I know it can be fun to speculate and fuel end-of –the-world scenarios and zombie attacks, but I think it might be useful to examine how things are unfolding and will continue to unfold in Haiti. The area approximates a moderate sized US state, travel is limited (it is an island) and most of the little infrastructure they may have had is in disarray. Bug in? Bug out? The potential to learn from this horrific event should give us pause to reflect upon our ability to survive under similar circumstances.

I suspect like in many disasters of this nature, at least 70% of the rescues will occur by local folks within hours. Food, water and shelter will take at best 48-72 hours to start trickling in to the area and take a good 7-10 days to filter in to have any real effect. Emergency shelters will be makeshift, created from debris and found items. Communications, command and control over relief efforts will take 3-4 days and be almost up to speed within a week. Being close to the US, with it’s medical, military and relief agency resources will make things easier, but I venture to say it will still take as long, if not longer than efforts in NOL.

My 2 cents- (Eugene, not responding to you specifically, you were just next in the list of replies)
Pete