Haiti: Italian Disaster Expert Critical of US
According to a number of articles like this one at the UK Telegraph, Guido Bertolaso – Italy’s apparent top disaster expert – has publicly criticized the US response to the disaster in Haiti as uncoordinated and carried out by poorly or untrained military personnel.
LA County Search and REscue Pull Woman from Earthquake Debris. Photo: US Navy
© 2010, Mark Wells. All rights reserved.
I guess he didn’t hear about how we handled Katrina….
test
Funny
Good one.
In Haiti, you can notice the lack of order, the US Army is trying to bring order to ensure that survivors can be found. Moreover, the help is necessary it doesn’t matter if the Italian or American is the expert.
Erick Hdz.
Oh yes – I’m sure that’s true. I think the Italian guy’s point of view is that the US military didn’t send in people who could actually co-ordinate disaster relief, but rather people trained in handling riots and unrest, violence, etc.
From the sounds of it, these people are in such bad shape that none of that is an issue. But I think you have a good point – some aid and a little peacekeeping is better than nothing!
Good comment!
Mark
Mr. Bertolaso must be ideologically allergic to US Marines. With all due respect the man doesn’t have his facts straight. He gives no specifics on the mismanagement of time, resources and/or effort per person saved. Is it duplication of tasks? slow desicion making? randomized aid and food distribution? He needs to tell us where the itch is. The presumption that the Marines are not trained for humanitarian operation is totally unfounded. The following link says it all; http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/pages/humanitarianAssistance.php
When ‘il cavaliere’ thinks your views are more outrageous than his, then you really overdid it.
Every time I read an article or watch a news piece on what is going on in Haiti, I share Mr. Bertolaso’s frustration. It seems to be a pretty endemic problem with all disaster relief, coming from the United States, whether it is geared domestically or internationally.
When you read about stories of children getting limbs amputated, without anesthesia juxtaposed with images of all of the supplies being hauled it, you understand the failing can only be in organization and communication.
I wonder if any of the military heads have thought about the fact that, if these people do not receive the help they so desperately need, that in of itself might bring the chaos, panic, and mobbing that they are apparently so worried about.
I tend to agree with your sentiments. I guess the question in my mind is, why isn’t this guy in Haiti coordinating everything? Why does this automatically fall on the US to do? Like Mark said, we couldn’t even handle a moderate disaster on our own soil without chaos and mobbing breaking out – is it really so much to ask that we get our own house in order before taking responsibility for everyone else’s?
As for the military, we need to keep in mind that the sole purpose of ANY military is to kill people and break things. Period. The military is and always should be entirely under the control of civilian government and should only be called into use as a last resort for the above stated purposes.
All other functions(including disaster relief) should always fall under the purview of civilian government(or other) entities.
Remember, Jefferson and many other early patriots believed that a standing army was one of the greatest threats to liberty(other than private banks issuing our currency – oh well I guess we screwed the pooch on both accounts). Lets not make it into something it was never supposed to be.
I can concede that a military presence for the purpose of preventing the outbreak of violence might be valid here. All other operations should be non military. As such, it sounds like they have performed that task well, and if they managed to hand out some food to desperate people in the meanwhile, we should consider it gravy.
RN
Many medical residents were sent to Haiti on whim. I’m not trying to defend the military, but there seems to be a lot of finger pointing when the entire infrastructure was flawed. A lot of the doctors over there couldn’t cope with being at groundzero of a natural disaster. I expect many in the military didn’t know how to deal with it either.
Well, at least the military appears to be more effective than these guys:
http://gawker.com/5462117/scientologists-in-haiti-a-firsthand-account?skyline=true&s=i
Shouldn’t it be the intention that counts? maybe not…”touch healing” might be stretching it.
Sure, the US military caused some delays but no one can deny US Military’s abilities including their logistical capabilities. There are going to be unfortunate hiccups in an extreme situation like Haiti, where the infrastructure was nearly non-existent. But shouldn’t we ask why the UN didn’t take the lead in coordinating relief efforts? Why didn’t the UN take charge and distribute responsibilities to other countries?
I suspect the main reason is that in so many areas, the UN lacks “teeth” because the more more powerful member nations refuse to give it any.
