Disaster strikes some poor, forgotten corner of the world which most people had never heard of. The media circus descends, outlets vying with one another to show the most shocking pictures. The international aid circus follows this, promises of aid by Governments follow that and finally, in-depth stories and profiles flow on the Net and in newspapers. A week later the story starts to slide. Two weeks later it's behind the Oscars and after the third week, it's forgotten.

Then what happens?

The aid pledged by the Governments simply does not appear (unless it is to bail out some irresponsible banker) and the food, water and medicines arrive too late to save many (unless it is a military invasion, when miraculously everything is done within hours). The profiles brandishing swords, waved in the faces of former imperial or colonial powers, blaming them for the plight of the nation Armageddon and the Apocalypse themselves were visited upon melt away and the world then slips back into a comfortable self-righteous snooze seeing pics of babies saved after ten days, old ladies after 11 and old men after 12. Those who bothered to donate something can feel satisfied, as well they should, because it is the voluntary donations raised by the hard-working tax-paying public that ends up footing the bill.

After all, someone has to pay the banks off for their irresponsibility; someone has to pay NATO's trillion-dollar war bills. Right, that is also the taxpayer but don't tell anyone. (They might get annoyed).

So when all is said and done, and forgotten, who is accountable? What about those media reports, those in-depth histories for example about Haiti? Those potted histories in which we read that the Spanish exterminated the local population of Hispaniola (the Isle on which Haiti is situated), just for starters, then the entire country was turned into a giant plantation, a colony, ruled over by Europeans thousands of miles away. Those histories which tell us the country's wealth was stripped, its assets stolen, that dictators were imposed from abroad and democratically elected leaders were kidnapped and whisked away to the Central African Republic, those stories which inform us the country was a gigantic sexual tourism destination, that the first slave revolution was not recognised for decades by nations who were terrified their own slaves would revolt and that an embargo was slapped on the country as a punishment.

And a massive reparations package to France which basically meant Haiti was a non-starter with a massive financial boulder round its neck to repay the debt. And interest. For what? Why, independence. Those stories then tell us Haiti had to borrow from Washington to give to Paris. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Right. Those stories that then inform us that the USA massacred 2,000 Haitians at the beginning of its military invasion in 1915, this was after France then Germany had interfered, the stories that tell us that Haiti today is still paying off the massive billion-dollar debt run up by dictators Papa Doc and Baby Doc. The same potted histories tell us that Haiti, once self-sufficient in rice and an exporter of sugar, had its agriculture destroyed by foreign parties (World Bank and IMF), had its rural society ripped apart, which then morphed into slum dwellers in the main cities and lo and behind started to import everything, at exaggerated prices and ever-increasing interest rates, of course.

And finally these in-depth profiles which have suddenly sprung up tell us of military coups supported from abroad and the suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid by the United States of America in 2002 - aid which was going to rebuilding programmes, healthcare and education.

So are we supposed to shrug and forget these stories as the media circus moves on? Or is someone somewhere accountable? And what a deplorable, disgusting and revolting comment on Humanity if Haiti does not become a starting point for real change, a new leaf and a fresh start.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

This afternoon, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Special Envoy President Bill Clinton launched a joint appeal for international donors not to forget Haiti, as the rebuilding and aid efforts enter their second month. While the media circus has moved on, the World Health Organization singles out Cuba for its fundamental contribution towards the healthcare and well-being of Haiti's citizens.

The figure PRAVDA.Ru gave for the casualties just days after the earthquake was 200,000 while other international media outlets were speaking of 50 to 100,000. Today, the official figure is over 200,000 dead and a further 300,000 injured, over 1 million homeless and over 2 million dependent upon aid. 1.2 million are living in temporary camps and extreme weather conditions are about to strike. Right from the beginning, Pravda.Ru has stayed on the story, knowing that the media circus would soon get bored and drift away to find a new two-week adrenalin fix for the viewers and readers addicted to a drum-beat fix of hard and fast stories to pep up their lives.

However, for the sake of the people of Haiti, a massive reconstruction program is under way, which will take years, not months, to complete. As attention moves away from this devastated island, UN Secretary-General, Special Envoy President Bill Clinton and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, launch a joint appeal this afternoon, reminding the international community of the pledges given after the UN called for a 575 million USD package in emergency aid three days after the January 12 quake.

The World Health Organization stated in its latest update that the Haitian Health Ministry was virtually decapitated by the earthquake, due to the fact that over 200 ministry staff members died when the building collapsed, apart from many healthcare professionals. "Haiti's entire health system, from its infrastructure to the very staff and system that operated it, has been deeply affected by the Earthquake", the WHO reports.

