I suppose this will be off the new cycle by the end of the week

[james_davis_nicoll]

The Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders said bluntly: "There is little sign of significant aid distribution."

The aid group complained of skewed priorities and a supply bottleneck at the U.S.-controlled airport. Doctors Without Borders spokesman Jason Cone said the U.S. military needed "to be clear on its prioritization of medical supplies and equipment."

[Poll #1513195]

Comments

[asyouknow-bob.livejournal.com]

My metric for the response to eastern-seaboard-of-North-America disasters is "How long does it take for the US government to get the hospital ship USNS Comfort to the scene"?

Of the top of my head, I seem to recall that took the Comfort five days to sail from Baltimore to post-Katrina New Orleans (post-Katrina).

(This page - http://www3.ausa.org/webpub/depthome.nsf/byid/cton-6fuplu - implies seven days, counting from August 31, 2005.)

This week, it took the Comfort four days to cast off, and it isn't expected to arrive in Haiti until Wednesday, Jan. 20th: call it eight days, maybe 8.5 days.

In September 2001, the Comfort cast off in about 30 hours, and "arrived at Pier 92 in Manhattan at about 8:30 p.m. September 14." (Wiki)
Call it 3.5 days, but over a significantly shorter distance.

USNS COMFORT response

[errolwi.livejournal.com]

http://blog.usni.org/2010/01/18/88-hours-and-7-minutes/

"That is how much time elapsed from the time the earthquake struck Haiti at 1653 hours on 12 January until the USNS COMFORT departed Baltimore enroute to Haiti on 16 January 2010 @0900.

No small feat.

The COMFORT went from a skeleton crew in a reduced operating status to a full complement embarked a no-notice deployment that could last 6+ plus months. Moreover, from the time the activation order is given the ship had five days to deploy but did it in three days!!"

I assume they moved the ship to NY in 2001, then worried about keeping it supplied, this being somewhat easier in a locale that hasn't had its infrastructure destroyed.