Archive for category Disaster Response

Haiti: Kidnappings And Sexual Assaults On The Rise, And How ‘Shock Doctrine’ Fear Mongering Is Hurting Haitians

Mar 27

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti, Kidnap And Ransom | 1 Comment

   Thanks to Matt for sending me this.  My question on all of this, is where is the Main Stream Media? I mean they were all over Haiti when it was cool and made for great coverage. Disaster relief is a marathon, not a short race, and there are stories that are just not getting the coverage they need.  Like the thousands of prisoners that escaped, and the slow and steady increase of crime or assaults. By now, we should have had any deficiencies in security corrected–either with more UN or Haitian police, or with private security.  There is plenty of money for such things, and there is absolutely no excuse for not implementing effective security solutions for the Haiti.

   I also think that this stupid book on ‘disaster capitalism’  called Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, is actually making things worse for the Haitians. Aid companies now think that contracting security or private industry is somehow a bad thing, and that paying for such things is ‘disaster capitalism’.

    Meanwhile, their employees on the ground are getting kidnapped or sexually assaulted, all because they are afraid that contracting security would offend their donors.  How totally irresponsible and pathetic is that? I also think it is irresponsible of those in the media who have promoted such things, because now you are helping the criminals of Haiti with your reportage. And what really kills me is that none of these aid organizations or main stream media groups get the label of disaster capitalists?

    To me, their entire existence depends upon disasters, and they certainly need them in order to get donations or viewership.  Make another dollar off the suffering of Haitians…. and you guys label my industry as disaster capitalists?  Pfffft.  At least my industry does something other than making media spectacles out of that suffering, or begging for money to support massive aid organizations.

   Below, I also posted the excellent commentary by the IPOA in regards to this ‘Shock Doctrine’ fear mongering that the Juice Box Commandos out there have been spewing. Bravo to JJ Messner and company for calling it the way they see it. The ideas of Naomi are contributing to more suffering in Haiti, and it needs to be put in check. Maybe I should start a Facebook page called ‘The Shock Doctrine Fear Mongering Club–Support Crime And Instability In Haiti!!’. -Matt

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UN: Kidnappers release Belgian taken in Haiti

By MIKE MELIA

Fri Mar 26, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Kidnappers have released a Belgian businessman who was grabbed as he drove through Haiti’s capital, a U.N. police official said Friday.

Philippe Van Reybrouck, a longtime Haiti resident, had been in captivity for about 24 hours and was freed in good condition Thursday after a ransom was paid, said Michel Martin, the Canadian chief of the U.N.’s criminal intelligence unit in Haiti.

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Industry Talk: Triple Canopy Donates And Delivers Humanitarian Aid To Haitian Earthquake Victims

Mar 18

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti, Industry Talk | No Comments

   Outstanding and good on TC for giving to a worthy cause. It sounds like Diamondback Tactical and others have pitched in as well, and that is great when you see this kind of assistance.  Now if we can get some guards over there to protect the women and other innocents at these camps, then we can really do some good. -Matt

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Triple Canopy Donates and Delivers Humanitarian Aid to Haitian Earthquake Victims

Partners with GHESKIO HIV/AIDS Clinic for Timely Philanthropic Mission

March 17, 2010

Triple Canopy, Inc., a leading provider of integrated security and mission support services, announced today that it has donated supplies, transportation and personnel in an effort to provide shelter to thousands of homeless earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Triple Canopy is supporting the efforts of the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) to deliver aid to homeless families camped on its compound. Triple Canopy was able to coordinate with staff from GHESKIO to determine what kind of aid would be the most helpful. Within two weeks of establishing contact, a chartered flight loaded with tents, flashlights, generators and other vital items landed in Port-au-Prince.

Founded in 1982, the GHESKIO Center was the first institution in the world dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. In the aftermath of the earthquake, thousands of refugees migrated to the center and have been living there in makeshift shelters.

“Upon learning about the dire situation on the ground, Triple Canopy reached out to Dr. Bill Pape, director of GHESKIO, and ascertained the critical need for shelter prior to the onslaught of the rainy season,” said Triple Canopy CEO Ignacio Balderas. “For the past three weeks, hundreds of entire Haitian families designated by GHESKIO were able to move out of their makeshift hovels and move into waterproof tents erected by our personnel.”

