Helping Haiti
January 15, 2010
Governments around the world pledged to help Haitians recover and rebuild their lives after Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the country. About 45,000-50,000 people have died and 300,000 have been made homeless, the UN estimates.
The US said it was sending 10,000 troops to the country while France said on Friday it would urge creditors to speed efforts to cancel the impoverished Caribbean nation's debt.
Though the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed in July to clear Haiti's remaining $215 million debt to club members, the process can still take years to finalize.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said she asked members of the informal club to speed up the process. The next meeting is on Wednesday.
Haiti "can count on Europe"
EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Catherine Ashton will chair a meeting of development ministers from the group’s 27 member countries on Monday.
“I am absolutely committed to helping the people in Haiti,” Ashton said in a statement. “That is what the people of Haiti expect and they can count on us. Rebuilding Haiti is now a priority for the EU."
Ashton announced on Thursday that European development ministers would hold emergency talks in Brussels on Monday to discuss how to assist Haiti.
"It's important to tell the people of Haiti that we stand ready to help them as much as we can in this tragedy. They can count on Europe," said Ashton.
She also said the informal meeting on Monday would allow EU ministers "to get a sense of what they are able to do much more effectively" by being in the same room.
Ashton also said she and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would meet Wednesday to "talk about many things" but that Haiti would be a major focal point. It will mark her first foreign trip since becoming the EU's top diplomat, a post created by the Lisbon Treaty in December.
EU, UN contribute amid fears for their own
The European Commission has contributed three million euros ($4.3 million) in initial aid to Haiti but plans to increase that amount in the coming days. Spain, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, has also contributed three million Euros.
Ashton had earlier said that "a large number of European Union citizens", including a European Commission staffer from Spain, were unaccounted for.
News agency AFP reported that a 61-year-old Austrian woman working for a German aid group had been killed by a falling wall. French authorities had so far counted six of their nationals among the dead. Canada announced that 1,415 of its citizens were missing.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he would visit the devastated country “very soon.” As of Friday, 37 of the UN’s personnel in Haiti were confirmed dead. About 330 UN personnel are still missing or unaccounted for, out of some 12,000 the organization has in Haiti.
“I myself will go to Haiti very soon, both to show solidarity with the people of Haiti and our U.N. staff and to assess the situation for myself,” Ban told reporters.
Ban also said that up to half of the buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas had been destroyed or severely damaged.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has also announced that she will arrive in Haiti on Saturday.
Aid stymied by damaged infrastructure
Despite a flood of aid from countries around the world, many Haitians remain desperate for food, clean water, shelter and medical care.
“No one is helping us. Please bring us water or people will die soon,” resident Renelde Lamarque, who was hosting some 500 quake victims in his front yard, told Reuters.
The US aimed to have a thousand troops in Haiti on Friday, with a further 10,000 set to arrive by Monday. That will include 300 medical personnel, 3,500 soldiers, 2,200 Marines, a hospital ship, and other ships carrying supplies.
The Cuban government has also pledged to allow US military flights to use its normally restricted airspace to evacuate quake victims.
Among the most anticipated military arrivals was that of American aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson, which can be used as a supply base to fly in goods to the many areas cut off by buckled roads and toppled buildings.
As international aid pours in, blocked roads and damage to communication systems have made distributing it a major challenge. Furthermore, traffic jams at Port-au-Prince airport forced many planes to circle for up to two hours before landing. Haitians are reportedly angry about having to wait for days with no help.
"We've been out here waiting for three days and three nights but nothing has been done for us, not even a word of encouragement from the president," Pierre Jackson told Reuters news agency as he tended to his mother and sister who lay whimpering with crushed legs.
"The level of supplies is going to get worse in the next few hours. Water, food and medicines are all urgently needed. If they are not provided soon, it could lead to unrest," Urs Bernhard of the aid organization World Vision told German public broadcaster ZDF on Friday.
The streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, are reportedly littered with dead bodies, and search and rescue crews are still desperately searching for survivors underneath the rubble.
But a glimmer of hope for those trapped persists – Chilean rescuers freed 23 survivors from the rubble of the Hotel Montana on Friday.
svs/vj/dpa/AFP/AP/Reuters
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar