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

Re: Quoting the article

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. A press release from the MSF spoke of a plane with an inflatable hospital facility being diverted to Samana. In this case, the issue seems to be not prioritizing but lack of clear communication. I doubt the MSF would insist they had to have the hospital on the ground NAO NAO NAO if this meant displacing water shipments, and having people die of thirst, instead of injuries. But once the plane is in the air, with assurances that it will be allowed to land, that's a whole different situation.

Re: Quoting the article

[doug-palmer.livejournal.com]

They only had to divert two planes out of 200 on Sunday, of which the MSF plane seems to be one. They ask planes to divert if they haven't got enough fuel to stay stacked up over Port-au-Prince. Under the circumstances, I think that's pretty good pipeline management.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/17/haiti.aid/

Re: Quoting the article

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's the US Colonel saying only two planes had to be diverted on Sunday. A BBC World Service interview I'd heard with a different US official went something along the following lines.

Reporter: So you're saying aid and rescue operations are under way. I was out in the city earlier and I drove around quite extensively, but I didn't see any aid workers. Not one.

US official: Well, you must have not been where they were, because I am telling you they're out there.

Two countries -- Brazil and France -- have registered protests with the US after they had planes turned away, and Italy is "very upset" over the prioritizing of its aid flights. France had lodged a protest (and then denied doing so) with the US for prioritizing the evacuation of its citizens over other needs. Not all that altruistic of it, given that France wanted its own nationals evacuated, but at least it had a field hospital on the incoming flight.

In light of all of the above, I'm not all that eager to take the US military's word for the progress of the aid efforts.