Today, the main structural needs to be addressed are providing shelter, the removal of rubble and the creation of basic sanitation networks, while healthcare has to be focussed around the post-operative phase, providing follow-up for patients who underwent surgery, rehabilitation services and rendering facilities and services in overcrowded situations.

Cuba praised

The WHO report highlighted the tremendous help offered by Cuba, which apart from training (gratuitously) 80 Haitian doctors per year, every year, sent 1,300 doctors, in addition to the hundreds of healthcare workers already providing assistance in Haiti. The WHO Representative for Haiti, Henriette Chamouillet, stated that "They are absolutely important" for Haiti. Praise which is well deserved, but hardly ever referred to in the international media.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Cuba was one of the first countries to send aid workers to Haiti, devastated in Tuesday's earthquake. As other nations prepare to send supplies and humanitarian workers, Cuba is already there, on the ground, with hundreds of aid workers. While the Red Cross estimates 40,000 to 50,000 deaths, the hundreds of thousands of people trapped under buildings do not have time to wait.

Cuba, despite surviving an inhumane blockade for decades, offered 1,000 doctors to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, an initiative which did not even receive the courtesy of a "Thank you" from the Bush regime. In Haiti, Cuba already has two field hospitals operating with 400 aid workers, 344 of these doctors.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla announced today that more aid workers and doctors are being sent. "The priority is for us to help that sister nation, where we have over 400 employees and 344 of them in the health sector already working in the relief work," he declared, adding that there are two field hospitals set up by doctors, nurses and health technicians.

Cuban doctors have also transformed their own accommodation into health service providers, performing several operations and attending over 800 patients in makeshift conditions. Inside Cuba, Ministries are coordinating the response by all agencies involved to help the country prepare and channel aid effectively and quickly to its stricken neighbour to the south, while Cuba's embassy in Port-au-Prince is trying to coordinate all possible joint assistance with the other CAROCOM (Caribbean Community) countries.

Latin America swings into action

Brazil is sending 10 million USD in immediate aid, including 28 tonnes of food and drinking water, while Peru is sending 50 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid, two field hospitals and 18 healthcare workers. President Alan Garcia is reported to be travelling to Haiti to accompany the mission. Venezuela has already sent 50 doctors and is organising the sending of more, along with fire fighting crews and rescue workers with cutting equipment.

Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala are finalizing plans to send their humanitarian relief workers to Haiti.

Russian aid arrives

Meanwhile three Russian aircraft laden with supplies took off from Ramenskoye airfield, near Moscow, on Thursday with a mobile field hospital, doctors and healthcare workers and rescue workers with cutting equipment and dogs. The hospital has an ICU and can hold 50 patients. It is entirely self-sufficient. A Health Ministry official declared that "It is equipped with intensive care facilities, operating theaters, and consulting and diagnostic departments, including ultrasound, X-ray and ECG units. The hospital also has a blood bank".

Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 dead. Generous offer from the USA

As the Red Cross makes the first semi-official estimate of between 45,000 and 50,000 people dead, the United States of America pledges one hundred million USD in aid plus several thousand troops, which can only be described as an extremely generous offer, one of the largest in recent history, as President Obama pledged that Haiti would be neither forsaken nor forgotten. Other estimates are more pessimistic, pointing towards a figure ten times higher, at 500,000.

Yet however well-meaning the response from the international community has been, 48 hours on, the people trapped under buildings need far more than the trickle of aid that has started dripping into Haiti. The notion remains that Mankind can do far more and far faster when it comes to the deployment of a military Rapid Reaction Force in the event of an invasion than in the case of deploying humanitarian aid in times of catastrophe.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Patrick Charles, former Professor of the University of Havana, predicted in 2008 that there would be a massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince in the near future. Today, there was a Force 7.0 Richter, with an epicentre 14 miles from the capital city of Haiti. There are reports of massive damage, including a collapsed hospital.

Exact figures on casualties are not yet available but eye-witness accounts report chaos with many walls collapsed where houses used to stand.

The US Geological Survey confirms that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale and was centred 14 miles south-west of the capital city Port-au-Prince. Eye witnesses speak of a ravine filled with rubble where houses used to stand and there are reports that the Hospital in Petionville has collapsed.

