7.0 Earthquake Tuesday in Haiti

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[Aeroentropy]

Here are two stories aired on NPR, about cruise ships stopping on Haiti:

January 19, 2010

Janurary 23, 2010

Each gives some perspective on why continuing the stops is beneficial to the local community. It seems twisted to think of vacationing there at this moment, but there are certainly two sides.

[pacos_gal]

Canadas DART team is in Jacmel, Haiti.  They have 40 medics with them and on Monday they treated 240 people.  They said that so far they haven't lost any patients, but that they are seeing a large influx of refugees from PAP coming through.  They desperately need some additional support here.  Jacmel, is the home town of our Governor General.

I got a little mushy reading this one.

http://www.thestar.com/unassigned/article/755843--jacmel-sings-canada-s-praise

Members of Canada's elite Disaster Assistance Response Team brushed tears from their cheeks Monday after more than 100 people from this town descended on the team's seaside field hospital to give thanks to the Canadians for their help in treating their wounded.

"It's overwhelming," said 30-year-old Cpl. Cheryl Belanger, a medical technician and member of DART who hails from Ottawa.

"To work all day long with people in need and then to end it with them coming out to thank us by singing in the street, it takes you out of the big picture for a moment."

[daMamma]

Just one of the many reason I love Canada so much.  The people of this country really are generous of heart. 

I do see why the cruise ships would set off such controversy though.  It does shine a spotlight on the glaring difference between the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" and makes a lot of folks feel pretty uncomfortable.

[Forty Watt]

I do see why the cruise ships would set off such controversy though.  It does shine a spotlight on the glaring difference between the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" and makes a lot of folks feel pretty uncomfortable.

My first thought was if there is food and drink aplenty, not to mention housing, 200 kilometers away would it not be better shared with the people who have none.  I do understand that this might be an emotional rather than a practical solution and that there are many sides to the issue.

If something positive is coming out of this in terms of help, that's good.  I'll hold my fire for now. 

[Amy]

I want to give a big Thank You to the Canadian Red Cross. My DIL's sister and husband are in Haiti helping a team of Doctors they met up with. They went over with a church relief group. They have been doing amputations with power tools and emergency c-sections (there are a lot of women who are going into premature labor and there are no options available except to do this) All of this has been happening on the sidewalks and out in the open.

Until yesterday. The Canadian Red Cross came by and immediately set up a tent for them to use as a sort of Mash Tent. My DIL said her sister cried for an hour. If you can imagine the gratitude they have just to have a tent to work in! That conditions are still so deplorable it is gut wrenching. I hope the news cycle doesn't drop this. It is so much worse than we can imagine.

Keep the relief teams in your prayers.

[Aeroentropy]

If something positive is coming out of this in terms of help, that's good.  I'll hold my fire for now. 

Love that image - what exactly does it take to sink a cruise ship, anyway?   

[pacos_gal]

John Travolta flies personal plane to Haiti with relief supplies, medical team and some Scientology members.  

http://www.youtube.com/user/BuzzEdition#p/c/77B9E837A943ABA5/7/KMGRWRb9rhQ

Don't really care about the Scientologist unless they are doing something helpful for the people, but I am happy about any flight that lands with supplies and medical teams.

This guy thinks that it is a Bad idea about the Scientologist and who cares what else Travolta might be bringing along on the ride.

http://videogum.com/archives/duh-aficionado-magazine/

seems that Andrew Sullivan agrees with that sentiment.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/dont-go-to-haiti-ctd.html

Perhaps it was a bad idea. What do you think?

[daMamma]

Travolta has a plane, great let him use it and his piloting skills (he's licensed to pilot the jumbo jets) to ferry supplies.

Those that have something of value to contribute, medical, search & rescue, construction etc. are welcome and needed and should bring as much by way of needed supplies as possible.  If you can't contribute in some way you don't need to be there. 

What is not needed are people looking for converts to their religion. 

