Originally Posted By: Mark_Frantom
I wonder if air drops of supplies to any isolated communities would be any benefit?

Well, it's the people in the heart of Port-Au-Prince that is the main concern, not small towns away from the capital. I'm sure planners would love to do something like what happened early in the Afghanistan invasion where a C-130 flies in low and they just drop loose Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDR's) over some open area. But that was a completely different scenario.

Do that over a tent city or any other unsecured area of Port-Au-Prince now and I'm pretty sure that it would turn into a Lord of the Flies free-for-all where the young and strong take it all. This is part of the relief conundrum--the longer relief takes to get to the people, the more desperate the people get, and the fewer viable options available to get that relief out to the masses safely and equitably.