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Industry Talk: Private Sector Eyes Opportunity In Haiti Rebuilding

Mar 10

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti, Industry Talk | 4 Comments

   From what I can gather, the IPOA/GIS conference in Miami is going well.  I also want to emphasize that for you owners of small companies, who want to get involved with opportunities in Haiti, then these are the types of conferences you should be attending.  It is also advisable to go to the conference prepared, meaning you have the licenses and you have your company squared away to actually deliver on promises.  Do not be the schmuck that goes to one of these things, and is not prepared or hasn’t a clue on how to put action to words and get boots on the ground.  All eyes are on you, and if you screw up, it gives the entire industry a black eye.

   What will be cool, is if Doug can give an AAR on this conference, and provide some details that the readership might be interested in.  I think it is noteworthy that they only had three weeks or so to put this together, when normally these events take months to plan.  That to me only highlights the flexibility and speed of what the private industry is capable of if properly organized and mobilized.  I witnessed the same reaction of private industry during the Katrina Hurricanes back in 2005, and it is definitely a strength of the industry.  So the next step after this conference, is to see who goes where, and what they are doing. I will keep a watch on it, and see what pops up. -Matt

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Private Sector Eyes Opportunity in Haiti Rebuilding

By Pascal Fletcher

March 10, 2010

Rebuilding Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake should generate major contracts for private companies specializing in construction, logistics, transport and security, but U.S. executives say they need a clear reconstruction strategy to shape their business plans.

Private sector firms that focus on post-conflict or disaster relief operations gathered at a meeting in Miami this week to consider the business opportunities offered by Haiti’s recovery from the January 12 quake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

With Haiti’s government saying up to 300,000 people may have died, some economists are calling the Haitian quake the deadliest natural disaster in modern times. Relief experts and business leaders agree the mammoth task of rebuilding what was already the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state will be impossible without private sector participation.

“I don’t think they have any option but to get private companies in to help reconstruct Haiti,” Kevin Lumb, CEO of London-based Global Investment Summits Ltd, which organized the Haiti Reconstruction meeting in Miami, told Reuters.

“I think it opens up a great deal of business opportunities. Most of their infrastructure is destroyed, their roads, communications, buildings, it’s obviously affected water supply, electricity, so that all needs rebuilding,” Lumb said.

The Miami summit was also organized by the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of companies working in conflict, post-conflict and disaster zones.

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Haiti: Security Update–What About All Those Thousands Of Escaped Prisoners?

Mar 3

Posted by Matt in Chile, Disaster Response, Haiti | 5 Comments

   So this is what I found out after a little bit of hunting for stories.  I wanted to know what the impact of all of those escaped prisoners in Haiti had, and from what I have found out, it ain’t pretty.  These guys are trying to organize gangs in the slums, they are raping women in the relief camps, they are getting back to the business of selling drugs and organizing, and the Haitian police and security forces are still overwhelmed.

   Worse yet, the UN is doing a terrible job of coordinating the relief and security efforts, and all those US and International military teams are leaving in the near future. These criminals are still loose and just counting the days until the good guys leave so they can really ‘go to town’ with their criminal ventures.  The Haitian authorities have tried to get the local populations to turn in these criminals, but because there are so many, it is still a huge issue. Even the Dominican Republic is getting worried about all these folks, and beefing up security efforts to stop them at the borders.

   My thoughts on the whole deal is that private security coupled with the local national security they will hire, could totally help in securing the populations as these military units leave.  They can also help buy some time as law enforcement continues the hunt for these criminals.  And we are not talking about a couple criminals here and there. We are talking about 5,000 to 7,000 escaped criminals, with a good percentage who are violent criminals.  These guys are free, and they will do all they can to take advantage of a country that is in disarray.  And guess what, they are!

   Here is another issue that really irks me.  These reporters who keep ignoring these facts, and continue to slam my industry as being disaster capitalists, are only helping out these criminals.  I have a news flash for you folks, criminals like the idea of ‘less security’ and not ‘more security’.   They also like ‘unorganized security’, as opposed to ‘organized security’.  My industry will provide that organized security, because that is what we do for a profession.  There is nothing dishonorable or unethical about what we do, and in my view that service has value. If these folks don’t want to recognize that value, then they will continue to see a population at risk in Haiti. There will continue to be more rapes, more murders, and more gang/drug related problems during the rebuild of that country.