The quake struck at 21.53.UTC (21.53 GMT) at a location of 18.451°N, 72.445°W at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). An aftershock with a magnitude of 5.9 was registered and a local tsunami watch has been put into place for Haiti, Cuba, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

In October 2008, Patrick Charles, former Professor at the Geological Institute of Havana stated that "conditions are ripe for major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince. The inhabitants of the Haitian capital need to prepare themselves for an event which will inevitably occur...". His statements were printed in Le Matin newspaper, Haiti. Professor Charles added that "science has provided instruments that help predict these types of events and show how we have arrived at these conclusions."

His predictions were based upon the fact that Port-au-Prince sits on a large fault line, part of the Enriquillo Fault Zone, which begins in Petionville and ends at Tiburon, which was razed twice by earthquakes in 1751 and 1771. He predicted that the minor tremors felt in Petionville, Delmas, Croix des Bouquets, and La Plaine in 2008 were a sign of something larger to come.

Professor Charles predicted that an earthquake of 7.2 or more would take place in or near Haiti's capital with catastrophic consequences.

Lisa KARPOVA and

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The Earthquake devastated Haiti last Tuesday afternoon. On Sunday evening, five days later, only 60% of the disaster area has been covered, water is not reaching those most in need, heavy lifting gear is bottled up at the airport and the people are understandably getting desperate.

For those who claim that the UNO had no contingency plans, it is a pity that international media can print or broadcast not only half-truths but also blatant lies. The United Nations Organization has been drawing up contingency plans for years, holds workshops regularly and constantly updates and upgrades its humanitarian relief capacity. Moreover, the Force 7 earthquake which hit Haiti was equivalent to an explosion of 400,000 tonnes of TNT.

How the UN Contingency Plans are drawn up and implemented

The department responsible for this area is OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which implements its policies through UN Resident Coordinators and Humanitarian Coordinators in Regional Offices, Field Offices and Natural Disaster Response Advisors. There are three steps:

Assess and monitor vulnerability and risks

Set up or enhance early warning systems

Build an efficient response capacity

"The United Nations Resident Coordinators and Humanitarian Coordinators are

responsible for ensuring the development and maintenance of contingency plans for

humanitarian emergencies in their areas of assignment" states the UNO.

The Hyogo Framework for Disaster Relief was drawn up by the UNO and is geared towards "minimizing the impact of a disaster by strengthening the capacity to provide a timely and appropriate humanitarian response to the needs of affected populations".

So, with all this in place, how to explain the fact that fundamentally important materials, five days after the disaster struck, are piling up at the airport? Especially in the light of the following statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001: "A recurring theme of [UN] evaluations is the need for strong contingency planning, strengthened national disaster management capacity and disaster response coordination mechanisms, which include information management as well as regional cooperation. (2001 Report of the Secretary-General to ECOSOC [Para 3])

The challenge

The UNO has described this crisis as its worst ever humanitarian disaster relief effort, estimating that 562 million USD are needed to help 3 million people over 6 months, 2 million people needing emergency relief right away. OCHA spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs states that "Fuel is the key issue" and it needed "to bring in supplies and carry the wounded". There are 1,739 workers from 43 countries working in Haiti with 161 sniffer dogs.

Scenes of chaos

The first thing that should be pointed out is that not all of Haiti has been affected, but the part that has in the south, center and west of the country, has been utterly devastated. While the capital city, Port-au-Prince, has been the focus of attention, other cities to the south and west, such as Leogane (80-90% destroyed, population 134,000), Jacmel (50-60% destroyed, 34,000), Carrefour (40-50% destroyed, 334,000) and Gressier (40-50% destroyed, 25,000) have been just as seriously affected. Leogane, for instance, has lost all of its Government infra-structures and has lost between 20,000 and 30,000 people.

Official estimates issued by the Haitian Government and backed by the UNO indicate a figure of between 50,000 and 200,000 deaths with a further 250,000 people injured, although Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive stated that 100,000 seems to be "a minimum". The Pan-American Health Organization postulates a figure of 50 to 100,000 and other reports, based on a death rate of 20% of the population affected, indicate that 200,000 plus could be the real figure.

1.5 million people are homeless and with an absence of aid, five days on, looting has finally begun, two looters being shot dead by the police in Port-au-Prince today.

Only 60% of the affected areas are covered

The scale of the disaster is massive and eyewitnesses state that it is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the destruction, which has left the country with a serious shortage of infra-structures.

However, if the UN has had access to the finest minds in the world to draw up contingency plans, how to explain the fact that aid has been turned away from the airport? How to explain that 40% of the worst affected areas have still not been covered? How to explain that two French aircraft, one with a field hospital, were denied access to the airport? How to explain that two Prime Ministers of Caribbean nations were not allowed to land? How to explain that a British aircraft with heavy lifting gear was turned back from the airport not once, but three times?

