Italy's Disaster Chief Blasts 'Pathetic' U.S. Aid Work in Haiti
Italy's top disaster official blasted the U.S.-led relief effort in Haiti as a "pathetic" failure that is turning a national tragedy into a "vanity show for the television cameras."
Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, told Italian television on Sunday that the U.S. military "tends to confuse military intervention with emergency intervention," and that despite the presence of 13,000 U.S. troops there, "no one is giving orders."
He said there is a danger that aid will be lost by the "inefficient" operation.
Fox News
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Criticism mounts over US response to Haiti disaster
26 January 2010
Two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, there is growing criticism of the US for undermining rescue and relief efforts by focusing almost entirely on the military occupation of the Caribbean nation.
On Monday, the Haitian government raised the confirmed death toll to 150,000, making it the worst natural disaster in the Americas on record. Officials said the number does not include Jacmel and other outlying areas, and anticipated that tens of thousands more bodies will be found.
Meanwhile, the UN estimates that as many as 800,000 homeless people are staying in cardboard and canvas encampments set up around the capital of Port-au-Prince, while some 235,000 have used the government’s offer of free transport in a mass exodus from the capital.
Quake survivors are still receiving little or no food, water, health care and shelter. While officials say there have been no major outbreaks of disease yet, health experts warn of the spread of diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria as the already dilapidated sanitation system is overtaken by debris and waste. Speaking at a conference of international donors in Montreal Monday, the country’s prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said hundreds, if not thousands of victims have had amputations, but there are virtually no prosthetic devices in the country.
The US has flooded nearly 20,000 troops onto the island and on ships nearby. It controls the airport and whatever ports are still usable. From the onset of the disaster, aid groups and other countries have complained that vital aid could not land because the US military had priority, promoting the French official in charge of humanitarian aid to say, “This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti.”
Read full article here
Italy's top disaster official blasted the U.S.-led relief effort in Haiti as a "pathetic" failure that is turning a national tragedy into a "vanity show for the television cameras."
Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, told Italian television on Sunday that the U.S. military "tends to confuse military intervention with emergency intervention," and that despite the presence of 13,000 U.S. troops there, "no one is giving orders."
He said there is a danger that aid will be lost by the "inefficient" operation.
Fox News
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
Criticism mounts over US response to Haiti disaster
26 January 2010
Two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, there is growing criticism of the US for undermining rescue and relief efforts by focusing almost entirely on the military occupation of the Caribbean nation.
On Monday, the Haitian government raised the confirmed death toll to 150,000, making it the worst natural disaster in the Americas on record. Officials said the number does not include Jacmel and other outlying areas, and anticipated that tens of thousands more bodies will be found.
Meanwhile, the UN estimates that as many as 800,000 homeless people are staying in cardboard and canvas encampments set up around the capital of Port-au-Prince, while some 235,000 have used the government’s offer of free transport in a mass exodus from the capital.
Quake survivors are still receiving little or no food, water, health care and shelter. While officials say there have been no major outbreaks of disease yet, health experts warn of the spread of diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria as the already dilapidated sanitation system is overtaken by debris and waste. Speaking at a conference of international donors in Montreal Monday, the country’s prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said hundreds, if not thousands of victims have had amputations, but there are virtually no prosthetic devices in the country.
The US has flooded nearly 20,000 troops onto the island and on ships nearby. It controls the airport and whatever ports are still usable. From the onset of the disaster, aid groups and other countries have complained that vital aid could not land because the US military had priority, promoting the French official in charge of humanitarian aid to say, “This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti.”
Read full article here