   My industry is also more adept at working with local national security and getting the job done based on the contract than the UN.  I would suggest that companies like ITG/Steele Foundation, could do a better job of organizing the security effort there than the UN, any day.  Just look at what the UN has done in places like the Congo, and tell me they are the best organization for the job in Haiti? Or better yet, how do you fire the UN if they do a poor job in Haiti?  At least with private industry, you can actually fire poor performing companies.

   One more thing.  It looks like escaped prisoners are one of the main culprits of looting and crime after that earthquake in Chile.  Anyone else seeing a pattern here?  After these quakes, disaster response should include security forces tasked specifically to contain the prisons and recapture these criminals.  Especially if the criminals are violent and criminally insane (which is the case with Haiti).  They are a threat to crippled society and to the relief effort, and to not respond to that during the initial attack and extended attack is pure negligence in my opinion.  We must call upon every resource we can to stop that, to include using private industry, and to not do that is just stupid and irresponsible in my book. But don’t take my word for it, just read all the reports that I have collected for your reading pleasure below. -Matt

P.S. – I posted five stories below, if you are interested in reading the entire update.

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U.N. Is Faulted as Lacking Coordination of Aid and Security in Haiti

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

March 2, 2010

UNITED NATIONS — Humanitarian efforts by the United Nations in Haiti have lacked sufficient coordination with local organizations in delivering aid and establishing security, according to an independent assessment released on Tuesday.

One consequence was a surge in the sexual abuse of women and girls living in camps for the displaced, with some young girls trading sex for shelter, said Emilie Parry, an aid consultant who helped write the evaluation of the United Nations’ effort for Refugees International, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of refugees.

“Women reported to us that there has been a lot of violence and sexual abuse at nighttime,” Ms. Parry said, noting that there is no system of nighttime patrols in the makeshift camps where many displaced people have been living.

“By all accounts, the leadership of the humanitarian country team is ineffectual,” said the report, based on 10 days of evaluations in February. The report, titled “Haiti: From the Ground Up,” also acknowledged that the scale of the disaster made the response a singular challenge.

Closer work with Haitian organizations, as well as better knowledge about conditions, would also enhance the ability of local groups to deal with problems long after the international groups left, Ms. Parry said.

The report suggests a number of ways to improve the delivery of aid, including allowing more participation by Haitian organizations whose leaders are now living among as many as several million displaced earthquake victims.

While the United Nations does not actively discriminate against such groups, it effectively bars them through a lack of advertising and the system of passes that are needed to attend meetings, Ms. Parry said. Appointing liaison officers dedicated to such groups would help, the report suggests.

It also recommended that the United Nations appoint one person responsible for leading the team distributing humanitarian aid in the country, rather than have the responsibility be among many tasks taken on by senior management.

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Chile: Looting Sparks Security Concerns In Post-Quake Chile

Mar 2

Posted by Matt in Chile, Disaster Response | No Comments

   No word if any companies will be responding to this disaster. I will assume that Chile has all the security forces it needs with it’s police and military, but you never know.  We will keep a look out for anything that pops up.

   Luckily, Chile’s buildings were better built than what was in Haiti, and that is good.  I am sure they would have had way more deaths if they weren’t. My heart goes out to the victims of this earthquake, and I hope they are able to respond fast enough to save everyone. -Matt

Edit: 3/6/2010 – Thanks to Rosa for sending me this link on an interesting site that compiles all the available news video footage on the event, and does some analysis based on that compilation.  Check it out here.

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Looting Sparks Security Concerns in Post-Quake Chile

Michelle Ruiz

March 1, 2010

Rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble-strewn streets of Chile today as widespread looting sparked security concerns following the earthquake that has killed more than 700 people and displaced more than 2 million. Three more aftershocks hit the country this morning, according to a published report.

“The catastrophe is enormous,” President Michelle Bachelet said at a news conference Sunday, adding that her declared “state of catastrophe” would continue as the Chilean military maintains order in the streets and the air force flies basic supplies to the hardest-hit regions.

“We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile’s history,” she said.

In the heavily damaged city of Concepcion, looters descended on supermarkets and electronic stores and police fought them

with tear gas and water cannons.

Firefighters in Concepcion who were ready to lower a rescue worker into the rubble were halted when the scent of tear gas forced them to stop.

“It’s sad, but because of the situation you have to confront the robberies and at the same time continue the search,” police officer Jorge Guerra told The Associated Press.

Bachelet gave the military control of security in the area, where nearly every market had been emptied and no food or drinking water was available, according to the AP. Power outages kept the city in the dark.

