- there are few assets available that can go anywhere in the world in unstable situations and be self-sufficient long enough for re-supply. There's no shortage of volunteers to go, but few who can be on the ground and fully operational inside 48 hours at little risk until re-supply.
The Navy has two big hospital ships that would be great here but I don't know ho many weeks lead time they need.
The cause of the FAA directive is probably not so much fuel as it is getting supplies off the airfield in Haiti. The Haitian government is not very well organized at the best of times and getting supplies distributed is probably the bottleneck, not getting them to Haiti.
Given the history and state of things the capabilities of an Amphibious Assault Group would be handy for putting large amounts of supplies ashore at many sites. I don't know where those assets are kept or how long it would take to deploy them this way, but it's probably the group most able to move thousands of tons of supplies to many minimally-prepared sites.
Funny you should mention this (even if a few days ago). The USNS Comfort just left Norfolk, I think yesterday. So they need about 3-4 days to gear up. I know several docs from my hospital that went underway with them. I believe that the Mercy is a west-coast ship, so it won't be going anywhere.
My attending, resident and I were talking 2 days ago about them shipping out. He's done quite a bit of disaster relief/management with the Navy. We were debating the pros/cons of the hospital ships, and he pretty much voiced the opinion that one of the LHD's would be an ideal platform - I tend to agree. For those civilians, an LHD is kind of a small air-craft carrier with helicopters and vertical take off planes, but also hovercrafts (LCAC's).
In this situation, the helo's could start ferrying personnel and equipment as the ship entered range (for example, supplies for the first 24 hours), with the LCAC's carrying the majority of supplies as they reached their max. ranges. The helo's on return trips could start ferrying patients, and the hangar deck could be used for a massive triage deck. Convert some of the wardrooms and galleys into medical centers, and you could conceviable operate several clinics in the same ship. I think it's an idea worth looking at, personally. Though I'm sure it'd cost a TON of money to re-configure ships. Plus, they'd likely be done to retiring ships, which likely are being retired for a reason!
Anyway, back to Haiti - I think that no matter what is done, it's going to be a cluster. There's going to need to be a viable infrastructure in place, or else we'll just keep seeing the same stories of death, non-clean up, and non-delivery of supplies. With aid pouring in from all over the world, someone needs to point them where to go. Otherwise, they'll stop at the first place they see a need and no one, and those on the outskirts from airports/ports will still be in this situation months from now.
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