15 January 2010 -- The Real Nightmare

Driving home this afternoon through Port-au-Prince, less than 72 hours after the earthquake, the collapsed buildings stood as testimony to the quake. The Haitian people, however, seemed normal. The gas stations are functioning, the cooking charcoal is available, drinking water is flowing, and the street markets are operating. Ate too many MREs yesterday, so we stopped and bought a papaya, a pineapple, two avocados, and several tomatoes. The fruit was beautiful and close to normal Haitian prices. Where is the disaster? This morning we drove to the airport and offered our services to an Army unit distributing bottled water. The US taxpayer flew bottled water down here, along with heavily armed troops to distribute it by helicopter. We could have delivered it by Tim's truck. The Haitians would have been happy to have an extra plastic bottle, but they are getting plenty of water from their normal wells. Then, the mission was postponed and the troops were diverted to handle the "riot" of passengers boarding planes to leave. The chaos I saw today was inside the carefully-secured confines of the Airport and was the chaotic process of gaining positive media attention. Time to leave. With luck, the chaos will remain at the airport and the Haitians can get on with their lives. Later, we did see one helicopter delivering water to a select group of people within easy news camera range of the US Embassy. At the embassy, the security guards claimed a "riot" justified their increased presence, which prevented us from even entering. Scripted justifications easily allow millions of dollars to be wasted. The streets of Port-au-Prince already show many healthy signs of normalcy, before the tsunami of massive foreign "aid" has even struck.

14 January 2010 -- Disaster Relief

"Man, I cannot write a book about this because people will just think I am bitter," are the words of Tim Schwartz after a day of driving a Search and Rescue Team around Port-au-Prince. We went to the US Embassy to help, since they had evacuated so many embassy personnel that they are now short-handed. We helped a Search and Rescue team from Fairfax Virginia drive around town. Tim's fluent Kreyol and knowledge of Port-au-Prince seemed to be the only thing that kept them on the right track, in the right place, and out of the traffic jams. In the afternoon, Tim's pickup truck was the only transportation they had. Embassy vehicles I saw were either sitting empty and waiting to go on some convoy, or sitting broken in the parking lot. The Fairfax team had sniffer dogs and we went to several collapsed buildings where high-profile people were trapped. For some reason we drove past the buildings where Haitian peasants would have been trapped. The dogs were not impressive and by the end of the day we had not found anyone, but the team did present themselves well for the media. At the end of the day, the back section of the Embassy compound was filled with groups of additional searchers and their equipment. They did not have vehicles available to go out and do anything, but they seemed to entertain themselves with stories of how well trained they were. The Haitians seem resigned to facing another disaster. Many have left the city and are living with relatives in the countryside. Once relief efforts actually start distributing aid, it will probably only attract crowds of people back to a city that is still lacking a full complement of services. The first thing I would provide is gasoline. The indigenous transportation network could provide services, if it only had fuel. I could go on and on, but you would just think I am bitter....

13 January 2010 -- Earthquake in Haiti - The morning after

The largest earthquake in 200 years hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, last evening. I was in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic, with Tim Schwartz. We had just checked in to a hotel by the beach, when we were warned of a possible tsunami from the earthquake. Time to get away from the beach. We decided to drive to Port-au-Prince to see if we could help out. Driving all night, changing cars in Santo Domingo, and slipping through a deserted Haitian border station, brought us to Port-au-Prince as the sun was coming up. The bigger buildings that could not flex enough seemed to bear the most damage. Many badly wounded people are still lying in the streets because the hospitals are filled. Aftershocks are still coming through. It seems that only an earthquake could make Port-au-Prince any worse. When will something good happen to the Haitian people?