As I walk into the gym last night, I greet my trainer and listen in on a conversation he is having with another regular. The other man is a elder gentleman named Luke, who usually engages in worthless and time consuming conversations. This conversation started off like any other, him looking at me and saying, “you should listen to this, this is interesting.” Fortunately, this time what he had to say was actually interesting.
Luke told me that his son is in the military and he is in Haiti helping with the relief effort. He operates a helicopter that makes food drops for the hundreds of thousands without food. Allegedly his son’s helicopter was taking ground fire from local Haitians, and when they landed, there were 47 bullet holes/marks in the chopper. He also told me that men with guns stand around the food drops and take all of the food and water and no one else gets any.
Then we proceeded to talk about how the operation methods of the military aid effort are failing. Obviously, its impossible for a regular civilian to understand the circumstances and needs in Haiti, but we all felt like the situation could be approached more efficiently and fairly. Perhaps instead of dropping crates of food and water off, rationing the supplies out to all in need. Implementing almost like a cafeteria type of system, but having multiple lines to minimize waiting time. Armed guards would ensure safety and eliminate the problem of armed civilians taking all the supplies. Haitians would eat nearby in places patrolled by guards so that fighting couldn’t escalate once food was being consumed.
Another problem is that all of the prisoners in the prison system have escaped and are running freely on the streets. Granted, many of these prisoners are probably political prisoners, and didn’t deserve to be there in the first place, but many are violent offenders that could potentially cause more problems for the volunteers, civilians, and military personnel in Haiti. We didn’t have a solution for that problem, but having armed guards at food rationing stations would help keep violence to a minimum.
These are clearly just suggestions we came up with in five or so minutes, and they maybe the worst ideas possible for the situation. What really struck me about Luke’s story though, is that this seems to be the third time (9/11 and Katrina being the others) where the military and the Red Cross have been involved and problems have bad problems occurred during their efforts. To me, it looks like its time for these big organizations to reassess their operation process and find a better way to deal the the disasters that they are faced with.
