More on delays of Medical Aid

An order giving United States military aircraft priority to land in Haiti after last week's massive earthquake has delayed the arrival of urgently needed medical teams and supplies by up to 48 hours.

Doctors have described a "dramatic" situation, where more than five cargo planes carrying surgical equipment have been refused landings at Port-au-Prince airport in the days after the 7.0-magnitude quake.

[...]

Benoit Leduc from Medecins Sans Frontieres says the delays have made the situation worse and doctors are now in a race against time to save the injured.

"It's difficult operations, we're facing logistics constraints. We had five of our planes, three cargo planes and two of our expatriate staff - including surgical teams that we tried to send in pretty quickly - five of these planes were refused to land," he said.

"They had to go across the border. So these additional delays - we clearly had like 48 hours of delay - because of this access problem to the site."

— US troop landings delay Haiti aid

Democracy Now

Apparently Amy Goodman is broadcasting Democracy Now from Matthew 25 House, the guest house that I stay at when I'm in Haiti.

Enough with the "looting" stories...

The Canada Haiti Action Network is deeply concerned about the militarization of the relief efforts in Haiti and exaggerated reporting of 'looting’ and violence. This increases the danger of violent treatment of the victims of the earthquake.

"Officials and many media reports are focusing excessively on the supposed unlawfulness of Haitians,” says one of the group’s representatives in Toronto , Niraj Joshi. "But starving and traumatized people who take food and water from destroyed stores should not be depicted as criminals. We fear that such demonization may lead to violent responses by military forces."

Many poor neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince have yet to see any assistance. Yet reports from CHAN’s colleagues and friends say that human solidarity and a calm determination to survive prevail throughout the earthquake zone. This is also what many international news agencies are reporting.

Meanwhile, Canada's emergency relief teams have been sent home, told they will not be deployed. "Like Washington , Ottawa has prioritized sending its military to Haiti over disaster relief", explained Roger Annis, a spokesperson for the network in Vancouver . "Are Canadians comfortable with that choice? We ask the government, what is the purpose of the strong show of military strength?

"Earthquake victims need food, water, medical treatment and shelter, not more guns pointed at them."

— "Canadian & US Military should not treat victims of Haiti's earthquake like enemy combatants"

Apathetic Canadians

See this is what I love about Canada. Yes, we are apathetic. But the minute anyone tries to use our apathy against us suddenly we start to care big time. It's funny the Prime Minister doesn't get this. Instead he just keeps saying, "Oh, don't worry. Yes, I've suspended Parliament, but don't worry, I'm hard at work." You know what? Big deal, of course he's at work, he's the prime minister. I'm sure Raul Castro's gonna put in a full day tomorrow running Cuba, we just like to think that the bar is set a little bit higher up here.

— Rick Mercer, "Polls Suggest Somebody Did Something Stupid"

Zanmi Lasante back in Cange

Partners in Health posts images of their clinic in Cange, where a number of patients have been transferred.

(I'm not sure how Cange is spelled in kreyòl -- Kanj?)