President Obama dispatched military troops and an air and sea flotilla to speed earthquake relief to Haiti yesterday, and governments from China to Venezuela rushed to help with aid and rescue workers, as well. Obama said the world's help is critical to deal with a "cruel and incomprehensible" tragedy.
The massive effort to alleviate the spiraling toll of death and destruction kicked in as the devastation from Tuesday's magnitude-7.0 quake revealed itself. Haitian officials predicted a death total of staggering proportions.
U.S. officials were checking reports of at least three deaths of Americans in Haiti. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said that few of the estimated 45,000 Americans living in the country had been able to communicate with U.S. officials and verify they were safe and sound.
The United States set in motion a sweeping military response that included ships, helicopters, transport planes and possibly a 2,000-member Marine unit.
Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of U.S. Southern Command, said one of the Navy's large amphibious ships probably would head to Haiti with a Marine expeditionary unit aboard. An Army brigade, which would include several thousand soldiers, from the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, N.C., was standing by for possible deployment, he said.
Fraser said it was possible that some military personnel would aid in security, bolstering Haiti's beleaguered police, but final decisions on their use had not yet been made. A C-130 plane carrying part of a military assessment team landed in Haiti last night, with the rest of the team en route. The team is tasked with determining what military resources are needed to respond to the disaster.
The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could help with emergency aid distribution and law enforcement in support of a small U.N. peacekeeping force already there, Fraser said. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson also was heading from Norfolk, Va., and will arrive Thursday afternoon.
Obama put newly appointed USAID administrator Rajiv Shah in overall charge of the American effort. He said the initial response would concentrate on search and rescue operations but would also look at longer-term humanitarian needs. Two 72-member American urban search and rescue teams were on their way, transported by military and civilian airlift.
To ease the crushing burden on Haiti's flimsy government and police apparatus, the U.S. announced it had suspended deportation of Haitians in the United States illegally.
The United Nations has released $10 million from its emergency funds, even as U.N. workers and peacekeeping troops in Haiti at the time of the quake struggled with their own losses. The U.N. headquarters building collapsed, and the reported death toll there was mounting.
The American Red Cross ran out of medical supplies on the ground in Haiti, a spokesman said yesterday. The small amount of medical equipment and supplies that were available to Haiti had been distributed, spokesman Eric Porterfield said.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement