#95
HAITI'S EARTHQUAKE
Test for U.S., Obama in Haiti earthquake response
By Howard LaFranchi
Wed Jan 13,
5:32 pm ET
Washington – The United States is traditionally a leader in international
disaster response, but it faces a special test in the aftermath of Haiti’s
devastating earthquake Wednesday. That’s partly because of Haiti’s
proximity and the long history between the two countries, but also because
of new challenges to the preeminent position held by the US in the Western
Hemisphere.
It's of little relative importance, given the magnitude of the human
suffering in and around the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince,
but China’s search-and-rescue team was the first to reach there Thursday,
preceding US teams by a couple of hours.
US bilateral response is important to America's image, both as a sign of
commitment to the hemisphere and as a signal to the large Haitian community
in the US, relief experts say.
US military personnel are already there, and a 72-member
search-and-rescue team is expected to be on the ground by Thursday
afternoon. It is also considering sending a contingent of Marines to
Port-au-Prince because of the damages suffered by the United Nation’s
9,000-strong stabilization force, known as MINUSTAH. Many of them were
trapped in a building hit by the quake.
But while the US may play a leadership role, the relief and eventual
reconstruction efforts will be international, given the extent of
devastation in the hemisphere's poorest country, experts add.
“The US has been traditionally the largest bilateral donor to Haiti,
and there are multiple reasons for that, ranging from a history that goes
back to the earliest days of the two countries to the large Haitian diaspora
in the US,” says Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The good
news is that the international community is much more engaged in Haiti than
in the past, and that’s important because the needs are such that it’s
too much for any one country.”
More teams may deploy
In describing the initial US and international responses to the disaster,
senior US officials indicated their understanding that relief and
reconstruction efforts will act as something of a test of US and
multinational effectiveness and capacity.
“The international nature of this is a real opportunity as well as a
challenge,” said Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a news briefing in Honolulu, the
first stop in a trip focused on the south Pacific region including Australia.
Secretary Clinton said she was coordinating the State Department and USAID
response from Pacific Command and that she had decided, in consultation with
President Obama, that
she would not cancel her trip.
The US priority over the next 72 hours will be “saving lives,” said
Rajiv Shah, the new administrator for the US Agency
for International Development (USAID), at a State Department briefing
Thursday. Two urban search-and-rescue units have been dispatched to help dig
out the thousands of Haitians thought to be trapped in collapsed structures.
The government is acting to identify other teams that would be prepared to
deploy, Mr. Shah said.
Beyond that, the US is already “thinking about critical needs in the
area of health and food, water, transportation, and infrastructure…,” he
said, adding, “We are committed to a significant effort, and we are
committed to doing everything we can in all of those sectors.”
The US is also “very seriously” looking at sending a Marine
expeditionary unit to Haiti
to assist MINUSTAH as well as the US
Embassy and USAID, said Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of US Southern
Command, who was also at the briefing.
The Katrina comparison The US response to Haiti’s disaster is also
important for President Obama because, as a presidential
candidate, he was sharply critical of the Bush
administration’s response in the aftermath
of hurricane Katrina, regional analysts say.
Haiti may not be a domestic disaster but it will nonetheless be a test of
Obama’s abilities, says Mr. DeShazo, a former deputy
assistant secretary of state for Western
Hemisphere affairs. “It certainly would send a positive image of
the administration and the US if the US response is a robust and effective
one,” he says
As for China’s swift dispatch of a rescue, “it’s in keeping with
their objective of establishing a larger presence and deeper ties to the
region,” DeShazo says. “Arriving on the scene early is a symbolic way of
underscoring their presence.” [Source]
In 1922 former Marine Brigade Commander John Russell was named as High Commissioner of Haiti, a post he held until the final days of the occupation. Under Russell's influence, all political dissent was stifled and revenue from the custom houses was turned over, often months ahead of schedule, to Haiti's U.S. bond creditors, who had assumed loans originally extended to Haiti to pay off the French plantation owners' reparations!
Jonathan Black
How
U.S. impoverished Haiti
What about France? Is that country responding to the needs of the Haitians whose work make FRANCE rich?
Three French planes touched down Thursday to transport about 60 injured people to hospitals in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Ambassador Hedi Annabi died in the quake. He had high hopes for Haiti.
