Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, January 20, 2010, Page 16, Image 16

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Page 16
jdortlanb (Observer
January 20, 2010
Haiti’s Aftershock
co n tin u ed ¿ ^ f r o m F ron t
and the lim itations o f the w orld's
g o v e rn m e n ts. E x p e c ta tio n s e x ­
ceeded w hat m oney, will and m ili­
tary m ight have been able to achieve
so far in the face o f unim aginable
calam ity.
R escue groups continue to work,
even though tim e is running out for
those buried by the quake. A M ex i­
can team created after that nation's
1985 earthquake rescued Ena Zizi,
69. She had survived a w eek buried
in the ru in so f the residence of Haiti's
R om an C atholic archbishop, w ho
died. O ther team s pul led tw o w om en
from a collapsed university bu ild ­
ing.
But m ost efforts are focused on
getting aid to survivors.
"We n e e d so m u c h . F o o d ,
clothes, we need everything. I don't
know w hose responsibility it is, but
they need to give us som ething
soon," said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-
old m other o f tw o w ho has been
living under a bedsheet with seven
m em bers o f herextended family. She
said she had not eaten since Jan. 12.
It is not ju st H aitians questioning
why aid has been so slow for victim s
' ™ " y ^uu
ia u w u inio d c-± f uiooemaster at trie Port-Au-Prmce airport in Haiti for a flight to Orlando, Fla. i / / c c v a u u c c i
of one o f the w orst earthquakes in
were Americans, visa holders and Haitians with children or parents in the U.S.
history — an estim ated 200,000
dead, 250,000 injured and 1.5 million by Dr. Paul Farm er, the deputy U.N. ing D om inican Republic, o r left h o v ­
daily capacity from 30 Hights before U.S. aid efforts, although his boss.
hom eless. O fficials in France and envoy to Haiti. "O ur m edical d irec­ ering in the air. T he nonfunctioning the quake to 180 on T uesday.
P re sid e n t N ic o las S a rk o z y , d e ­
Brazil and aid groups such as D o c­ tor has estim ated that 20,000 people seaport and im passable roads c o m ­
"W ere doing ev erything in o u r fended the U.S. on T uesday, as did
tors W ithout B orders have co m ­ are dying each day w ho could be p licate e ffo rts to g et aid to the
p o w er to speed aid to Haiti as fast as the U nited N ations. U.N. spokes­
plained o f bottlenecks, skew ed p ri­ saved by surgery."
people.
hum anly possible," said G en. D o u ­ w om an Elisabeth Byrs credited the
orities and acrippling lack o f leader­
G o v e r n m e n ts h a v e p le d g e d
A id is being turned back from the glas Fraser, head o f U .S. S outhern U.S. w ith bringing in great am ounts
ship and coordination.
nearly $1 billion in aid, and th o u ­ single-runw ay airport, w here the Command.
o f aid and expertise, and said the
"Tens o f th o u san d s o f e a rth ­ sands o f tons o f food and m edical U.S. m ilitary has com e under c riti­
T he W orld Food Program said airport w ouldn't be w orking w ithout
quake v ictim s need em ergency su r­ supplies have been shipped. But cism for poorly p rioritizing flights,
m ore than 250,000 ready-to-eat food U.S. m ilitary help.
gical care n o w !" said a press release m uch rem ain s trap p ed in w are- although the U.S. A ir Force said
rations had been distributed in Haiti
U.S. defense officials acknow l­
from Partners in H ealth, co-founded houses, diverted to the neighbor- T uesday it had raised the facility's
by T uesday, only a fraction o f the 3 edged bottlenecks, but said they have
m illion people thought to be in d es­ been w orking aggressively to elim i­
perate need. T here have been a n ec ­ nate them. They note that many m ili­
dotal stories o f starvation am ong tary flights also carry aid, and W hite
the old and infirm , but apparently no House spokesman Tom my V ietor said
w idespread starvation — yet.
that by M onday, few er than a third o f
The W FP said it needs to deliver flights into Haiti were U.S. military.
100 million ready-to-eat rations in the
A bout 2,200 M arines established
next 30 days. Based on pledges from a beachhead w est o f Port-au-Prince
the U nited States, Italy and D enm ark, on T uesday to help speed aid d eliv­
it has 16 million in the pipeline.
ery, in addition to 9,000 already on
Truly making a difference in the lives of
So far, international re lie f efforts th e g ro u n d . L t. C m d r. W a lte r
Auto Accident victims and Injured Workers for 16 years.
have been unorganized, d isjointed M atthew s, a U.S. m ilitary spokes­
If you or someone you know has been in an accident,
and insufficient to help a people in m an, said helicopters w ere ferrying
call us so we can help you with your needs. (503) 284-7838
need o f such basics as food, w ater aid from the airport into Port-au-
and m edical care. D octors W ithout Prince and the nearby town o f Jacm el
B orders says urgently needed su r­ as fast as they can.
We are located on the
gical eq u ip m en t and drugs have
T he U .N. w as sending in rein ­
corner ofM LK and Russell
been tu rn ed aw ay five tim es, even forcem ents as w ell: T he Security
Street, on the second floor
though the agency received advance C ouncil voted T uesday to add 2,000
au thorization to land.
peacekeepers to the 7,000 already in
above the coffee shop.
"It's frustrating to see planes land­ H aiti, and 1,500 m ore police to the
ing, officials com ing in and m ilitary 2,100-strong international force.
planes co m in g in, carry in g m ilitary
"The floodgates for aid are start­
p e rs o n n e l a n d th e ir s u p p lie s ," ing to open," M atthew s said at the
M arie-N oelle R odrigue, the g ro u p ’s airport. "In the first few days, you're
W
Parking Ai ea
deputy o p eratio n s m anager, said lim ited by m anpow er, but w e’re start­
333 NE
from Paris. "W e see there are p rio ri­ ing to bring people in."
Riixsell
«00
ties being given but don't u n d er­
T he W FP's A lain Jaffre said the
stand on w hat grounds."
U .N. organization was starting to
F
ren
c
h
C
o
o
p
e
ra
tio
n
M
in
iste
r
Russell St
find its stride after distribution prob­
A
lain
Jo
y
an
d
et
w
ent
as
far
as
d
e
­
lem s, and hoped to help 100,000
s
m anding a U .N. investigation into people by W ednesday.
Chiropractic Auto Injury Clinic, PC
Zchon R. Jones, DC
333 NE Russell St., #200, Portland, OR. 97212
(503) 284-7838