Haiti
Rescue efforts began in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, with able-bodied survivors extricating the living and the dead from the rubble of the many buildings which had collapsed,[135] but treatment of the injured was hampered by the lack of hospital and morgue facilities: the Argentine military field hospital, which had been serving MINUSTAH, was the only one available until 13 January.[136] Rescue work intensified only slightly with the arrival of doctors, police officers, military personnel and firefighters from various countries two days after the earthquake.[137]
Helicopters transfer injured earthquake victims to hospital ship USNS Comfort off the coast of Haiti seen in this picture.
kkgggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
Intensive care wards: 80 beds
Recovery wards: 20 beds
Intermediate care wards: 280 beds
Light care wards: 120 beds
Limited care wards: 500 beds
Total Patient Capacity: 1000 beds
Operating Rooms: 12
Departments and Facilities:
Casualty reception
Intensive care unit
Radiological services
Main laboratory plus satellite lab
Central sterile receiving
Medical supply/pharmacy
Physical therapy and burn care
Dental services
Optometry/lens lab
Morgue
Laundry
Oxygen producing plants (two)
Medical Photography
Four distilling plants to make drinking water from sea water (300,000 gallons per day)
Flight deck can handle world's largest military helicopters (CH-53D, CH-53E, MH-53E, Mi-17)
USNS Comfort is the third United States Navy ship to bear the name Comfort, and the second Mercy Class Hospital Ship to join the navy fleet. The USNS prefix identifies the Comfort as a non-commissioned ship owned by the U.S. Navy and crewed by civilians. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, USNS Comfort and her crew do not carry any ordnance and firing upon the Comfort is considered a war crime.
- Like her sister ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19), Comfort was built as an oil tanker in 1976 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. Her original name was SS Rose City and she was launched from San Diego, California.
- Her career as an oil tanker ended when she was delivered to the Navy on December 1, 1987. Now, as a hospital ship, Comfort's new duties include providing emergency, on-site care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations. Operated by the Military Sealift Command, Comfort provides rapid, flexible, and mobile medical and surgical services to support Marine Corps Air/Ground Task Forces deployed ashore, Army and Air Force units deployed ashore, and naval amphibious task forces and battle forces afloat. Secondarily, she provides mobile surgical hospital service for use by appropriate US Government agencies in disaster or humanitarian relief or limited humanitarian care incident to these missions or peacetime military operations. Comfort is more advanced than a field hospital but less capable than a traditional hospital on land.[1]
The deployment marks the first time the ship has reached full operational capacity, utilizing all 12 operating rooms and beds, since it was delivered to the Navy in 1987.[5] The mission also saw the ship's first on-board delivery, of a 4-pound, 5-ounce preemie named Esther.[6] Although the ship is less capable than a traditional hospital on land, it offers the most advanced medical care available in Haiti following the earthquake.[7]
When not actively deployed, Comfort is kept in a state of reduced operations in Baltimore harbor. She has been used many times over the years and has been ready to ship out of Baltimore with 5 days' notice.
Builder: National Steel and Shipbuilding
Laid down: May 1, 1975 (As Rose City MA-301)
Launched: February 1, 1976
Commissioned: December 1, 1987 (to US Navy)
Status: in active service, as of 2010[update]
General characteristics
Displacement: 69,360 tons (70,470 t)
Length: 894 ft (272 m)
Beam: 105 ft 7 in (32.18 m)
Propulsion: two boilers, two GE turbines, one shaft, 24,500 hp (18.3 MW)
Speed: 17.5 knots (32 km/h)
Complement: 63 civilian, 956 naval hospital staff, 258 naval support staff, up to 1000 bed patients
Time to activate: 5 days
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders; MSF) reported that the hospitals that had not been destroyed were overwhelmed by large numbers of seriously injured people, and that they had to carry out many amputations.[138][139]
Running short of medical supplies, some teams had to improvise and work with any available resources, often constructing splints out of cardboard and license plates ripped from demolished vehicles. Reusing latex gloves became an uncomfortable but necessary practice as supplies were exhausted. Other rescue units had to withdraw as night fell amid security fears.
Over 3,000 people had been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) as of 18 January. Ophelia Dahl, director of Partners in Health, reported, "there are hundreds of thousands of injured people. I have heard the estimate that as many as 20,000 people will die each day that would have been saved by surgery."
UN forces took to patrolling the streets of Port-au-Prince.
