Haiti: 1 U.S. Citizen dead in incident, 3 others injured

[Cowlesy]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-AIP10&show_article=1


An American citizen died and three others were treated for minor injuries Monday in an incident that occurrred amid a massive international relief operation, a military spokesman said.

I think it is simply too violent a situation to be risking relief workers right now --- there are too many people in need of too few resources. Air-drops may be the way to go.

[Bruno]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-AIP10&show_article=1



I think it is simply too violent a situation to be risking relief workers right now --- there are too many people in need of too few resources. Air-drops may be the way to go.

air-drops result in mass chaos on the ground. that is what happened at the air drop the other day they tried to do

[jmdrake]

What's the old saying? When 1 person dies it's a tragedy? When 1,000 die it's a statistic? This incident will probably be used to further bolster the argument for a large military presence. (I'm sure that's not the reason you're bringing it up.) Earlier I mentioned the NAPS organization (http://napsoc.org/) as someone to donate too. They've been to places like Sudan and Zimbabwe without any protection but their faith in Jesus. They also were in New Orleans when FEMA was still claiming that wasn't safe. So far they haven't lost anybody. Of course there are no guarantees. Sometimes missionaries have been killed with their 15 passenger vans have rolled over. (And that was in the U.S.) But that's not the same attention grabbing headline. (Dead is still dead of course). The bottom line is this. If people volunteer and are aware of the risk they can choose the acceptable level of risk for themselves. Aid workers, reporters and human rights activists often choose to put themselves in places that many of the rest of us would rather not be. But then we'll get in our cars or on our motorcycles and speed down the highway without thinking twice.

[MelissaWV]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-AIP10&show_article=1



I think it is simply too violent a situation to be risking relief workers right now --- there are too many people in need of too few resources. Air-drops may be the way to go.

That, to me, seems like a decision for the relief workers to make. I do think setting up drop zones would be an intelligent idea, but I've also seen video of a helicopter inappropriately dropping stuff into a crowd and it was pretty idiotic. It just creates a stampede.

There are going to be further complications soon from all of this. It's been only a week, but someone, somewhere, should be thinking of massive spring/summer shelters. Think something along the lines of a large gymnasium: large covered shelter with moderate climate control, ventilation, and a real floor (versus dirt). There will be a need for it soon enough. Reliable shade, safety, and security from the elements will become more and more of a problem as time wears on.

It's simply going to get ugly no matter what. I hope the situation does not discourage people overall, but instead leads to brainstorming as to how to do it better.

[Cowlesy]

Where is the Dominican Republic in all this?? I mean they share a land border, and you'd think they'd be able to truck-in enough aid (though yes I understand there isn't some big interstate like here in the States).

Or at least from the DR they could helicopter in aid quicker.

[MelissaWV]

Where is the Dominican Republic in all this?? I mean they share a land border, and you'd think they'd be able to truck-in enough aid (though yes I understand there isn't some big interstate like here in the States).

Or at least from the DR they could helicopter in aid quicker.

Crossing the entire country by truck is not particularly easy. Hopefully someone is working on getting the port back in order, which would help things along. Mountain roads are likely not in great condition. They are helping stage some of the relief efforts, but the country's also not a rich one by any stretch of the imagination. They aren't deporting people back into Haiti, but they are also guarding their borders, or else they will be swamped and overrun in short order... not with refugees but with people taking advantage of the situation (think of an earthquake in Mexico which causes, say, Texas to lift its border restrictions...).

It's a logistical nightmare. The airport should be enough to stage all of this, but as you will notice the trouble is getting the supplies from the airport out into the field. I am still frustrated to see that there is no trouble getting reporters to desperate areas. If you can get a reporter somewhere, then you can get food and water there. Instead, the reporters are doing stories along the lines of "the people seem increasingly angry... there's no food and no water here... no medical supplies... no doctors." Yeah, but there's an awesome foreign reporter and their crew!:mad:

[Cowlesy]

Crossing the entire country by truck is not particularly easy. Hopefully someone is working on getting the port back in order, which would help things along. Mountain roads are likely not in great condition. They are helping stage some of the relief efforts, but the country's also not a rich one by any stretch of the imagination. They aren't deporting people back into Haiti, but they are also guarding their borders, or else they will be swamped and overrun in short order... not with refugees but with people taking advantage of the situation (think of an earthquake in Mexico which causes, say, Texas to lift its border restrictions...).

It's a logistical nightmare. The airport should be enough to stage all of this, but as you will notice the trouble is getting the supplies from the airport out into the field. I am still frustrated to see that there is no trouble getting reporters to desperate areas. If you can get a reporter somewhere, then you can get food and water there. Instead, the reporters are doing stories along the lines of "the people seem increasingly angry... there's no food and no water here... no medical supplies... no doctors." Yeah, but there's an awesome foreign reporter and their crew!:mad:

One word.

Frustration.

[ramallamamama]

What's the old saying? When 1 person dies it's a tragedy? When 1,000 die it's a statistic? This incident will probably be used to further bolster the argument for a large military presence. (I'm sure that's not the reason you're bringing it up.) Earlier I mentioned the NAPS organization as someone to donate too. They've been to places like Sudan and Zimbabwe without any protection but their faith in Jesus. They also were in New Orleans when FEMA was still claiming that wasn't safe. So far they haven't lost anybody. Of course there are no guarantees. Sometimes missionaries have been killed with their 15 passenger vans have rolled over. (And that was in the U.S.) But that's not the same attention grabbing headline. (Dead is still dead of course). The bottom line is this. If people volunteer and are aware of the risk they can choose the acceptable level of risk for themselves. Aid workers, reporters and human rights activists often choose to put themselves in places that many of the rest of us would rather not be. But then we'll get in our cars or on our motorcycles and speed down the highway without thinking twice.

Why do you hate speeders so much?