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The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 14, 2010 Remarks by the President on Recovery Efforts in Haiti
Diplomatic Reception Room
10:10 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I’ve directed my administration to launch a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives and support the recovery in Haiti.

The losses that have been suffered in Haiti are nothing less than devastating, and responding to a disaster of this magnitude will require every element of our national capacity — our diplomacy and development assistance; the power of our military; and, most importantly, the compassion of our country. And this morning, I’m joined by several members of my national security team who are leading this coordinated response.

I’ve made it clear to each of these leaders that Haiti must be a top priority for their departments and agencies right now. This is one of those moments that calls out for American leadership. For the sake of our citizens who are in Haiti, for the sake of the Haitian people who have suffered so much, and for the sake of our common humanity, we stand in solidarity with our neighbors to the south, knowing that but for the grace of God, there we go.

This morning, I can report that the first waves of our rescue and relief workers are on the ground and at work. A survey team worked overnight to identify priority areas for assistance, and shared the results of that review throughout the United States government, and with international partners who are also sending support. Search and rescue teams are actively working to save lives. Our military has secured the airport and prepared it to receive the heavy equipment and resources that are on the way, and to receive them around the clock, 24 hours a day. An airlift has been set up to deliver high-priority items like water and medicine. And we’re coordinating closely with the Haitian government, the United Nations, and other countries who are also on the ground.

We have no higher priority than the safety of American citizens, and we’ve airlifted injured Americans out of Haiti. We’re running additional evacuations, and will continue to do so in the days ahead. I know that many Americans, especially Haitian Americans, are desperate for information about their family and friends. And the State Department has set up a phone number and e-mail address that you can find at www.state.gov — www.state.gov — to inquire about your loved ones. And you should know that we will not rest until we account for our fellow Americans in harm’s way.

Even as we move as quickly as possible, it will take hours — and in many cases days — to get all of our people and resources on the ground. Right now in Haiti roads are impassable, the main port is badly damaged, communications are just beginning to come online, and aftershocks continue.

None of this will seem quick enough if you have a loved one who’s trapped, if you’re sleeping on the streets, if you can’t feed your children. But it’s important that everybody in Haiti understand, at this very moment one of the largest relief efforts in our recent history is moving towards Haiti. More American search and rescue teams are coming. More food. More water. Doctors, nurses, paramedics. More of the people, equipment and capabilities that can make the difference between life and death.

The United States armed forces are also on their way to support this effort. Several Coast Guard cutters are already there providing everything from basic services like water, to vital technical support for this massive logistical operation. Elements of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division will arrive today. We’re also deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, and the Navy’s hospital ship, the Comfort.

And today, I’m also announcing an immediate investment of $100 million to support our relief efforts. This will mean more of the life-saving equipment, food, water and medicine that will be needed. This investment will grow over the coming year as we embark on the long-term recovery from this unimaginable tragedy.

The United States of America will also forge the partnerships that this undertaking demands. We will partner with the Haitian people. And that includes the government of Haiti, which needs our support as they recover from the devastation of this earthquake. It also includes the many Haitian Americans who are determined to help their friends and family. And I’ve asked Vice President Biden to meet in South Florida this weekend with members of the Haitian American community, and with responders who are mobilizing to help the Haitian people.

We will partner with the United Nations and its dedicated personnel and peacekeepers, especially those from Brazil, who are already on the ground due to their outstanding peacekeeping efforts there. And I want to say that our hearts go out to the United Nations, which has experienced one of the greatest losses in its history. We have no doubt that we can carry on the work that was done by so many of the U.N. effort that have been lost, and we see that their legacy is Haiti’s hope for the future.

We will partner with other nations and organizations. And that’s why I’ve been reaching out to leaders from across the Americas and beyond who are sending resources to support this effort. And we will join with the strong network of non-governmental organizations across the country who understand the daily struggles of the Haitian people.

Yet even as we bring our resources to bear on this emergency, we need to summon the tremendous generosity and compassion of the American people. I want to thank the many Americans who have already contributed to this effort. I want to encourage all Americans who want to help to go to whitehouse.gov to learn more. And in the days ahead, we will continue to work with those individuals and organizations who want to assist this effort so that you can do so.

Finally, I want to speak directly to the people of Haiti. Few in the world have endured the hardships that you have known. Long before this tragedy, daily life itself was often a bitter struggle. And after suffering so much for so long, to face this new horror must cause some to look up and ask, have we somehow been forsaken?

To the people of Haiti, we say clearly, and with conviction, you will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you. We know that you are a strong and resilient people. You have endured a history of slavery and struggle, of natural disaster and recovery. And through it all, your spirit has been unbroken and your faith has been unwavering. So today, you must know that help is arriving — much, much more help is on the way.

Thank you very much, everybody.

