Poor Haiti

[Workingman]

The place is still recovering from when a 7.0 Magnitude Quake struck near Port au Prince in January 2010. 3,500,000 people were affected and an estimated 220,000 people died, with another 300,000 people injured.

Now Hurricane Matthew has hit it hard and nearly 900 are dead. 3.200 homes have been destroyed and there are 61,500 people living in shelters. There are flooded roads, collapsed bridges and power outages. Crops have been destroyed, wells are filled with seawater and some water treatment plants are ruined.

The Red Cross says at least 350,000 people will need assistance and it has made an urgent appeal for £5m.

Coverage in the media - minimal.

Meanwhile Matthew has now hit the east coast of the USA and suddenly it is big news. Some trees have been blown over and power is out for 500,000, but no real infrastructure damage.

Coverage in the media - 24/7 with frequent updates.

Sick.

[AliasAggers]

I have a niece and her family living in South Carolina, USA, and they have left their house,
windows boarded-up and all furniture moved upstairs, as the storm is expected there now.

It must be a very worrying time for them. They only moved there from South Dakota recently.

[Workingman]

Aggers, don't get me wrong, I do realise that it has been battering the the coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, causing quite severe damage; and I do feel sorry for the victims. But since it left Haiti when it was Cat 5 its winds have been dropping, as has its category. It is now, as of 4pm GMT, a Cat 1 and will shortly be dropped to a tropical storm. It is also moving away from the coast and back into the Atlantic, weakening all the time.

What irks me is the reporting. Damage to homes, fallen trees and power outages in the US and it is all over the news. Destroyed homes, 900 dead, power outages and little drinking water in Haiti and barely any meaningful coverage.

[Suff]

What irks me is the reporting. Damage to homes, fallen trees and power outages in the US and it is all over the news. Destroyed homes, 900 dead, power outages and little drinking water in Haiti and barely any meaningful coverage.

Me too. I followed it from before it hit Haiti and it was clearly a monster which was going to cause damage. We had more coverage of the Bahamas and people moaning because they were being forced to take precautions and it "never really hit them". Well this generation has clear evidence of why you take precautions and have had to learn the lesson all over again.

But, yes, much was made of the initial person who died in the US, basically a heart attack when the emergency services were locked down. At the same time there were sporadic articles talking about "maybe" 350 dead in Haiti.

I know it's a backwards country with a backwards culture, but that doesn't meant the lives don't matter. I'm sure they will get aid and assistance, just as soon as the US has cleaned up their own mess.

[Workingman]

I was also following it days before it hit. Hurricane Matthew was claimed to be the strongest in over a decade, its track was known to within a few tens of miles and the timing of it hitting Haiti was also known. All of that tells me that NGOs, local countries and the UN failed Haiti in the biggest way possible.

We spend fortunes and countless hours attempting to predict earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions so that people can be moved out of danger. Yet when we have a disaster in the making unfolding before our eyes we sit and twiddle our thumbs. The very least that should have been done is for temporary shelters, food and water, and medical supplies, equipment and personnel, to have been ready so that they could be in place the second Matthew moved on. Questions need to be asked about why that was not the case.

It is probably time for all the things mentioned above to be placed somewhere just outside Hurricane Alley prior to the season starting so that they can be deployed immediately to any disaster hit area, rather than making appeals after the event.

[Suff]

It is probably time for all the things mentioned above to be placed somewhere just outside Hurricane Alley prior to the season starting so that they can be deployed immediately to any disaster hit area, rather than making appeals after the event.

Agree with all of that WM but you know in the above that it will just make a really good target for thieves when this kind of stuff happens on a decadal cycle. When you want it, it won't be there, it will have been stolen and sold off.

But they should have been prepared this time and pre positioned aid and support. Then again, remember New Orleans and how the city was devastated for weeks as the US scrambled to respond to a Hurricane they knew was going to be at least a problem if not the real disaster it was. Bush failed them in a most comprehensive way and some are still suffering to some degree or other even today.

[Workingman]

Agree with all of that WM but you know in the above that it will just make a really good target for thieves when this kind of stuff happens on a decadal cycle. When you want it, it won't be there, it will have been stolen and sold off.

True, but why not then put it on air bases.... even in Hurricane Alley. If the place it is stored is likely to be hit by a hurricane then move it somewhere else. Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas and Florida all have suitably secure bases. They will not all be in the path at the same time.

A couple of Galaxy or Airbus A330's could get the emergency first-aid supplies to any zone in hours. Once that is done fleets of Super Hercules or Hercules aircraft could be used for continuous resupply - everybody has some.

If there was the will, there would be a way.

[Suff]

If there was the will, there would be a way.

Or one drop of the concern, they are currently weeping right now; beforehand.