Haiti’s aid: caught in a bottleneck
Updated on 19 January 2010
It is now more than a week since the earthquake which devastated Haiti, yet aid is simply not getting through to the people who need it. As Jonathan Rugman reports, medical supplies are standing at the main airport, a stone's throw from a hospital with virtually no resources.
Warning: the accompanying footage contains images which some people may find distressing
It is emerging tonight that although US Marines are seeing to security needs, the UN effort was itself so badly destroyed in the earthquake that there remains a vacuum lf leadership – not least because every Haitian ministry has also collapsed.
US military helicopters landed on the lawn of Haiti's ruined presidential palace this morning carrying food rations, bottled water and specialist equipment.
In another sign that the aid effort is gaining momentum, the United Nations agreed to send in another 3,500 peacekeeping troops to improve security on the streets.
The aid crisis here is most acutely summed up in the fact that medical supplies are standing on the airport, just 200 metres from a makeshift hospital which has a desperate life- saving need for them.
For more Channel 4 News coverage of Haiti earthquake
- Haiti survivors pulled from the rubble
- Haiti receives US aid airdrops
- Haiti quake: how to help the rescue effort
- Blog: nomads on the move in an unpredictable country
Sheltering in the grounds of an industrial park is what passes for a hospital. The most critical patients have open fractures, internal bleeding, and limbs in need of amputation.
But there’s no operating table, and if you need a drip, either a relative holds it or it hangs from a tree.
One Dominican Republic doctor says they don't have enough dressings or antibiotics, or surgeons, to save lives.
But the five people who died here last night passed away just across the road from the capital’s airport where thousands of tonnes of aid are pouring in.
'Everything's just 100 metres away'
Alphonse Edward, the hospital coordinator, interviewed by Jonathan Rugman said the hospital had treated 2,000-3,000 patients at minimum since the quake. He estimated they were getting up to 10 casualties a day – due to lack of supplies and doctors. “Everything’s just 100 metres away,” he said, looking across to the airport.
"We can look at the supplies sitting there."
One 23-year-old at the hospital was trapped beneath the university for six days. But the girl cannot go to a proper hospital because those which are still standing are full.
If you just look up, aid flights are landing and taking off just a short distance away.
M Edward complained: “They have you running round the airport all day, looking at supplies, looking at everything you need right there. All the hospitals are there, sitting idle, and nothing’s being done.
"And then you come here and you work all night long. And tomorrow I’ve got to start all over again."
'Like chaos'
Across the road at the airport, America’s military might is on display – what President Obama has called one of the biggest aid efforts ever.
But who is in charge of prioritising who needs what? The UN says it is in charge of distributing relief, while the Americans say the Haitian government is taking the lead.
Commander Chris Loundermon of the US Navy told Jonathan Rugman: "I’ve heard some people say it was like chaos – and it is. But the thing is, the more effort that the international community provides, the better off the Haitian people will be."
He continued: "The priorities are all prioritised by the Haitian government. I want to underscore that."
Back at the emergency medical centre, UN troops were trying to stop an angry crowd from storming inside. "We’re hungry and they give us nothing," the people said.
This happened on the very road where the UN aid operation is based.
Surgeons from Jamaica arrived this morning with news that they would take some critical patients away.
One week on from the earthquake, lives are still being lost here – with a lack of leadership to blame.
'We're moving huge resources'
David Orr, of the World Food Programme, told Jon Snow: “We’re not just using this airport to bring in assets.
“We’re bringing in food supplies by road along the humanitarian corridor from the Dominican Republic. Also by sea.”
“So we’re moving huge resources from a number of different directions, at top speed.”
He went on: “We’re targeting a total of 2 million (people in need) – that’s our estimate.
“We reckon that by the end of tonight we’ll have reached 200,000 beneficiaries with up to a million rations.
“We’re moving in about 10 million ready-made meals within the next weeks.
“So everything is really moving, I would say, very quick now.”
David Orr told Jon Snow that the seaport, which was damaged in the earthquake, was operational “as from now”.
He said the WFP had been using helicopters in coordination with the American military to move supplies of fortified biscuits to the south of the country.
He said his organisation was establishing fixed food distribution points within the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Cooperation and coordination had been made very difficult by the fact that the UN operation in Haiti had been destroyed by the quake. But the challenges were being met.