END
10:16 A.M. EST

Resident walk next to a dead body after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
What makes the apocalyptic earthquake that ravaged Haiti on Jan. 12 especially “cruel and incomprehensible,” as U.S. President Barack Obama put it, is that it struck at a rare moment of optimism. After decades of natural and political catastrophes — including the violent 2004 overthrow of then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and four deadly hurricanes in 2008 — a U.N. peacekeeping force and an international investment campaign headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton had recently begun to calm and rebuild the Caribbean nation, the western hemisphere’s poorest. “We were hearing more positive things from Haiti for once,” says Danielle Romer, a Miami social worker with family in Haiti. “Things were coming around.”

But what Romer heard on her cell phone from Haiti Tuesday evening was horror instead of hope. A relative in Carrefour, a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, described the quake’s devastation during another powerful aftershock and the sudden blackout: neighbors were buried under the rubble of their collapsed homes, while shrill cries pierced the darkness and explosive fires were the only light amidst the vast gray cloud of dust enveloping the city.
(See pictures of earthquake devastation in Haiti.)

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Haiti and the Caribbean basin in more than 200 years, swallowed the country’s positive momentum as viciously as it razed the flimsy concrete buildings of densely populated Port-au-Prince, where 2 million people live — and where tens of thousands may now be dead. “My mind can’t conceive it,” says Romer, who has not been able to contact her relatives again since their call was cut off. In the capital, just 10 miles from the quake’s epicenter (and only six miles above it), even the presidential palace, the parliament building and the U.N. mission collapsed along with countless houses, businesses and hospitals. It severely injured the leader of the Haitian Senate, Kelly Bastien and killed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Joseph Serge Miot, as well as the head of the U.N. mission, Hedi Annabi. Haitian President Rene Preval said, “There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.” His wife, Elisabeth Preval said she was “stepping over dead bodies.”
(Will disease follow the earthquake in Haiti?)

Port-au-Prince’s streets were just as rife with the walking wounded, as stunned and battered residents wandered aimlessly in any open space they could find. One woman described how the quake had struck just before 5 p.m. Tuesday as she was driving her small pickup truck home to the affluent Petionville suburb. The Route du Canape Vert, a major artery into and out of Port-au-Prince, began buckling so violently that it took every ounce of her strength on the steering wheel to keep on the road. “I could still feel the vibrations in my arms for six hours afterward,” she says. She almost turned into a roadside gas station for refuge — until it collapsed before her eyes, burying everyone inside. She has remained outside ever since. “It’s the only thing I know for sure to do,” she says.

The quake destroyed much of the Route du Canape Vert, according to eyewitnesses, leaving both Haitians and relief workers arriving from the U.S. and around the hemisphere with one fewer piece of infrastructure that was actually serviceable. Even in good times, services like potable water and sanitation are primitive in Haiti. But in the quake’s aftermath, in an e-mail to friends and family, an official with one international organization based in Port-au-Prince wrote bluntly, “The city [now] has no infrastructure for health care, no security forces, all roads are full of debris and [fallen] walls. My hotel has totally collapsed.” He says there is “nothing on the ground to support relief,” and adds, “I will need help to make it through the next few days. I am faced with a decision to evacuate or stay here to help.” He signs off somewhat ominously by noting, “There are already people knocking on our gates for help.”

There were other ominous developments: the head of the national police told CNN that he believes there may be 1,000 criminals on the loose after the country’s main prison collapsed in the quake. Port-au-Prince is already vulnerable to gang law during emergencies like this, and it will be hard for relief workers to do their jobs if they do not feel secure. Meanwhile, buildings continued to totter in the wake of the temblor. Ian Rodgers, Save the Children’s Emergency Response Adviser wrote on the group’s blog: “We could hear buildings still crumbling down five hours after the earthquake.” And the destruction wasn’t just confined to Port-au-Prince: officials say the quake affected at least a third of Haiti’s 9 million people.

Help — especially water, medical supplies and fuel for generators — was en route Wednesday from countries like Venezuela, Brazil and the U.S., which was dispatching helicopters, the U.S. naval hospital ship the USNS Comfort and Coast Guard cutters including the Forward and the Mohawk. The Forward is providing air traffic control, allowing planes to land, since the airport tower is not functioning. On Wednesday evening, however, air traffic control was still sparse. “We can’t afford not to help,” says Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida’s 20th district, which has the second largest population of Haitian Americans in the U.S. “The more dire that things get in Haiti that’s when we see an uptick in Haitians taking to the seas on rafts and washing up on our shoreline. And we can’t afford that. We’ve got to make sure that Haiti is stable enough and that we can help them restore and improve on their quality of life so that they have a reason to remain in their country.”

