Haitian president Rene Préval and his delegation met with president Obama at the White House this week to offer an update on the status of relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in the earthquake devastated island of Haiti.On January 12, 2010 the massive earthquake, registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, struck the island Haiti's Port-au-Prince area.
"Your grief is shared by our strong and vibrant Haitian American community, some of whom join us here today and who continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones back in Haiti. To you, and to our fellow Americans, please know that you remain in our thoughts and in our prayers", said Obama.
Shortly after the earthquake U.S. urban search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Los Angeles County, Miami, Miami-Dade, Virginia Beach, and New York City were deployed and, with rescue teams from other countries, pulled a total of 136 survivors from the rubble.
The President thanked the men and women who answered Haiti’s call in its hours of need, including members of Congress, and many state and local officials to include the Department of State, USAID, Homeland Security, FEMA, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Department of Defense, including our great folks at Southern Command.
"Today I want to thank all of them for leading a swift and coordinated response during one of the most complex humanitarian efforts ever attempted."
The White House is also reporting that Disaster Medical Assistance Teams and International Medical Surgical Response Teams from the Department of Health and Human Services conducted 31,365 patient visits, performed 167 surgeries, and delivered 45 babies while U.S. military medical professionals treated 9,800 patients, admitted 1,464 patient admissions, performed 1,025 surgeries, 2,200 patient transfers and carried out 255 MEDEVACS. Coast Guard aircraft conducted an additional 240 MEDEVACS.
The USAID-led emergency response team has supported government vaccination efforts in IDP camps. To date, 233,251 people have been vaccinated. Among other relief efforts the U.S. purports to have provided are U.S. food aid contributions and the ongoing provision of emergency food assistance to more than 2 million people by the World Food Program and partners through March.
What Haiti Needs Now
"The situation in Haiti remains dire, and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over. Many Haitians are still in need, desperate need in some cases, of shelter and food and medicine. And with the spring rains approaching, those needs will only grow. The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster."
The President made a committment that the US will aid in the support of the rebuilding of Haiti.
"And that’s why, at this very moment, thousands of Americans, both civilian and military, remain on the scene at the invitation of the Haitian government. And that’s why, even as the U.S. military responsibly hands off relief functions to our Haitian and international partners, America’s commitment to Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction must endure and will endure. This pledge is one that I made at the beginning of this crisis and I intend for America to keep our pledge. America will be your partner in the recovery and reconstruction effort."
President Preval remarked by saying, "Our priorities are, first and foremost, as you said, protection of those people who today are homeless and who must be relocated. And in parallel, we must prepare the rainy season, which just last week has already caused the deaths of 15 people.
"And at the same time, much more basically, we must deal with the need of rebuilding Haiti, thanks to an effective decentralization policy -- namely, offering health care, education, jobs to all Haitians, men and women, regardless of where they live in the country, in order to prevent migratory flows towards the big cities, towards Port-au-Prince, and that will help avoid that disaster such as the earthquake would cause so many victims."
On March 31st, there will be at the United Nations an international conference in order to support the reconstruction of Haiti.
"I do hope that all participants will share this philosophy, this vision, of decentralization", said Preval.
Lessons Learned
Preval, during his speech in the White House Rose Garden, added "These are lessons for all of mankind. The Haiti earthquake was immediately followed by the earthquake in Chile, as well as other earthquakes throughout the world. And the countries that have seismic risks are not merely those countries which are located on top of seismic faults. In fact, the tsunamis, which are the repercussions of break in faults, threaten other regions as well as the United States."
Call For Improved Response
While thanking the US for the aid and response to the people of Haiti, Preval said effectiveness can and must be improved. Several reports have indicated that the US is trying to occupy Haiti and that food and relief have not reached everyone.
"The massive, spontaneous, generous help was a good response to the disaster", said Preval. "However, its effectiveness must be improved, because effectiveness depends on the quality of coordination."
This is why I support the idea of the creation of so-called “red helmets” within the United Nations, and these would be an observatory, a warning system, a provision system for natural disaster, and a humanitarian force which would be the equivalent of the blue helmets. It was proposed that there should be so-called “red helmets,” a humanitarian force in order to intervene, and that would work in a coordinated manner as soon as the first minutes after a disaster, which are fundamental to saving lives.
Related (Relief Status: January To Present)
Food and Supplies Not Reaching Haiti
US Accused of Militarizing Relief Effort in Haiti
US Pulls Out of Haiti Recovery
Still To Come
Our Report On One Man's Visit To Haiti. We'll share our report with former Redskin, Ken Harvey, as he spoke with us about his mission to help the people of Haiti.
Photo: Reuters
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