The British team's commander, Mike Thomas, declared to Sky News that the heavy lifting equipment "has been in the air three times to land here and refused permission to land, so it's been mostly frustrating for us because we're having to borrow kit from other teams". His equipment? It is still across the border in Santo Domingo.

Dea Leahy, a lay missionary from St. Louis, Missouri, USA claimed today: "I don't know how much longer we can hold out. We need food, we need medical supplies, we need medicine, we need vitamins and we need painkillers. And we need it urgently".

The Lessons

In October 2008, Patrick Charles, former Professor at the Geological Institute of Havana stated that "conditions are ripe for major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince. The inhabitants of the Haitian capital need to prepare themselves for an event which will inevitably occur...". His statements were printed in Le Matin newspaper, Haiti. Professor Charles added that "science has provided instruments that help predict these types of events and show how we have arrived at these conclusions." Nothing was done.

As Fidel Castro recalls, why is Haiti so poor, poverty being the cause of the insufficient infrastructures, in the first place? "Why does almost 50% of its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation and this enormous suffering as well?"

It is evident that five days later, people should not be dying of thirst. It is obvious that the immediate needs were lifting equipment, field hospitals and water. Why then is the equipment at the airport, why are field hospitals turned away and why has the water not been efficiently distributed? It is unacceptable that people are writhing around in pain without painkillers or medicines.

One thing however is clear. Haiti showed that the world can come together, that Humanity is beautiful, that actions of extreme generosity and courage take place readily and selflessly to help our sisters and brothers. And the spirit which saw the first uprising of slaves against colonial masters on the coffee and sugar plantations is still alive today. This spirit will see the Haitians through, together with the love, help and support of the rest of Humanity.

The United Nations Organization needs to draw up better and flexible contingency plans for all regions of the globe, designating more streamlined plans as to who is responsible for what and when, so that in any such eventuality, the mechanisms are in place to cater for the needs of 50,000 people, 500,000 or 5 million. Because too many voices shouting at the same time, too many aircraft arriving in a disaster zone together...too many cooks spoil the broth.

Lisa KARPOVA

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The international community is trying to prevent an urban disaster becoming a rural catastrophe, planning to help the new influx of city-dwellers to the countryside establish themselves. Ban Ki-Moon praises the resilience of the Haitian population.  After all, in how many countries would people be singing in the streets and playing musical instruments after what they have been through?

The international community is trying to prevent an urban disaster becoming a rural catastrophe, planning to help the new influx of city-dwellers to the countryside establish themselves. Ban Ki-Moon praises the resilience of the Haitian population.  After all, in how many countries would people be singing in the streets and playing musical instruments after what they have been through?

As the Government in Haiti launches its program to relocate half a million people in the countryside, the United Nations Organization is trying to make sure the onset of the Spring planting season is not affected negatively by the earthquake which devastated a third of the country 12 days ago.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization is giving priority to farmers with seeds, fertilizers, feed for animals, vaccines and tools, making sure that the exodus from the city to the countryside is met with the right conditions for the planting season in March.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated today that he is convinced that the Haitians will overcome this tragedy due to their amazing resilience. After all how many other peoples would be sitting around in tent cities singing and playing musical instruments?

"Haitians are people of strong faith, which sustains and comforts them during this difficult time," stated Ban Ki-Moon, remembering that "this is the gravest tragedy in the history of the Organization".

Defending the UNO, Ban Ki-Moon stated that "Our mission was up and running again within hours of the disaster, despite the fact that some of those working had lost close family members, friends and colleagues," remembering the tens of UN personnel (nearly 50) who had lost their lives or who are still missing.

On Friday the efforts of the international community were finally visible nationwide and not just in the capital city. Various UN agencies fanned out around the affected area (involving around a third of the country's population) reaching villages and towns which had until now been looking after themselves.

Former banks, houses, hospitals and universities are today piles of rubble. Yet all of those who have witnessed the amazing resilience of the Haitian population have no doubt that this society will rise up again and surpass the horrific trials of the last two weeks.

Maybe this time, with the international community helping Haiti and not holding it back, as was the case right since the declaration of independence in 1801, this country can become proud of itself.

Those on the ground applaud the restraint and resilience of the Haitian people. After what they have been through, for centuries, there can be no doubt that this is a special people, with special qualities and tomorrow these will be the cornerstones of nation-building.