An MSF aircraft carrying a field hospital was repeatedly turned away[143][144] by U.S. air traffic controllers who had assumed control at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport.[145] Four other MSF aircraft were also turned away.[145] In a January 19 press release MSF said, "It is like working in a war situation. We don’t have any more morphine to manage pain for our patients. We cannot accept that planes carrying lifesaving medical supplies and equipment continue to be turned away while our patients die. Priority must be given to medical supplies entering the country."[146] First responders voiced frustration with the number of relief trucks sitting unused at the airport.[147] Aid workers blamed U.S.-controlled airport operations for prioritising the transportation of security troops over rescuers and supplies;[91] evacuation policies favouring citizens of certain nations were also criticised.[148]
The U.S. military acknowledged the non-governmental organisations' complaints concerning flight-operations bias and promised improvement while noting that up to 17 January 600 emergency flights had landed and 50 were diverted; by the first weekend of disaster operations diversions had been reduced to three on Saturday and two on Sunday.[149] The airport was able to support 100 landings a day, up from the 35 a day that the airport gets during normal operation. A spokesman for the joint task force running the airport confirmed that though more flights were requesting landing slots, none were being turned away.[150]
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and French Minister of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet criticised the perceived preferential treatment for U.S. aid arriving at the airport, though a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there had been no official protest from the French government with regard to the management of the airport.[151][152] U.S. officials acknowledged that coordination of the relief effort is central to Haitian recovery,[153] and President Préval asked for calm coordination between assisting nations without mutual accusations.[154][155]
While international efforts received significant media coverage, much of the rescue effort was conducted by Haitians themselves.
While the Port-au-Prince airport ramp has spaces for over a dozen airliners, in the days following the quake it sometimes served nearly 40 at once, creating serious delays.[156][157] The supply backup at the airport was expected to ease as the apron management improved, and when the perceived need for heavy security diminished.[91] Airport congestion was reduced further on 18 January when the United Nations and U.S. forces formally agreed to prioritise humanitarian flights over security reinforcement.[158]
By 14 January, over 20 countries had sent military personnel to the country, with Canada, the United States and the Dominican Republic providing the largest contingents. The supercarrier USS Carl Vinson arrived at maximum possible speed on 15 January with 600,000 emergency food rations, 100,000 ten-litre water containers, and an enhanced wing of 19 helicopters; 130,000 litres of drinking water were transferred to shore on the first day.[159]
The helicopter carrier USS Bataan sailed with three large dock landing ships and two survey/salvage vessels, to create a "sea base" for the rescue effort.[160][161][162] They were joined by the French Navy vessel Francis Garnier on 16 January,[163] the same day the hospital ship USNS Comfort and guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill left for Haiti.[164][165] Another large French vessel was later ordered to Haiti, the amphibious transport dock Siroco.[166]
A woman is rescued alive from rubble several days after the initial quake.
International rescue efforts were restricted by traffic congestion and blocked roads.[167] Although U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had previously ruled out dropping food and water by air as too dangerous, by 16 January, U.S. helicopters were distributing aid to areas impossible to reach by land.[168]
In Jacmel 70% of the buildings were destroyed and at least 5,000 people were estimated to have died in the initial quake.[169] The small airstrip suffered damage which rendered it unusable for supply flights until 20 January.[170] The Canadian navy vessel HMCS Halifax was deployed to the area on 18 January; the Canadians joined Colombian rescue workers, Chilean doctors, a French mobile clinic, and Sri Lankan relief workers who had already responded to calls for aid.[171]
British search and rescue teams were the first to arrive in Léogane, the town at the epicentre of the quake, on 17 January.[172] The Canadian ship HMCS Athabaskan reached the area on 19 January,[173] and by 20 January there were 250-300 Canadian personnel assisting relief efforts in the town.[174] By 19 January, staff of the International Red Cross had also managed to reach the town which they described as "severely damaged ... the people there urgently need assistance",[175] and by 20 January they had reached Petit-Goâve as well, where they set up two first-aid posts and distributed first-aid kits.[39]
Haitian child is treated aboard a hospital ship.
Over the first weekend 130,000 food packets and 70,000 water containers were distributed to Haitians, as safe landing areas and distribution centres such as golf courses were secured.[176] There were nearly 2,000 rescuers present from 43 different groups, with 161 search dogs; the airport had handled 250 tons of relief supplies by the end of the weekend.[177] Reports from Sunday showed a record-breaking number of successful rescues, with at least 12 survivors pulled from Port-au-Prince's rubble, bringing the total number of rescues to 110.[178][179]
The buoy tender USCG Oak and USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51) were on scene by 18 January to assess damage to the port and work to reopen it,[180][181] and by 21 January one pier at the Port-au-Prince seaport was functional, offloading humanitarian aid, and a road had been repaired to make transport into the city easier.[182] In an interview on 21 January, Leo Merores, Haiti’s ambassador to the UN, said that he expected the port to be fully functional again within two weeks.[183]
Landing ships move supplies onshore from the rescue fleet.
