Not that it is a bad thing aid organisations are in a hurry to help out and save lives but the alleged 'relief race' has been raising tempers which undercuts staff morale and the all important co-operation and co-ordination of relief supplies amongst the dozens or maybe hundreds of humanitarian groups in the country.
"this is crazy" said Michelle Balle of Oxfam France holding the bridge of her nose not from the stench of dead and decomposing bodies[may the lord rest their souls] but a half litre bottle of mineral water hurled at her by a British aid worker in anger.Apparently they were arguing whether a case of mineral water,a precious commodity even at the best of times in Haiti, should go first to the thirsty pregnant women or the children facing dehydration.
Eventually desperate youth overpowered them and took off- plus the water.
In another incident, American marines brought in to provide escort and security in the streets insisted on profiling aid workers from countries on their terror watch list before being escorted deep into the areas worst affected.
So they don't blow up anything or anyone.
"With all do respect we have seen enough [death] and destruction. Any structure in this epicenter which was not brought down by the quake, was definitely flattened by the aftershocks" said Ahmed Mushkat an aid worker.
While the squabbles were mostly petty, over things like which organisation should go where and why, each determined to be the first to reach where no help had reached or put bluntly, no other aid organisation had reached, the issue was also taking an international dimension leading to diplomatic embarrassments.
France wanted to know from FAO why they couldn't bring in french fries and demanded to know why the American commander denied their ambulance planes permission to land.
"airport security is a serious issue in our country and hell no foreign plane [except Haitian] requiring air traffic control is gonna land here and this has got nothing to do with the tower not workin'" said Capt. Jimmy Keefe
" they could have used the sea for crying out loud. This island is surrounded by water and for the record our hospital ship USNS Comfort is due in a few days" he added.
Meanwhile, Iran blamed the West for the 7.o Richter quake
Though the Haitians are thankful to the international community for showing so much concern and compassion then moving swiftly to help in their time of need, President Rene Preval said this was an extremely difficult situation and urged everybody to keep their cool, do co-ordination and not throw accusations at each other.
Nevetheless aid was still trickling slowly albeit all the competition from a multitude of aid and humanitarian agencies both private and public.
And with the people growing impatient, desperate and demented thus resorting to looting and other criminal activities Israel announced it would bring in the Bulldozers to clear the way thus speeding things up.
NB: we had to push and shove our way through a mob of reknowned international journalists, each eager to be the first to let you know
©2010 newsync
Eneza
No comments:
Post a Comment