US Admiral Says Aid Distribution 'Stymied'
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THE USS CARL VINSON (Jan. 15) – Supplies are not reaching victims of the massive earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday because of a coordination failure among military operations and humanitarian agencies, Navy Rear Adm. Ted N. Branch said today from the flight bridge of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
The efforts of the military and relief groups to reach the estimated tens of thousands of homeless, injured or deceased have been "stymied" by coordination problems among aid groups and by damaged roadways that limit ground transportation, Branch said. "Coordination hasn't come as far as it needs to be. We need to get that process energized," he said.
Aid groups with supplies at the airport in Port-au-Prince don't have the means to distribute it, and no one is in place on the ground to receive medical supplies or water, Branch said. Meanwhile his own ship's 19 helicopters are idle on the flight deck, since they have no supplies to distribute. "We have the lift, we have communications, we have command and control on a sea platform, but we don't have supplies," he said. "Having seen firsthand this morning the devastation on the ground in Haiti, it is daunting the difficulties involved."
Branch was underway to San Diego around midnight Jan. 12 when he received orders from U.S. Southern Command to steer the Vinson to Haiti. The nuclear-powered ship raced at war speed from Norfolk, Va., to Port-au-Prince, picking up more than 10 Seahawk helicopters, six cargo transport helicopters, more than 700 cases of water and 700 additional military personnel to add to the 2,800 members of the ship's company, Branch said.
Now situated 10 miles from the beaches of Port-au-Prince, the Vinson began delivering water to the city's airport at 8:30 a.m. Most of the rest of the day was spent surveying for helicopter landing spots. Branch, who commands the first major U.S. military operation sent to Haiti since Tuesday's earthquake, faces steep challenges in finding aid delivery sites because of rubble, debris and the country's mountainous landscape.
"Frankly there's nowhere to put (supplies) down," he said. "Coastal development is pretty dense and we don't want to just drop it out of the helicopter. The landing zones, distribution zones, are in the battered terrain. The mountain areas are going to be much more difficult."
The 15 sorties launched from the ship today dropped off water at six landing spots around Haiti and picked up an American citizen and double-amputee found under the rubble of a hotel, said Cmdr. Muhammad Khan, who coordinates the Vinson's air traffic. "The only assets I can lend are helicopters," Kahn said.
Helicopters will fly to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay – the closest U.S. base to Haiti – Saturday morning to leave the injured at Guantanamo's naval hospital and to pick up supplies to bring back to the ship. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters have delivered to the Guantanamo hospital 17 people, seven of whom continue receiving treatment there. The helicopters can't fly at night because none of Haiti's air control towers or power lines is lighted, Branch said.
Relief agencies are struggling to communicate with groups on the ground, Portland, Ore.-based Mercy Corps spokeswoman Joy Portella said in a phone interview. "In a disaster situation like this, the U.N. is usually coordinating, but with [so many] of their workers killed, the coordination effort has become more difficult. The general chaos element is a little higher here," she said.
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