“We are overwhelmed,” a police officer told the AP.

Looters reportedly cleared the contents of a shopping mall in San Pedro, even robbing ATM machines and siphoning gas from underground tanks.

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Haiti: Private Industry To The Rescue!

Feb 19

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti | 9 Comments

“If Scahill and Klein have the resources, the capabilities, the equipment, to go in and do it themselves then more power to them.” -Doug Brooks, IPOA 

*****

     Your damn right, and good on Doug for calling it like it is. I read through these two articles below, thinking that the authors were actually going to present a convincing argument that what the IPOA and private industry is doing is a bad thing. In fact, I read through both of these articles and thought, ‘ private industry to the rescue’!  So thanks to Anthony Fenton and Jeremy Gantz for actually writing two articles that were inspirational to me, and did the exact opposite of what they intended to do. Critics are funny that way.

   I will explain.  You see all of these critics of the industry continue to complain that private industry is actually doing something about the rebuilding of Haiti.  At face value, that is just ridiculous. Who are they to say that the IPOA or GIS can’t help? Can they help if they are wearing a Che Guevera t-shirt?  Can they only help if they donate their entire savings to the Haitian government, and live on the streets of Vancouver BC begging for money for the rest of their lives?

    To me, the critics have actually taken a pretty immoral stance in my opinion.  If I am the public and reading this stuff, I am thinking ‘where the hell is the money supposed to go anyways’ and ‘who cares if private industry wants to help’?  The public wants action, and they want to make sure that Haiti is getting a good value for the dollar. The donations are supposed to be used for rebuilding and helping Haiti, not for paying aid agency salaries or for aid agency ad campaigns so they can make even more money.  Put that money to work, and lets get going on the rebuild.

   Also, all of these IPOA companies are specialists in rebuilding in the worst kind of disaster zones.  Namely, war.  They provide the specialists, and they also hire local Haitians, and get projects built.  Private industry will be helping government, but they will also be helping other private groups.  Who are the critics to say that private industry cannot participate in that process?  This is how the real world works, and I just shake my head every time I read this stuff.

   Klein is classic though.  The biggest disaster capitalists on this planet, are the media and aid agencies, and yet private industry is the bad guy here?  Pfffft. If anything, Klein lacks the courage to criticize the media or aid agencies, partly because most of her cheerleaders come from those two groups. Not to mention that the media and aid agencies both depend upon my industry to go on their little disaster crusades around the world.

    Naomi is also living in a fairy tale if she thinks that private industry can’t help, or that their ‘cookie cutter’ responses in Iraq or Afghanistan are not helpful to Haiti.  I am still trying to figure out what she means by cookie cutter response, because I have yet to see anything of the sort from any of the companies over in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Actually, they all do things quite differently and approach problems based on their personal experience and capability.  Most are pretty innovative and can certainly get things done.  They have to, if they want to survive in a war zone and be competitive in this market.

   Any way, I wanted to give kudos to the IPOA and GIS for putting the critics in their place, and for all the hard work they have done.  I also want to thank these two journalists for providing examples of what happens when criticism backfires. Especially when they are trying to attack those that are taking action to help Haiti. -Matt

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HAITI:Private Contractors ‘Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot’ 

Anthony Fenton

VANCOUVER, Canada, Feb 19 (IPS) – Critics are concerned that private military contractors are positioning themselves at the centre of an emerging “shock doctrine” for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Next month, a prominent umbrella organisation for private military and logistic corporations, the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), is co-organising a “Haiti summit” which aims to bring together “leading officials” for “private consultations with attending contractors and investors” in Miami, Florida.

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Haiti: Food Convoy Attacked; U.N. Warns Of Volatility

Feb 2

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Government Work, Haiti | 3 Comments

   Folks are just going to get more angry and frustrated as this continues, and that is expected.  But to me, this looks more like an outcome of individuals taking advantage of a weakened state.  They could be part of the crew that escaped from the prison during the quake, and no doubt they will do what they can to take advantage.

   In other news, there is a new weapons policy for government guys heading to Haiti for work.  Check it out here. -Matt

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Haiti food convoy attacked; UN warns of volatility

By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer Paisley Dodds,

February 2, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Twenty armed men blocked a road and tried to hijack a convoy of food for earthquake victims, but were driven off by police gunfire, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

The attack on the convoy as it carried supplies from an airport in the southern town of Jeremie underscored what the United Nations calls a “potentially volatile” security situation as frustration has grown at the slow pace of aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Most quake victims are still living outside in squalid tents of sheets and sticks and aid officials acknowedge they have not yet gotten food to the majority of those in need. Mobs have stolen food and looted goods from their neighbors in the camps, prompting many to band together or stay awake at night to prevent raids.

