There were many miraculous rescue stories, but I suspect even more of despair as life slipped away, just out of reach.
“Someone just bring them a backhoe!” my mind screamed. “Get some equipment in there.” But all the equipment and help were hundreds of miles away with an ocean in between. Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, the Army official who took command in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, was right to criticize the U.S. aid response to the Haiti crisis. It was slow and uncoordinated. Staff was overwhelmed. Resources and assistance were ready, but lacked the ability or coordination to deploy. Meanwhile, victims desperate for aid and information went without both.
The criticism may strike many as unfair. After all, the devastation brought by Haiti’s earthquake was multiplied because of poor construction, destroyed infrastructure, an inadequate government, lack of security, escaped criminals and many other reasons. Haiti is not owned, managed or occupied by the United States. Haiti is not our responsibility, not our fault or our disaster — and yet it is. And that is the quandary.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yes, the answer comes back resoundingly.
The Economist pointed out in a Jan. 14 editorial that the United States must respond to Haiti. Even without this prompting, good-hearted and generous American people expected our government would respond with all we had.
If we have a moral responsibility to respond, doesn’t that also mean we have a moral responsibility to prepare to respond more efficiently? I suggest we do. That means we must better understand where our responsibility lies. Was the same expectation on us in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami? I don’t believe it was. So first, we must understand the extent of our citizens’ and world’s expectations.
The first step in building resilience is resistance and prevention. However, the United States is limited because we don’t have the right to improve Haiti’s government, construction, infrastructure and all the factors that contributed to the devastation.
Our focus must be on rapid response. We know we can do something about the command confusion, and the difficulty coordinating and delivering much needed and available resources — including help offered by private organizations and individuals. We can do so much better in staging equipment, food, water and medical supplies, and providing desperately needed information.
Speed is everything when loved ones are dying in plain view. “Too little, too late” is what’s said about all failed responses. Hurricane Katrina has helped our nation and communities better prepare for huge disasters. Perhaps Haiti’s earthquake will help us understand where our responsibilities lie and how we need to prepare to respond to our brothers and sisters beyond our shores.
[Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy.]