Let us hope that from now on the international community works towards fostering this process and not hindering it, as has been the case to date.

http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/19-01-2010/111726-haiti_chance-0

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Poor Haiti. And why is Haiti so poor? Because right from the beginning, since its conception as a free and independent nation, foreign powers did all they could to place a stone around the neck of the fledgling state. Its inhabitants, born into slavery, were never given a chance, despite the fact that Haiti is the true America.

For "people" like Pat Robertson, former Presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Founder and Chairperson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the earthquake was visited upon Haiti because, in his words, "they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story".

There are no words to reply to such pig-headed, unadulterated ignorance because there is no vocabulary to describe the ideas of such a simplistic, moronic, shallow and indeed, evil reaction to the plight of three million people, who as Pat Robertson spewed forth his demonic venom, were having hands and legs amputated without anaesthetic.

Haiti is in the state it is in not because it made a pact with the devil, but because forces of evil here on Earth in Europe and North America decided the country would be a non-starter right from the word "go". Indeed, before this. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are no less than Hispaniola, the isle on which Christopher Columbus landed. This is America.

The Taino people who lived there were systematically massacred by the Spanish, who quickly filled the sugar and coffee plantations with slaves from Africa during the 1500s and 1600s. Haiti's fate as a territory was signed in the United Provinces, in Europe, at the Treaty of Ryswick (September 20^th 1697) which ended the Nine Years' War between France on one side and Britain, Spain, the United Provinces and the Holy Roman Empire on the other: Hispaniola was divided between Spain, which took the eastern two thirds (Dominican Republic today) and France was given the western third, Haiti.

Haiti soon became France's richest colony. It is difficult to state whether the French were less  demonic than the Spanish. Louis XIV's Code Noir, setting out conditions for slaves in the French Territories, had been passed in a decree in 1685 and immediately after the French rule began, the Haitians were subjected to its terms, among which were the permission for a master to execute a slave (Art. 33), to cut the ears off and brand with a hot iron, or cut the hamstring and brand again (Art. 38), to be chained and beaten (Art. 42).

While the Code also laid out conditions for the proper treatment of slaves and forbade torture, many colonial masters performed the most horrific acts of savagery, including boiling slaves in cauldrons, setting dogs onto them, drowning them, burying them alive or an old favourite, crucifixion.

One hundred years later, while France was in the throes of the Revolution, a Jamaican (literate) slave called Boukman Dutty led the Haitian Revolution against the hated slavemasters and proclaimed Independence in August 1791. This was the continent's first Freedom Revolution and on January 1st 1804, the Republic of Haiti was officially constituted.

Due to continued French attempts to annex the new Republic militarily, the Haitian President (Jean-Pierre Boyer) was persuaded to buy the right to Independence through a loan from French banks, which basically sealed the fate of the new country through the whole of the nineteenth century. The loan of 90 million gold francs was equivalent to 21 billion USD today and even at the end of the century, over 80% of Haiti's GDP was consumed by the capital and interest repayments to the French banks.

Did the USA help Haiti against oppression? Far from it. The United States not only refused to recognise the new Republic, but imposed an economic embargo until 1862. In 1888, the USA intervened military against the Government, in 1892 it was the Germans who supported an insurrection and from 1915 until 1934, the country was occupied by the USA, an action which gave the National City bank of New York the assets of the Banque Nationale d'Haiti.

US Control over Haiti's finances continued until 1947 and laws were passed which opened the market to American imports. Ten years later, the USA placed the psychopathic dictator François Duvalier (Papa Doc) in power and he promptly installed a reign of terror promoted by the tontons macoutes (evil beasts), his presidential guard, which exterminated and tortured whoever was deemed to be an opponent of the one who now started calling himself "God". Upon his death in 1971, he was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) who until fleeing to France in 1985, managed to finish what his father had started, namely the total destruction of the country's society, leading it to the status of the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, with the highest illiteracy rate.

After a series of military coups, in December 1990, the socially progressive "Friend of the People", Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected with 67% of the vote. He lasted a year, for the US ousted him in another coup in 1991. Three years of unrest culminated in the Clinton Administration reinstalling Aristide in 1994, but imposing a neoliberal reform programme which tore the country's agricultural society apart and saw the country's slum population soar. This was continued during the Presidency of René Duval (1996 to 2001), when Aristide was elected again, but removed by the USA in 2004, was kidnapped and shipped off to one of the remotest countries on earth, the Central African Republic.

Duval's re-election in 2006 put an end to two years of total chaos but did nothing to end the economic Armageddon the country was in, where people died by the thousands in the most horrific slums the world has ever seen.

And now Pat Robertson has the audacity to say that these people have been punished by God for making a pact with the Devil? They never had a chance.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru