Obama's Haiti Response

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Jan..13, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                    

              Leaping to Haiti’s rescue after a devastating Jan. 10, 7.0 quake, President Barack Obama proved he’s worthy of his Oct.9, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, given for setting the right tone on the world stage and expectations for the future.  Sending ships, planes, helicopters and 2,000 U.S marines for emergency services, Obama proved he’s no George W. Bush, whose weak response to 2005 Hurricane Katrina, led by Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown, let New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents twist in the wind. Obama’s response signals that he intends to do things differently, mobilizing U.S. assets to thousands of Haiti’s quake victims.  Calling the disaster a “cruel and incomprehensible tragedy,” Obama ordered Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the U.S. Southern Command, to make thousands of more troops available for rescue operations.

            Promising an all-out humanitarian effort, Barack sends a loud signal to the international community that the U.S. remains the world’s best hope for responding to global crises.  Two thousand U.S. marines together with U.N. peacekeepers expect to arrive in Haiti in the next few days.  Fraser indicated that the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Vinson was on its way from Norfolk, Va, expected to arrive Thursday afternoon.  Haiti’s U.N. services were decimated in Port-au-Prince, where U.N. peacekeeping headquarters collapsed.  Up to 100 U.N. personnel were believe dead or trapped in the building’s rubble.  “We don’t know precisely what the situation is on the ground,” said Fraser.  “So we’re leaning forward to provide as much as capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there,” knowing that time is short to manage emergency disaster-relief situations.

            Hurricane Katrina taught some bitter lessons in 2005, where victims were perched on rooftops for days before rescued by emergency personnel because of extreme flooding.  Haiti’s situation is far worse, where a lack of communication, infrastructure and resources plague the most impoverished island-nation in the Western Hemisphere.  Measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the Jan. 10 temblor leveled the 2 million-inhabitant Port-au-Prince.  Hospitals, schools, prisons and the city’s Roman Catholic cathedral collapsed, killing 63-year-old Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot.  “This is worse than a hurricane,” said doctors’ assistant Jimitre Coquillon.  “There’s no water.  There’s nothing.  Thirsty people are going to die,” characterizing the dire conditions confronting survivors.  Haiti’s President Rene Preval said it’s the worst catastrophe in the last 200 years, exclaiming, “It’s incredible.”

            Estimating up to 500,000 missing or dead, Haiti’s leading Sen. Yourin Latorture, expressed shock over the magnitude of the disaster.  Already ravaged by hurricanes, floods, mudslides, poverty, substandard construction and occasional civil wars, the poor island-nation doesn’t have the resources to weather major natural disasters.  While 3,000 Haitian police and international peacekeepers provide emergency services, the International Red Cross estimated that up to one-third of the island’s 9.million residents could be affected by the disaster.  “We have to be there for them in their hour of need,” said Obama, reassuring Haitians that the U.S. would respond as quickly as possible.  UCLA public health and infectious disease expert Kimberly Shoaf warned about dengue fever, typhoid, malaria and measles hampering relief efforts.  Rapid cleanups are essential to preventing communicable disease.

            Cuba and Doctors Without Borders pledged medical support to manage the thousands of injured victims awaiting treatment.  At least 150 persons were mission from the U.N. mission after the building collapsed.  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the U.N”s Tunisian mission chief Hedi Annabi was missing along with numerous other U.N. staff.  U.S. authorities reported no known deaths of its 40,000-45,000 Haiti personnel, though impossible to verify.  Haiti’s disaster resembles the 2004 South Asian tsunami that killed over 200,000, prompting a forceful international response.  Lessons from the tsunami and Katrina showed that before clearing out debris from collapsed buildings it’s difficult to estimate casualties.  Rapid response of rescue teams can help prevent transmittable disease associated with rising bacterial levels from corpses and stagnant sewage.

            President Barack Obama responded heroically to Haiti’s crisis, coordinating with the U.N. and international community a coherent disaster response.  “We are reminded of the common humanity that we all share,” said Obama at a White House press conference from the Diplomatic Reception Room with Vice President Joe Biden by his side.  He also stressed the priority of when the U.S. Southern Fleet arrives in the next 24 hours, the world will witness one of the most compassionate and sweeping relief operations in world history.  Obama cancelled his normal schedule to help direct the government’s emergency response, especially tracking down U.S. diplomatic personnel currently missing in Port-au-Prince.  White House officials set up a Web site, www. whitehouse.gov for U.S. citizens who wish to contribute time, energy and money to the relief operation.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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