Aardbeving Haïti

[KapiteinRob]

,,gezien de catastrofale omvang van de ramp in Haïti".

Ik kan hier gewoon pissig over worden. We gaan zo prat op onze humanitaire hulpverleningmogelijkheden en gebruik(t)en o.m. dat onderwerp bij het inrichten van onze defensie. En wat doen we bij deze ramp die catastrofaal genoemd wordt en duizenden doden (en n.a.w. duizenden gewonden en daklozen) telt? We sturen behalve het snuffelhondenteam 2 miljoen euro en transporteren het snuffelteam. Wauw.....

Ik snap dat bepaalde activiteiten initieren wat tijd nodig kan hebben, maar ik het zou me niet verbazen dat er weinig substantieels aan bijdrages bijkomt. Waar is "het stationsschip"? Waar zijn de collega's uit Aruba en Curacao? Of in ieder geval het nieuws dat er meer hulptroepen geactiveerd worden?

Volladen die JWIT met mariniers en genie-eenheden en vertrekken met dat schip voorzien van hospitaalfaciliteiten waar we (terecht) zo flink over doen! Maak je woorden als Nederland als we het over defensie-hulp hebben nu maar eens waar!!

[KapiteinRob]

DEN HAAG -  Nederland stuurt woensdagavond een reddingsteam naar het rampgebied in Haïti. Dat heeft minister Bert Koenders (Ontwikkelingssamenwerking) besloten.

Minister Bert Koenders. Foto: Dijkstra  Het zogeheten Urban Search And Rescue Team bestaat uit zestig mensen en snuffelhonden die helpen bij het opsporen van de duizenden mensen die nog onder het puin bedolven liggen. De groep vertrekt vanaf vliegveld Eindhoven met een transportvliegtuig, dat het ministerie van Defensie beschikbaar heeft gesteld. Het team maakt deel uit van een internationaal gecoördineerde hulpactie onder leiding van de Verenigde Naties.

Koenders stelde eerder op de dag al twee miljoen euro beschikbaar voor noodhulp aan Haïti. De kosten van het reddingsteam worden ook betaald door Ontwikkelingssamenwerking. Koenders heeft dat besloten ,,gezien de catastrofale omvang van de ramp in Haïti".

Bron: telegraafsite dd. 130110

[VandeWiel]

The headquarters for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti collapsed in the massive earthquake, with at least 11 peacekeepers reported dead on Wednesday, and scores of others missing.

U.N. troops, mostly from Brazil, were trying to rescue people from the wreckage of the five-story building, U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters, but "as we speak no one has been rescued from this main headquarters."

"We know clearly it is a tragedy for Haiti, and a tragedy for the U.N., and especially for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti," he said. "There will be casualties, but we cannot give figures for the time being," Le Roy said.

Between 200 and 250 people normally work at the peacekeeping headquarters, located on the road from the city to the hillside district of Petionville, but it is unclear how many were in the building when the quake hit a little after 5 p.m. local time, deputy peacekeeping chief Edmond Mulet said.

Among the missing is the head of the U.N. mission, Hedi Annabi, who had been in the building, Le Roy said.

At least eight of the 125 Chinese stationed with the U.N. in Haiti were killed, the China Daily newspaper reported Wednesday, citing the Chinese vice-president of earthquake disaster rescue, Liu Xiangyang. Chinese officials told The AP, however, they could not confirm any casualties. Another three peacekeepers from Jordan were killed, while 21 Jordanians were lightly injured, Jordan's army said, according to the country's Petra News Agency.

Mulet, who was Annabi's predecessor in the Haiti post, said the U.N. headquarters building had been constructed in the 1960s with reinforced concrete, and was previously the Christopher Hotel.

Other U.N. installations in Haiti were also seriously damaged, Le Roy said, including the headquarters of the U.N. Development Program, where many people were wounded.

The U.N. logistical base near the airport and a U.N. hospital run by Argentine troops were damaged, but not severely, and the hospital was receiving people hurt in the earthquake, Mulet said.

The U.N.'s entire Haitian mission includes 7,000 peacekeeping troops, 2,000 international police, 490 international civilian staffers, 1,200 local civilian staffers and 200 U.N. Volunteers, Le Roy said.

The force was brought in after a bloody 2004 rebellion following decades of violence and poverty in the nation. Crime has since decreased somewhat, thanks to the U.N. troops' presence and the rebuilding of the country's own police force. The U.N. force commander was out of the country on Wednesday, but the deputy commander was "on the spot" and co-ordinating rescue efforts, Le Roy said.

The U.N. was relying on satellite phones to reach its Haitian mission and relief workers, after the quake disabled regular communication networks. "That's part of the reason why it's hard to have a full picture of the situation," said Susanna Malcorra, the undersecretary-general responsible for staffing and equipping U.N. field-based peace operations.

