Yesterday’s arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson relieved pressure on Port-au-Prince’s jammed airport, allowing an 82nd Airborne Division to hand out food, water and supplies within hours. And while 24 U.S. helicopters are flying relief missions, supplies and time are running out.
As of Friday afternoon, World Vision was waiting for its first flight of relief supplies, USA Today reported. “It’s a good start, but we don’t have a lot of margin for error,” Laura Blank, of World Vision, said. “We still need more resources.”
“The initial stunned calm that was over the population is rapidly turning to despair and in many cases anger,” says Ron Pierre of Baptist Haiti Mission. “There is a real danger of things turning very ugly, potentially for those who are beginning to arrive to help.”
Tara and Troy Livesay, who live and work in Haiti through World Wide Village and Heartline Ministries, are updating their blog. Tara writes in a January 16 blog post:
– At the US Embassy there was a woman with three children. She and one child held USA passports. She thought I was an Embassy employee and pleaded her case to me. I explained that anyone leaving at this time had to have a valid US Passport. She then asked me if I would take her two kids so she and the one child could leave.
– Logistically speaking – things are beyond imaginable. We are considering things like “where do we put medical waste, amputated parts, etc.? Where do people who need IV’s around the clock to kill bad infection need to be housed?” We know the world is praying and we thank you and ask you to continue to do so for weeks and months to come.
Heartline Ministries says the flow of donations has already slowed. John McHoul wrote that they will open a clinic on Monday and expect to see broken bones, infected wounds, and injuries from being hit by cement blocks.
“Our biggest concern is our ability to stay stocked up on the medical supplies that we will need,” he wrote. “We as well have concern about how we can keep the electricity on as we have no city power and getting diesel for the generator is at this time not possible.”