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Haiti: The Growth Of Aid And The Decline Of Humanitarianism, From The Lancet

Jan 24

Posted by Matt in Africa, Disaster Response, Haiti, Industry Talk | 1 Comment

   Boy, this is a big slam on aid organizations.  Bravo to the Lancet for having the courage to point this out, and especially during this time with the Haiti earthquake.  I am sure they will get all sorts of hate mail.  The truth hurts though, and these aid groups do the same things in places like Africa or war zones.

   So why is this on Feral Jundi?  Part of the reason is that there is no regulatory apparatus in place to keep these aid organizations in check. Where is the scrutiny, and why do we give them a free pass?  My industry is constantly getting the label as disaster capitalists, yet you never hear that kind of language used to describe aid organizations.

   And when it comes to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, security is pretty damn important. You can’t be happy or live in peace, when rebels or criminals are actively trying to kill you and your family for whatever reason.  You can’t eat, if rebels and criminals are stealing your food or destroying your farm lands.  It takes security forces to step up and be that sheep dog, in order for others to be able to eat and live in peace.  Yet my industry continues to get this treatment as if we are less than, or not needed. Pffffft. We put our life on the line to protect others, and that is our value in the world of disasters and wars. And to me, we are worth every penny spent.

   Finally, what really kills me about these aid organizations, is that they will scream until they are blue in the face on how immoral or unethical security contractors are, and yet they will contract the services of our industry so they can do their thing in countries like Africa, or in wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. Pure hypocrisy, and when you couple that, with this article written below, you start to realize that this is an industry that needs some attention. -Matt

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Haiti aid agency accused of rivalry tactics

By Andrew Jack in New York and David Blair and Benedict Mander in Port-au-Prince

The Financial Times

January 22 2010

A prominent British medical journal, The Lancet, has accused aid agencies operating in earthquake-ravaged Haiti of using “unsavoury” corporate tactics as they compete with each other to attract funding during a chaotic relief effort.

More than 500 relief agencies are operating in Haiti and the skies are filled with aircraft ferrying supplies to Port-au-Prince.

With 150 arrivals at the airport every day, immense quantities of material are piling up in hangars or on the taxi-ways.

But while flying supplies in to the stricken city has become relatively easy, getting them out to people is more challenging, a week and a half after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 75,000 people.

In an editorial published on its website on Friday, The Lancet said the situation in Haiti remained “chaotic, devastating and anything but co-ordinated”. It accused agencies of “jostling for position” and needless competition for funds.

“Polluted by the internal power politics and the unsavoury characteristics seen in many big corporations, large aid agencies can be obsessed with raising money through their own appeal efforts,” The Lancet wrote.

One logistics specialist handling airport arrivals for Haiti said: “You should see the circus that has come to town.”

Aid workers in Haiti deny any suggestion of rivalry. “To say that there is something of a bad feeling among us is totally false – period,” said Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam. “This is a massive disaster and it takes time.”

Meanwhile, an 84-year-old woman was pulled alive by rescuers from under a wrecked building in Port-au-Prince yesterday, 10 days after the earthquake struck.

Story here.

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Growth of aid and the decline of humanitarianism

The Lancet

Picture the situation in Haiti: families living on top of sewage-contaminated rubbish dumps, with no reliable sources of food and water and virtually no access to health care. This scenario depicts the situation in Haiti before the earthquake that catapulted this impoverished and conflict-ridden country into the international headlines. Now the latest target of humanitarian relief, international organisations, national governments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are rightly mobilising, but also jostling for position, each claiming that they are doing the most for earthquake survivors. Some agencies even claim that they are “spearheading” the relief effort. In fact, as we only too clearly see, the situation in Haiti is chaotic, devastating, and anything but coordinated.

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Jobs: Security Managers, Haiti

Jan 24

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti, Jobs, Management Positions | 2 Comments

   I don’t know much about this company, so be forewarned, I cannot vouch for them.  I am not the POC or recruiter, and go through the links provided below.  Good luck. -Matt

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top sloganJobs: Security Managers, Haiti

ISDM is seeking Security Managers for upcoming work in Haiti.

