U.S. Government Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Washington, DC
January 18, 2010
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
CAPTAIN JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESMAN FOR JOINT TASK FORCE HAITI; TIM CALLAGHAN, USAID SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN; REAR ADMIRAL MIKE ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE FOR THE JOINT STAFF; AND CAPTAIN ANDREW STEVERMER, COMMANDER OF INCIDENT RESPONSE COORDINATION TEAM FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Via Conference Call
2:10 P.M. EST
QUESTION: Thank you for taking the call, though I'm not sure if the people who needs to answer it is on anymore.
We heard about all the medical supplies that are coming in, that there's doctors and nurses available. But we're also, at least so far, hearing that there is no actual field hospital set up by the United States. Can you confirm if that's true? Is there one? Is there not? The Israelis have set one up, because there are -- our own reporters are seeing patients who need instant, urgent medical care and they can't get it. Is there anything you can tell us about that?
CAPTAIN STEVERMER: Yes, this is Captain Stevermer. We have a disaster medical assistance team set up at the GHESKIO site with an international medical surgical team being assembled as we speak. We have not brought a field hospital, per se, as the Israelis have. However, we are bringing additional hospital assets through the Department of Defense, in terms of other sorts of assets.
So the answer is, yes, we have assets on the ground seeing patients.
QUESTION: Can you address the issue of what flights get priority? I mean, you don't have visibility on what's on every plane, but these allegations from these groups that U.S. military is getting their priorities before the aid, is that -- I mean, can you talk about how these are prioritized?
CAPTAIN KIRBY: Well, they are prioritized based on -- sometimes based on the fuel loads of the aircraft, in terms of when they need to get down. But I mean, we are trying very hard to make an even split between the flow of military flights and civilian flights. And it's roughly 50 percent for each. And we try very hard to balance that out.
I mean, we have had some non-essential military flights delayed, diverted, or simply had to go to another site and wait for a couple of days before they could get in. So it's -- we try to balance it the best we can, do understand the concerns and the frustrations, but we're working the best we can to make it more efficient.
QUESTION: Is there any sense of what potentially could have been handled more efficiently or handled a little bit better? I guess in a way, what sorts of lessons have been learned about this crisis when comparing it or contrasting it from others?
QUESTION: Well, I think the thing to remember is that this earthquake was massive. It caused a lot of damage to a country that has been impacted by many natural disasters in the last couple years. I think that there was a lot of talk in the first couple of days -- (inaudible) -- the lesson learned or always what we should strive for is to come up with a plan as quickly as we can to provide assistance whether it's food, water, or non-food items
Obviously that was a tremendous challenge in this case because the response is led by the government of Haiti based on their priorities. But given the fact of the tremendous impact, I mean, you have to remember, many of the Haitian officials, police, and what have you -- their homes were destroyed. Loved ones from various agencies, Haitian government officials, died in the event.
And so I think that allowed for -- promotes tremendous challenges for a government to respond. Obviously the international community has responded in full force. I think obviously it takes time for all the coordination -- (inaudible.)
So, just a gentle reminder before we go around self-flagellating, as Secretary Clinton said on Saturday, the Haitian government is directing and prioritizing this relief effort, not the U.S. and not the U.N. Everyone is doing the best they can. Secretary Clinton, in her interview with Greta Van Susteren that aired tonight made these points.
Well, we’re here as a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission. That’s what the United States military is here for. They’re here, as we all are, at the invitation of the Haitian Government that knows that they need help.
We have a great group of other countries in our hemisphere and beyond. We’re beginning to meet, and I’ve talked with many of my counterparts, our foreign ministers, around the world. So there’s going to be an international effort. The key is coordinating it, and to make sure that we’re each doing what we can do best. There isn’t anybody who could have gotten this airport open and up and running besides the United States military in the time that we did it. We’re going to be looking at the port to make sure that we can take whatever information and expertise we have and try to get that port up and going.
