The Crisis Of The Caribbean

“On Wednesday, 25 disaster response experts will be escorted to Haiti. We will leverage our hard-earned wisdom and the financial support of Starkies-Davis to provide leadership to multiply

The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster is an inside look into the realities behind international aid and intervention. The book answers the question of whether or not international efforts in Haiti really benefited the nation in the long term. The book argues that the international community failed in their efforts to rebuild Haiti due to their mismatched military approaches, failed monetary pledges and how the how billions of dollars were ineffective, having served only short term needs instead of, rebuilding solid foundations and institutions that would serve as the first step toward sustainable development.

Connecticut National Guard Brigadier General Eugene Mascolo was reprimanded as a result of an investigation where over 15 senior officers negatively portrayed him with words such as “dictatorial” and “unglued” (Whitlock, 2014). During Hurricane Irene, BG Mascolo was unable to handle the stressful operation with an inexperienced staff and reverted to a primitive style of leadership in order to achieve his desired results.

Attention Getter: Who here has heard of the horrible plight of Haiti? Haiti has been through constant suffering everyday due to economic difficulty, lack of food, lack of clean water, hurricanes, and possibly everything that could go wrong with the world. I’m sure no one in their right mind would want to be there now but does anyone know how Haiti became as it is now. Well that’s what I’m about to tell you.

The whole world observed as the administration responders appeared incapable to provide essential protection from the effects of nature. The deprived response results from a failure to accomplish a number of risk factors (Moynihan, 2009). The dangers of a major hurricane striking New Orleans had been measured, and there was sufficient warning of the threat of Katrina that announcements of emergency were made days in advance of landfall (Moynihan, 2009). Nonetheless, the responders were unsuccessful to change this information into a level of preparation suitable with the possibility of the approaching disaster. Federal responders failed to recognize the need to more actively engage (Moynihan, 2009). These improvements include improved ability to provide support to states and tribes ahead of a disaster; developed a national disaster recovery strategy to guide recovery efforts after major disasters and emergencies; and the Establishment of Incident Management Assistance Teams in which these full time, rapid response teams are able to deploy within two hours and arrive at an incident within 12 hours to support the local incident commander (FEMA,

Hurricane Katrina caused a great deal of destruction, death, and human suffering. Research from this event brings to light the limitations of both the National Guard and active-duty forces response capabilities, and whether changes in the roles and responsibilities of the National Guard and active-duty forces during emergencies would enable them to respond better. It is likely that the primary responsibility for national disasters will continue to be handled by local and state officials. They have the best understanding of situations, have the capability to handle the case, and can respond quickly. Hurricane Katrina generated the need to examine the federal response and to make any changes that are needed for the preparation of National Guard and active-duty Army during major domestic emergencies. Both the National Guard and active duty Army are changing to smaller modular and interoperable combat and support brigades that can provide the foundation for an expedited force that can deploy units to threats quickly. The Army

The story of Haiti’s healthcare system is unfortunately tied all too closely to disaster, both man-made and nature-born. This paper will briefly discuss the pre-2010 earthquake healthcare environment in Haiti as the uncertainty that exists provides little opportunity to provide a reasoned understanding of its current national healthcare status.

Another achievement made during this transition was that the Marines from the US established reformation of the Haitian army. They replaced it by a National Police Force (La Garde d'Haiti) that dominated Haitian politics ever since. This army had been conceived as a nonpartisan peacekeeping force that would help ensure the right kind of political stability. During the occupation it did so. Afterward, however the existence of such a force ended by helping political strongmen stay in power.

UNDAC is an international emergency response system within the UN. As scenes from Hurricane Katrina flooded the international news overwhelming support was offered from all around the globe during Katrina however frustration grew as bureaucratic entanglement hindered or prevented most aid. Though late to accept assistance the eventual involvement of UNDAC teams in Katrina has increased relations with global response agencies that will in the future should increase the utilization of foreign aid (OCHA, 2015). This aspect of Katrina influences has however remained untested as the United States has not experienced a natural disaster on the same scale as Katrina therefor has not required outside assistance as of

“They collected nearly half a billion dollars,” said a congressional staffer who helped to oversee reconstruction in Haiti. “But they had a problem. And the problem was that they had absolutely no expertise” (Sullivan et al).

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina left a path of destruction down the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst natural disaster that the United States had encountered up to that point. Even with warning signs before the storm hit, local and state governments failed to adhere to the warnings. Katrina’s worst devastation came in New Orleans where thousands lost everything due to massive flooding. New Orleans was in desperate need of assistance. Unfortunately, due to difficult circumstances at every level of government, the relief would have to wait. “Breakdowns in communication and confused emergency and law enforcement responses from local, state, and federal officials in the hours and days after Hurricane Katrina led to chaos and panic in the affected areas, endangering citizens’ property and lives.” (Tkacz, 2006, p. 1) Command Relationships were a complete failure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina due to the absence of Command and Control, training for that type of situation, and the lack of resources.

A few years ago, an earthquake struck Haiti causing complete destruction. Earlier last month, a hurricane struck Haiti causing another wave of terror. An already hurt country has been knocked back down. In response to this devastation, the United States is working with the United Nations to help Haiti recover. Money, supplies, and teams are being sent to bring Haiti back up to its feet. However, despite these actions, there are arguments as to whether or not the US is helping enough. Contrary to what some may believe, the US is giving enough aid to Haiti for the recovery process.

On January 12, 2010 on of the world’s deadliest earthquakes struck Haiti. In his book, Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti, Mark Schuller analyzes the presence of humanitarian aid agencies following the disaster. He discusses the impacts the aid had on the environment, development and globalization of Haiti.

From the very beginnings of the crisis in Haiti, we can see the various policies adapted by the three different presidents who held office in the U.S. Through the Reagan, Bush, and finally Clinton administrations, there is an evolution of policy from that of silence, to a gradual increase of concern, and ultimately an objective of restoring democracy in Haiti. However, the one thing that remained constant throughout each administration was the U.S. policy and practice of interdiction and repatriation of Haitian refugees. This policy was indeed successful in curtailing the influx of Haitians into the U.S. (Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, 1994).

The response for the natural disasters that hit Haiti in 2010 was slow. Haiti improved the water supply of 340,000 people, supplied drugs to five cholera treatment facilities, provided free medical care to 39,000, and gave tools and seeds to help 23,000 people in farming households to help support themselves. These services not only improved shelters for 34,000 people but gave information to 116,000 people about disaster preparation. Volunteers ran literacy classes for 60,000 vulnerable women to help them support themselves and their families; additionally, they helped defend 25,000 residents from forced eviction. However, 3.5 years after the earthquake, the nation is still struggling with recovery with hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent camps.