrong.

[izquierdista]

2. The magic of the Free Market

Apparently there is no DEMAND for these SUPPLIES, for if there was, the Free Market would make sure that they were exchanged for their market price.

You wouldn't want socialists just wandering around and handing this stuff out to each according to his needs, would you?

[Waiting For Everyman]

4. Exactly.

Seems to me, that if this aid was collected FOR Haitians, and it isn't given to them, that's a fraud. It may be under the relief agencies' control, but it isn't for them.

It's EMERGENCY relief too. It needs to go out, and quickly, or the money for it was collected by these agencies under false pretences.

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Your post is gibberish, unless of course you meant to extol free markets

By definition there is no "free market" allocating those resources. A free market is comprised of buyers, sellers, and institutional rules that govern private exchanges. Are you trying to imply that there SHOULD be a free market to allocate
relief resources in Haiti?

I think you might be lamenting that there is no institution for exchange AT ALL once the supplies hit the ground (is
that it?). There is a de facto command and control resource allocation mechanism in place now, where supplies seem haphazardly
distributed without, as the article states, any plan.

So, which institution are you mocking: the free market (which is not appropriate, and which no one suggested should allocate resources), or command and control?

[izquierdista]

6. Maybe both?

Which is what you get when command and control is run by a free market outsourced-to-private-contractors system.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Explain, please

Private contractors are supposed to be distributing supplies there? I don't think so.

[Merchant Marine]

8. Infrastructure

"It's a shame, because you would hope that everything could get out there within seconds. But that kind of infrastructure just isn't in place."

Palletized cargo can be moved by forklift or hand truck, or it can be broken up and moved by hand. However significant amounts of cargo cannot be shifted by hand- motorized transport is required. I've been unable to find info on the status of military trucks being moved into Haiti, but its unlikely a C-17 could move more than one deuce and a half at once.

In all likelihood the transport assets needed are being moved in-country on an MSC Ro-Ro ship, which will need a cleared port and pier to dock.

[cutlassmama]

9. there are trucks. I've seen them on the news.

[uppityperson]

10. Med clinics use latex or non-latex gloves, not rubber ones. THe roads are still a mess there