As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti's ability to cope with the massive earthquake that hit the area on the evening of Jan. 12 is limited. The United States, one of Haiti's closest neighbors and the richest country in the Western Hemisphere, needs to pool its resources and wealth to give substantial aid to the suffering people of Haiti. So far, the United States has been actively responding to the disaster. Both government agencies and non-governmental organizations have been making an effort to help the Haitian people. Non-profit organizations such as UNICEF, the American Red Cross and World Vision have been seeking donations from the public to help Haitians and providing direct on-the-ground support in Port-au-Prince, the country's capital. In addition, the U.S. government has been providing provisions directly to the people.
In the past year, it seems that the Republicans and Democrats of both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have been unable to agree on any policies. However, despite their inability to agree on issues such as health-care reform, Republicans and Democrats have been able to see eye to eye on one thing -- that providing intensive aid to Haiti should be a priority of the U.S. government. Though the United States has taken initiative and is actively responding to the disaster, the issue of security has not yet been properly addressed. To allow for the provision of effective and far-reaching aid, the excessive looting and overall chaos that has overtaken Port-au-Prince needs to be quelled.
According to an article that appeared in The Washington Post on Jan. 19, much of the medical care and food provisions already in the country have not been making it to the city's suffering population because the civil unrest has caused utter chaos in the streets. The Post said that 'security has emerged as one of the most formidable challenges in this earthquake-shattered capital ... limiting the ability of the United Nations and relief officials from elsewhere to distribute the food and medicine beginning to pile up at the airport.' Even though the U.S. military has come to Haiti to assist the struggling United Nations peacekeepers, the efforts have been focused primarily on distributing supplies rather than securing the situation.
Because people are too afraid to leave their few possessions to seek medical care and food, they are dying of starvation or of wounds that could be taken care of by relief workers. Without securing the city, the medical supplies and food sources cannot get to the people; effectively controlling the chaos needs to be the top priority of the U.S. military.
The U.S. government's efforts to aid the Haitian people in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince have been laudable. Unlike with its response to Hurricane Katrina, the government has taken immediate action to alleviate some of the suffering that ensued after the quake. If the U.S. military can further secure Port-au-Prince, then the distribution of aid will be a much smoother process, and aid will reach a far greater segment of the population.
