Haiti: On Roads and Recovery
It’s been almost a month since the earthquake that hit Haiti threw that country into chaos. It’s natural to take a look back, take stock of the response to the disaster and what lessons are to be learned.
There must be a better way to coordinate international relief efforts when a natural disaster strikes, some lead agency to ensure the airport is open, the roads are clear and that medical supplies and food are distributed based on need. We need to establish mission control in advance — not to dictate rescue and recovery efforts, but to organize and keep track of them.
The talk about infrastructure was what really got me thinking.
Haiti didn’t have a ton of infrastructure in the first place, and what little there was ended up getting largely destroyed by the quake. That posed a real problem in the weeks after the earthquake – a lot of aid was being sent from the rest of the world, but it wasn’t getting to the people who need it. You can have all the food and clothing in the world sent, but if you don’t have ports and airfields to bring it in, all you’ve got is a cargo plane full of perishable doorstops.
My question is, does all of the focus have to be on preparing what we’re going to do after a disaster. Are there some steps that the international community can do before something like this happens? I’d like to see solid infrastructure become the next issue of global concern targeted by groups like the U.N.. I assume since I haven’t heard near as much about climate change since Copenhagen wrapped up, it means that they got that whole thing sorted out – so, it would be something to keep them busy.
I’m not saying that you can prepare for every earthquake or tsunami that might hit a country – these things are destructive by their very nature. But, surely there are things that we can do – ports can be reinforced and important roads can be mapped out and strengthened. Increasing the odds that something will survive enough that it can be used when bad things do go down. Or, at the very least, reducing the time that it would take to get those facilities back up and running.
The hours that volunteers, aid workers and militaries had to spend repairing airports and clearing roads were hours that victims remained trapped under rubble and lacking medical treatment. No matter how much help the international community does to aid disaster infrastructure, that’s work that is always going to need to be done.
I just think that if we worked together and helped less fortunate places build up this kinds of strong, basic foundation, there will be less cleaning up and more actual rebuilding.
(Photo: United Nations Development Programme via Flickr.)
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This is a really thoughtful post that I totally agree with. It’s lack of infrastructure that really costs the most lives in disasters. You look at similar earthquakes in places like Japan, you see buildings built to code that make them less susceptible to tremors. Look at the number of people who died in the building where the UN housed it’s offices.
On top of that, with better infrastructure, you not only get aid to people who need it when disaster strikes, but you also give nations opportunities to generate more wealth. A country with good roads, airports and shipping yards is going to attract trade and foreign investment, generating even more wealth to maintain and develop even BETTER infrastructure.
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