The U.N. was trying to determine of the airport in Port au Prince was operational or if it would have to send relief supplies from across the land border with the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Meanwhile, the United States, Britain, France, Mexico, Venezuela, China and Taiwan were mobilizing assistance to quake victims. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was meeting with other U.N. officials to co-ordinate the response, and has spoken with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, his special envoy for Haiti, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Ban "is anxiously awaiting further news about missing U.N. staff and about the people of Haiti," the spokesman said.

In a statement earlier, Ban said, "My heart goes out to the people of Haiti after this devastating earthquake ... I am receiving initial reports and following developments closely."


http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iiXobovPiFDxJIEn-_B1t2ABMTdw

[VandeWiel]

Er schijnen duizenden mensen onder het puin te liggen. Simpele vraag: waar blijft Nederland met z'n mede "op het verlenen van humanitaire hulp" ingerichte defensie-apparaat?

Er zal wel weer een RIT rampen identificatie team heen gaan!?

Beelden zijn behoorlijk schokkend iig. Kwam een foto tegen met daarom 5-6 kleine kinderen die het niet gered hadden.

Er zitten trouwens bijna 10.000 man UN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Stabilization_Mission_in_Haiti

[KapiteinRob]

Er schijnen duizenden mensen onder het puin te liggen. Simpele vraag: waar blijft Nederland met z'n mede "op het verlenen van humanitaire hulp" ingerichte defensie-apparaat?

[VandeWiel]

MANILA, Philippines - Some members of the Philippine peacekeeping contingent in Haiti were trapped inside the collapsed United Nations Stabilization Mission building, Philippine officials reported Wednesday.

Philippine military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner told ANC's Dateline Philippines that Lt. Col. Lope Dagoy, commander of the Philippine peacekeeping forces in Haiti, has reported through his wife that some Filipino soldiers were trapped inside the building that collapsed right after Haiti was struck by a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

"He called us to inform that some of the members of our peacekeeping contingent  have been trapped inside some of the buildings," Brawner said. "They are trying now to recover these personnel from the ruins of some of the buildings that collapsed."

The military spokesman, meanwhile, clarified that there have been no confirmed casualties among the members of the Philippine peacekeeping contingent.

Elmer Cato, press officer of the Philippine mission to the United Nations, said the Filipino peacekeepers were trapped at the collapsed United Nations Stabilization Mission building.

Cato said communication lines to Dagoy have been cut off.

"We are reaching for his satellite phone, but we could not," he said, adding that the same satellite phone was used by Dagoy to contact his wife, who was in the Philippines.

He said the Philippine peacekeeping force is composed of 157 officers and enlisted personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and 22 personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP).

PNP spokesman Leonardo Espina said that according to an e-mail they received at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (Manila time) all their personnel in Haiti are safe and were staying at the UN logistics support base.

Aside from the officers, Cato said they are confirming reports of more Filipinos trapped at the headquarters of the Minustah (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haiti or the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti).

He said the Filipino civilians were also working for the United Nations. He added that the "leadership of Minustah was in the building when it collapsed."

Meanwhile, he said that there are more than 400 more Filipinos living or working in Haiti. He said they have yet to determine if there are Filipino casualties in the strong earthquake.

Cato said they might be able to provide more details on the casualties on Thursday after meeting with members of all the contributing countries to the UN.

"It's evening right now. I don't think the UN would be able to accomplish much at this point. We'll have more concrete information tomorrow, I guess," he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), meanwhile, said it has yet to establish the damage wrought by the powerful earthquake to the Filipino community and the Philippine peacekeeping contingent in Haiti due to the cutoff communication and power lines.

"The UN headquarters in New York has also not been able to communicate with the Minustah in Port-au-Prince," DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said in a statement.

Massive casualty

There were fears that the death toll of the devastating earthquake could reach thousands. There were reports that several bodies have been seen on the streets.

Cato said that despite being shaken by the strong earthquake, Filipino peacekeepers housed in front of a building adjacent to the Minustah headquarters "were among the first to rush to the scene."

He said the Filipino peacekeepers were involved in "search and rescue work to the point of even using their bare hands."

He said that before communication lines were cut off, they received initial reports from the Filipino peacekeepers of "several bodies recovered."

Cato added that several victims trapped in collapsed buildings were still alive and are now subjects of recovery efforts.


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/13/10/filipino-peacekeepers-trapped-collapsed-un-building

[VandeWiel]

UNITED NATIONS (AFP)--A large number of U.N. staffers are unaccounted for after a large earthquake caused serious damage to their headquarters in Haiti, a senior U.N. official said late Tuesday.

"For the moment, a large number of personnel remain unaccounted for," Alain Leroy, the head of the U.N. department of peacekeeping operations, which oversees the world body's various missions around the world, said in a statement.

He said the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or MINUSTAH, in the Haitian capital "has sustained serious damage along with other U.N. installations."

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100112-717179.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines