Breifers: Captain John
Kirby, spokesman for the Joint Task Force Haiti, Tim Callaghan, USAID senior regional advisor for Latin America,
Rear Adm. Mike Rogers, director of
intelligence for the Joint Staff, Captain Andrew
Stevermer, commander of the incident response team for HHS.
The U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) have 506
people on the ground as of Monday afternoon, 71 successful rescues have been
completed, 39 of them by U.S. personnel. Searches will continue through
Tuesday. “Obviously we're getting closer to where you would go from rescue to
recovery,” said Callaghan, “But at the time the teams are in full rescue
mode and still we are hopeful that we will still find more individuals.”
USAID is bringing in such items as kitchen sets, water
containers, water jugs, hygiene kits, emergency medical kits, etc. Over 130,000
water bladders for storing clean water have been distributed.
HHS has 265 people on the ground, including doctors, nurses,
and paramedics, said Stevermer. Four planeloads of medical supplies have reached
Haiti will more on the way. There are also plans in formation to deal with the
remains of the mass casualties, he said. There is a medical response team at
the GHESKIO site, but not a full field
hospital as the
Israelis have set up.
“I would characterize the security situation in Port-au-Prince
today as stable,” said Rogers, explaining that the security situation hasn’t
hampered relief efforts. “We have seen nothing that suggests to us that we have
widespread disorder; no sense of widespread panic. “
Callaghan responded to
reports that distribution of aid supplies is being hampered by bottlenecks
in the distribution process. Food is being given to the World Food Program for
distribution, non-food aid to the International Organization of
Migration, and USAID is also working through its traditional partners, including
Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, CARE, etc.
Kirby responded to the
complaints by some other countries that the U.S., which controls the
airport area, is prioritizing security over humanitarian aid distribution in
its management of the airspace. (The French government downplayed
this issue Tuesday) “It is a sheer volume issue. And there are more
planes that want to land here than we can accommodate in any given hour,” said
Kirby, “But it's much more efficient than it was even just one day ago.” The
goal is to split the military and civilian landings 50-50.
So who is in charge of what down there? The UN is in charge
of search and rescue and the U.S. military is operating in support on MINUSTAH. “The
security and stability of Port-au-Prince is the U.N.'s responsibility and we
respect that,” Kirby said. There are 1,700 U.S. troops on the ground, the 2nd
Brigade of the 82nd Airborne. The 22nd Marine
Expeditionary Unit will arrive soon with 2,200 Marines, but not all of them
will go ashore. The Comfort
hospital ship will arrive Wednesday.
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