I take teams of people into third world locations to help at really remote areas and disaster zones. We were not involved with Haiti this time, but it's just because we're still a very young organization and our resources are very limited.

There is a LOT that goes on out there in 3'rd world disasters that you never hear about in the news. Media reports are incredibly deceptive. It certainly IS true that the Haiti situation looks to be tragic, and heartbreaking for the people affected.

What tends to happen is that the major relief organizations are just not fast enough, flexible enough, or nimble enough to really get on top of these fast-moving diasasters. So when the news reports that "help is on the way" ... you should realize that assistance (i.e. food and supplies) may be being put on boats and airplanes. But that sure doesn't mean that any of it actually reached the victims in the first 48 hours. Typically what does happen is that massive amounts of relief supplies pile up at the docks at the affected country. But nobody can get them to the real disaster zone. So stuff just sits there for a long time. Food gets eaten by rats. A lot of equipment gets knocked off by looters who re-sell it in the black markets. Only a fraction of the aid ever gets to the victims. Too bad!

I'd be prepared to bet that the victims who were buried by that quake got virtually no help (incl. help digging them out) during the first 48 hours. But the first 48 hours is THE time when you need to dig out people and get them emergency food and water. The only immediate help probably came from those neighbors in Haiti who did what they could to help their fellow men and women.

I'm sure there are exceptions to what I am saying here. Military groups from around the world can be very effective in these disaster zones, because the military is self-organized, motivated, and has a get-the-job-done attitude. I've seen some fine examples of work by these units. But they tend to only stay in the disaster region for a limited time. Still - they do a great job.

The big civilian aid organizations typically don't become effective for at least a week, and most don't really get rolling until several weeks have gone by.

Ironically, what ends up happening in the third world is that these major disasters act as a "catalyst" to get some long-term assistance for the people there. Typically the actual victims of the disaster just live or die - they never get help fast enough to save them. But later on many organizations send doctors, nurses, and relief workers who wind up treating people for all kinds of on-going medical conditions (many of which have never seen any treatment). It's not unusual to be treating people who have gone 10-20 years with debilitating conditions ... but they just had no access to medicine or relief work.

other Pete


Edited by Pete (01/16/10 05:23 PM)