[Forty Watt]

I endorse this quote:

Why can't John Travolta just text HAITI to 90999 like the rest of us. If he really wants to do something to help, he can text HAITI to 90999 a few hundred thousand times.

Code:

http://videogum.com/archives/duh-aficionado-magazine/

The point is Haiti needs people who are experienced in dealing with disasters.

[Jaime from Wasilla]

The point is Haiti needs people who are experienced in dealing with disasters.

Did you SEE Battleship Earth? Travolta knows all about disasters, on soooo many levels. 

It is easy to be an armchair quarterback, sitting smugly with your $10 text contribution, criticizing someone who is giving not only thousands of dollars, but his own time and considerable skill.  Good for John Travolta, I say.

[daMamma]

I think it wicked cool that Travolta is flying in supplies.  The man has a pilots license that allows the big jumbo jets.  His skills are useful.  His generosity is greatly appreciated.

It is the religious folks tagging along on his plane I have a problem with.  They are useless and are only interested in converts.  Scientology requires monetary contributions from its converts in ever increasing amounts.  Then again, I just plain have a problem with missionaries in general when it involves proselytizing, especially in disaster zones.

[Forty Watt]

Did you SEE Battleship Earth? Travolta knows all about disasters, on soooo many levels. 

Funny. 

As I understand it, Travolta will be flying straight home after delivering the supplies.  I hope he has passed on his considerable experience to the Church of Scientology ministers he is leaving behind. 

[pacos_gal]

Did you SEE Battleship Earth? Travolta knows all about disasters, on soooo many levels. 

Funny. 

As I understand it, Travolta will be flying straight home after delivering the supplies.  I hope he has passed on his considerable experience to the Church of Scientology ministers he is leaving behind. 

I think the Scientologist should all have to wear those dreadful dreadlocks while in Haiti so as to be easily identifiable to those who do not wish to engage in, well, in Scientology I guess.  Not sure what the ministers are actually doing but still think they should wear the dreadlocks
Which can be see here if you didn't see the movie.  If you did you'll probably never forget them. 

Code:

http://www.independentcritics.com/images/battlefield%20earth%20SPLASH.jpg

[daMamma]

 
Oh those are just horrid!
 

thanks for the link pacos_gal!

[Forty Watt]

Latest:  Haitian survivors fight for food

Outside the wrecked presidential palace, Brazilian UN peacekeeping troops fired tear gas at a frenzied crowd of thousands crowding around a food handout.

"They're not violent, just desperate. They just want to eat," Brazilian army Colonel Fernando Soares said. "The problem is there is not enough food for everyone."

Facing persistent complaints by survivors that the huge amounts of aid flown in to Haiti is not reaching them on the ground, US and UN troops, as well as aid workers, have widened and intensified the distribution of food and water.

[futurexpat?]

This kind of chaos after a disaster should be a common problem that relief workers have to face. I understand some of the problems, but I would think they would have a better solution to handling this situation. It's two weeks since this happened.

[pacos_gal]

I just read on a twitter from a Canadian that on the Travolta flight were 50 Haitian-American medical personnel. 

http://twitter.com/DavidMillen2/status/8289669939

[daMamma]

Now that is cool.  Being able to speak the language is a real big help.   

[daMamma]

Another rescue!  Oh I just love to hear they found someone alive in the rubble and managed to get them out.  

from SFGate

Stunning recovery: Haitian girl pulled from debris
By BEN FOX and GREGORY BULL, Associated Press Writers
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

French rescuers pulled a teenage girl — very dehydrated, with a broken left leg and moments from death — from the rubble of a home near the destroyed St. Gerard University on Wednesday, a stunning recovery 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city.

<modified to add link> 

[judi]

yea...I dont care if they are bringing help, supplies, medicine, etc...let them go

by the way I have a friend who is a midwife and is completing paperwork to go to Haiti...hope she makes it...