The U.S. Navy listed its resources in the area as "17 ships, 48 helicopters and 12 fixed-wing aircraft" in addition to 10,000 sailors and Marines.[184] The Navy had conducted 336 air deliveries, delivered 32,400 US gallons (123,000 l; 27,000 imp gal) of water, 532,440 bottles of water, 111,082 meals and 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) of medical supplies by 20 January. Hospital ship Comfort began operations on 20 January, completing the arrival of the first group of sea-base vessels; this came as a new flotilla of USN ships were assigned to Haiti, including survey vessels, ferries, elements of the maritime prepositioning and underway replenishment fleets, and a further three amphibious operations ships, including another helicopter carrier, USS Nassau (LHA-4).[185]
On 22 January the UN and United States formalised the coordination of relief efforts by signing an agreement giving the U.S. responsibility for the ports, airports and roads, and making the UN and Haitian authorities responsible for law and order. The UN stated that it had resisted formalising the organisation of the relief effort to allow as much leeway as possible for those wishing to assist in the relief effort, but with the new agreement "we’re leaving that emergency phase behind". The UN also urged organisations to coordinate aid efforts through its mission in Haiti to allow for better scheduling of the arrival of supplies.[183] On 23 January the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors, and most search and rescue teams began to prepare to leave the country.[186]
On 5 February, ten Baptist missionaries from Idaho were charged with criminal association and kidnapping for trying to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti. The missionaries claimed they were rescuing orphaned children but investigations revealed that more than 20 of the children had been taken from their parents after they were told the children would have a better life in America. In an interview, the United States Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten, stated that the U.S. justice system would not interfere and that "the Haitian justice system will do what it has do to."
Cite Soleil: In some parts of Cite Soleil the houses are nearly back-to-back. Their zinc sheeting is bent and rusted, but they are still standing. People are selling yams and other vegetables, and water packed in little plastic bags.
They shout out the name of their product, but there are hardly any takers - people cannot afford it.
This is the most notorious neighbourhood in Haiti and it stretches as far as the eye can see.
Seafront property in the Caribbean is desirable everywhere apart from here.
The low-lying ground is muddy in parts. You cannot quite tell what you are walking in and you do not really want to.
I head across to talk to Mirilande, who is selling rice with some sort of meat mixed in. It smells fantastic and she has a few customers.
'No food'
When I ask the price of a plate she tells me five Haitian gourdes, which is about 12 US cents. But still many cannot afford to buy.
Some 70% of the people in this country lived on less than $2 (£1.20) a day and that was before the earthquake, which has destroyed much of what little economic activity there was.
Flights used for aid drops have been passing over the neighbourhood
"They're willing to buy here because they don't have food at home - they have water but no food," says Mirlande.
As we chat, another US Navy helicopter flies overhead. Areas like Cite Soleil are exactly the kind that the UN and the US military have had concerns over.
As delays continue and people wonder where the supplies are, there is more anger about the lack of action on the ground.
Would it cause security problems if - as some had suggested - air drops took place here?
After all, the US Air Force is dropping pallets of food and water from C-17 transport planes to those isolated by the quake, but this community is just a few miles away from the tonnes of food and supplies that have come into the airport and still have not been distributed.
My question gets a mixed response, there are some saying no and others saying yes.
"I trust in God", says one woman. Another, younger woman says she needs to feed her baby. "They're killing us," she says.
She seems adamant that she would do anything to save her child's life.
Amputations
Some residents expressed fears that dropping food on the central reservation now used by those whose homes had been destroyed might kill people.
Medical treatment is available in the neighbourhood, and a hospital is treating those injured in the quake.
As we try to get in we are followed by a couple of guys just trying to get past the crowds of people outside.
People have been receiving medical treatment, but supplies are low
Security stops them and there is a heated argument, but it is resolved quickly.
As we enter, a hand painted sign with an AK-47 on a white background with a red "X" through it is a reminder of what life was like here before the quake.
For now, doctors are treating wounds that should have already have begun healing.
The lack of medical supplies means that as I walk round I see lots of amputations - crush injuries not treated, leading to infection and loss.
A young woman lying on the ground next to her daughter asks me if I can help because she has no money for anything.
The little girl's lower leg is gone, cut off beneath the knee.
She just stares out across a packed ward.
I ask the receptionist how many people the hospital normally treats. She does not know, but she tells me they are seeing 400 patients a day.
It is like a revolving door of pain in Cite Soleil.
The sound of the latest humanitarian mission can be heard overhead as yet another chopper flies by, whilst on the ground "Sun City" remains in the dark.
