OCHA Haiti sitrep, 17 January
Haiti: Earthquake Situation Report #6
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 17 Jan 2010
Quote:
I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
- Search and rescue teams extracted 13 more live rescues on 16 January bringing the total by these teams to 71 people, a record amount. A small number of additional rescues were reported today.
- Fuel remains an issue for humanitarian operations. Fuel restrictions are now in place. Some 10,000 gallons were trucked in from Santo Domingo on 17 January.
- The port remains unusable; incoming vessels are being re-directed to Cap-Haitien. The Portau-Prince airport is heavily congested.
- Four distribution sites will be established at Petionville Club, two soccer fields in Delmas, and on Place Dessaline on Champ de Mars.
- Tents and shelter material will be required for temporary shelter sites in the coming week. At least 20,000 tents will be needed with only 3-4,000 tents already in country.
- The Secretary-General, the Emergency Relief Coordinator and other UN senior officials, visited the disaster affected areas and met with Government and UN counterparts.
full report here
Haiti - The New Small War for Canada?
While not technically being a war per se, the way I see this shaping up at the moment is that the current humanitarian disaster in Hati is going to provide a springboard for Canada to further justify pulling out of Afghanistan in 2011 and return to "peacekeeping" rather than warfighting.
It is my belief that the Canadian public is sick of the war, wants to be out of it and helping Haiti might seem a better alternative mission for us to be engaged in. With the deployment of 1000 additional troops from Valcartier, the 500 on the ships, and the 200 man DART we have a commitment of 1700 personnel going to Haiti, if you count government workers in addition to this, our commitment approaches 2000. We have a little less than our current commitment in Afghanistan in Haiti to put it in focus.
I am interested in getting others thoughts regarding this, Will Haiti be Canada's new Afghanistan?
Edit: Fixed the title ;)
All politics is local - Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill
The former US Speaker of the House said that many years ago and it clearly applies to Canada's role in Haiti, not only during this humanitarian disaster, but in the crises of 1994 and 2004. As Glen Milne argues in his chapter in my edited book, Capacity Building for Peacekeeping: The Case of Haiti (pp. 53, 56) the Haitian - Canadian population of Montreal is critical to any referendum on the status of Quebec w/in the Canadian confederation. The last referendum was won by pro-Canada forces by less than 1% of the vote - much of the margin of victory provided by Haitian-Canadians.
Cheers
JohnT
'Harsh in Haiti: a light discussion'
Opening Thread explanation:
Moderators Note
Created to house some recent postings on another thread, which discussed the Haiti-Canada linkage: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=9534
This thread was created as some have suggested that a solution to the problems of Haiti is to be harsh.
Posts here will be moderated if their tone verges on what can be perceived inside and outside SWC as advocating lynching (taken from Rex).
Back to the thread below
Quote:
Originally Posted by
marct
In my cynical and jaded moments, I have to wonder if the current response isn't just another example of reinforcing the dependence of Haiti on the rest of the world while, at the same time, providing "us" with an opportunity to feel good about ourselves: a post-Westphalian form of "Save the Children", complete with the full range of Cosmo propaganda and emotional blackmail.
Perhaps a little too cynical, Marc? It is not as if Haiti has any other options at the moment, and periodic outbreaks of Western altruism are probably better than no altruism at all.
The Haiti crisis does raise some real question about the limits of our understanding and capacity to transform highly unequal, corrupt, and poorly governed social and political systems into something that is more just and better governed. For all the "we must leave Haiti better off than before" rhetoric (a sentiment that I fully agree with), I'm not sure we've yet adequately examined why we've failed in the past, and how (and the extent to which) we can do better in the future.
As to the broader issue of Afghanistan--we're pulling our combat forces out of Afghanistan, and that decision was pretty much set in stone long before the Haiti crisis.
Examples of the peacock Effect in the travel industry
Travel weekly just posted a list of members of the Travel Industry and what they are doing to help. The full list is available here. I find the range of activities interesting going from what appears to be fairly pure altruism (e.g. El Al), through to what appears to be a pure "feel good" promo (e.g. the Maho Group).
Canada affected by kith & kin
Quote:
Originally Posted by
John T. Fishel
As Glen Milne argues in his chapter in my edited book, Capacity Building for Peacekeeping: The Case of Haiti (pp. 53, 56) the Haitian - Canadian population of Montreal is critical to any referendum on the status of Quebec within the Canadian confederation. The last referendum was won by pro-Canada forces by less than 1% of the vote - much of the margin of victory provided by Haitian-Canadians.
Cheers
JohnT
John,
An interesting quirk in Canadian and international politics - which takes me back to raising the 'Kith & Kin' issue on this thread: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=8829