Desired QualificationsFormer E-7 or above

Combat Arms SOF Preferred

US Citizen with a DoD Secret Clearance or ability to quickly obtain one.

Conversational Haitian Creole or French Language Ability

Past military or security experience in Haiti.

Medical background and/or training

Interested and qualified personnel should send their resumes along with scanned copies of their DD214s to: employment@isdmllc.com

Place “HAITI” on the subject line.

Website for ISDM here.

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Paracargo: The On-again, Off-again Saga Of Airdrops In Haiti

Jan 21

Posted by Matt in Disaster Response, Haiti, Paracargo, Parachuting | No Comments

    Only in a military briefing like this, where in one breath they say that air drops are unacceptable because of a lack of security, yet in the next breath, the idea of parachuting soldiers in to provide that security was out of the question. Or they say that parachuting in would have sent the wrong message?  Sooooo thousands of troops pouring in by airport or by ship sends a better message?

   I don’t know folks.  I think as soon as we said we were going to help, and do everything in our power to help, airdrops and securing those drop zones for such a thing, should have been considered.  Wrong message or not, air drops send the right message of ‘doing all we can to help’.  It would have also put tools in the hands of the people, along with food and water, to hold them over until the main effort gets under way.

   At least they dropped what they did, but how many days were wasted until they finally came to this logical conclusion? In the fire services, I would have been fired (if that is even possible in the federal government) for such a poor initial attack response. That, and an investigation. -Matt

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DOD Background Briefing with Senior Military Officials from the Pentagon About Haiti Operations

Presenter: Senior Military Officials

January 20, 2010

(airdrops and parachuting in troops section)

Q     Could you explain this on-again, off-again story of air drops: first it was no way, then there was an air drop, then another — more were scheduled for today and, as I understand, they didn’t happen. So what’s going on with air drops?

SR. MILITARY OFFICIAL 1: Yeah, two things on that point, if I may. First off, air drops can be, obviously, very successful and very quick. And we know that yesterday they were both. They brought in over 15,000 meals and 15,000 liters of water.

     There are two requirements for air drops.  We just explained one, which is the actual availability of the aircraft. And sometimes you have to divert that aircraft to another mission, because in the — in the particular case — again, bringing 2/82 out of their home station, you know, either you bring the food and the water from there or you bring the people from there or you bring the trucks from there. So does that — that tradeoff about what gets on the aircraft is point number one.

     And then point number two is, you have to have a safe and secure area to drop the water and the food: either that there is — it’s a controlled area, that there are either U.S. forces, MINUSTAH forces or government of Haiti forces there that can actually supervise the area, and it doesn’t become a scene where people are injured, and instead of distributing food and water, it becomes just — you know, a calamity, because people are crawling in to get there. So you want to secure the area.

     With that amount of food and water, you need a big area. And in the aftermath of the quake, a lot of the displaced and the victims moved to the areas that we would have normally used for either LZs or PZs, and places where we would have distributed food and water or picked up people. And part of that would have been, for example, our embassy evacuation plan. So we had to make sure that the area we were going to drop the food and water in was, indeed, safe and secure.

Q     The — early on, was there ever any — and you may have just answered this — any consideration to jumping the 82nd itself in; they then set up — you know, you’re clear, you got a landing zone, and then vehicles and supplies come in?

SR. MILITARY OFFICIAL 1: I would have to, you know, defer to the commander on the ground out there. I don’t think at this — from my point of view right here, I don’t believe there was a conscious decision to do that, because we didn’t think that was a — the prudent thing to do. It was a –

Q     It wasn’t really considered?

SR. MILITARY OFFICIAL 1: No.  And it’s — and there’s also an issue of optics here, because we are there to assist and enable. This is not a jump into a combat zone; this is not a jump.

     So we’re there to assist and enable. It’s a peaceful nation. It’s a very dramatic and, as General Keen said, epic proportions, the disaster there. And we’re there to get there quickly and to help. And to parachute in or to drop in, it was not required and would have probably sent the wrong message.

Q     Did you say there will be more airdrops that you’re planning?

SR. MILITARY OFFICIAL 1: Yeah. That is on the horizon. We’re always looking at the opportunity to do that. Right now the aircraft for today are filled, and we’re looking at moving cargo and personnel and drugs. But, you know, when we get that request, those are decisions that General Fraser and General Keen will make about the appropriate time and place to do that.

Link to briefing here.

 

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