Still, Haiti experts like Jocelyn McCallan, a Haitian-American development consultant in New York, say that if there’s one silver lining to the disaster it’s precisely that it occurred at an unusually optimistic time. Before the quake, McCallan notes, Haitians were experiencing an unusual sense of common purpose and material upgrade — traffic lights were even working 24/7 for a change — and the international community “was stepping up for Haiti in ways it hadn’t before,” giving the world a glimpse of a Haiti that might be redeemable after all. That, he believes, “could accelerate recovery.” That is a welcome outlook at this dismal time. As desperate as Haiti has been, it has never felt this hopeless.

With reporting by Jay Newton-Small/Washington

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1953515,00.html#ixzz0cZxawg95

Dawn is supposed to bring hope. But today — sunlight revealed hundreds of dead in the streets of Port-Au-Prince.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric reports parents have lost children, and children have lost their parents.

Survivors not overcome with grief used their bare hands to remove the rubble that trapped their families and neighbors. It’s now a race to save the people buried under the destroyed hillside neighborhoods and shanty towns of the capital city.

“Information on the full extent of the damage is still scanty,” said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

How to Help Victims
Blog: The Latest Developments
Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti

A third of all Haitians – 3 million people – need emergency aid. One of the first priorities is setting up medical care for the thousands of injured. All three hospitals operated by Doctors Without Borders have collapsed or had to be abandoned. Many of its doctors are missing.

What infrastructure Port-Au-Prince had — is practically gone. The presidential palace, which weathered decades of political unrest, is in ruins. There’s little water, spotty electricity, and no place to store the dead.

Adding to the chaos is that the biggest relief organization in Haiti — the United Nations — is in shambles. At least 14 UN workers are dead. More than 100 others may be buried under their collapsed headquarters.

A search and rescue team from Virginia is already here. They’ll be joined by other teams as far away as Europe and China. A U.S. aircraft carrier is on its way. Two thousand Marines may follow.

“We’re looking at all the options to make sure we have as much flexibility as possible,” said General Douglas Fraser, U.S. Southern Command.

In the best of times, Haitians endure daily hardships. Four out of five people here already lived in poverty. Few could imagine the catastrophe unleashed by the 30 second earthquake that left Port-Au-Prince covered in a cloud of dust.

The coming days will be about survival: for the injured, the orphaned, and an entire nation that now faces the greatest crisis in its history.

Dexter Blake, owner of Linkage Radio in New York, made a formal complaint to the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica this morning regarding the personal conduct of radio talk show host Kingsley ‘Ragashanti’ Stewart.

According to Blake, Ragashanti lambasted him for falsely advertising him for an event, Linkage Radio’s First Annual Award show, and during his tirade, called the show ‘bogus’. The statements were made during the personality’s popular ‘Ragashanti Live’, which is aired on Newstalk 93 FM between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. The inaugural staging of the show is scheduled for New York on March 5, 2010.

Blake is irate that Ragashanti abused his privileged position as a radio talk show host to disrespect him a manner that was uncalled for.

“What he did yesterday morning was unprofessional and disrespectful,” Blake said. “And I am not the only one he has done it to, he did it to Horseman this morning calling him ‘dutty bwoy Horseman’ because Horseman owes him $80,000 for a show he did for him in September this year.”

Blake explained that he tried to contact Ragashanti on several occasions but failed because of certain exigent circumstances. First, Blake’s flight to Jamaica was delayed, then on his arrival, he tried to contact Ragashanti but the talk show host was preocciupied with his Mix Up and Blenda show on Christmas Day.

“I tried to give him the money over Sting, but he never showed up for that event even though he was advertised,” he said. “I planned to bring the money to Ragashanti at the radio station yesterday morning but I was so surprised at how he attacked me, I never bothered to, I was on my way from St. Elizabeth and I just turned back.”

He said he made a report to the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica complaining about Ragashanti’s uncouth behavior.

“They told me that Ragashanti will have to apologise for his behavior, and if he doesn’t they will be forced to take further action against him,” Blake said.

ONE876 called the Broadcasting Commission to verify if the complaints had been made or not, and it was verified that a complaint had indeed been lodged.

In the meantime, Mr. Blake is incensed that Ragashanti could behave in such a manner.

“We have given him a free show, free air time on our Linkage Radio station in New York, and we have done this for two years now, and now he smears us on national radio. That is the heights of disrespect,” Blake said. “He is diminishing the Linkage radio name and dissing the listenership in New York by saying that the show is bogus.”

Well-known events promoter ‘Horseman’ said he was also peeved at Ragashanti’s behaviour and would be driving up to the Mona-based radio station to ensure that he is paid the monies owed to him.

“I am not hiding from anybody, I have nothing to say about Ragashanti, one day, he will put his foot in his mouth. His own behaviour will be his downfall. I will be parking up right beside his van, as him come out, him ah go see me, so him know say mi nah hide.”