Looters raid U.N. food warehouses in Haiti

MSNBC ^ | 1/15/2010 | AP

[tobyhill]

Looters have broken into U.N. food warehouses in Haiti's crumbled capital, an official said Friday, as security and logistical challenges mounted for groups trying to feed at least 2 million people reeling from a devastating earthquake.

The U.N. World Food Program had 15,000 tons of food aid in Haiti prior to Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, stocks designed for hurricane relief. Spokeswoman Emilia Casella said local partners reported that the U.N. warehouse in Port-au-Prince's Cite Soleil neighborhood was looted but the agency did not know how much aid was stolen or exactly when it was taken.

[netmilsmom]

People are hungry.
As they didn’t state how much was taken, I would like to assume that someone was just feeding his kids.

[TheDon]

It’s not looting, it’s survival. People can’t be expected to sit around and starve to death.

[Maverick68]

Agreed.
If the food was taken by/for truly hungry folks and NOT warlords using food as a weapon, I see no wrong.
Keep praying for these poor folks.

[edpc]

In any disaster, you’re going to have bands of knuckleheads doing stuff like this. That said, I really don’t see Haiti ever turning a corner and really improving, no matter what resources we give them.

[dfwgator]

Maybe the UN will send them a strongly-worded letter condemning them.

[tobyhill]

***But the U.N. and others still hadn't figured out how to deliver assistance through broken roads and crumpled buildings, with little machinery to clear the mess. They are also contending with masses of people gathered in Port-au-Prince’s streets, few working phones and a massive influx of goods and personnel without an organized plan.***

I thought Obama took the lead and had a plan to get stuff in there immediately? By this time, Bush already had relief supplies going to Katrina victims.

[jersey117]

Why is 15,000 tons of food sitting in a U.N. warehouse in the wake of this disaster? They should have been doling it out on day one.

[Marmolade]

Why isn’t the UN distributing the food. I didn’t read anywhere in the article about any distribution, only how difficult it is to get it to outlying areas. Why not feed the people in the immediate vicinity and as aid comes in, reach the other people, rather than withold it. Maybe I’m missing something here.

[tobyhill]

Exactly. The people wouldn't have had to loot the warehouse had there been a real coordinated rescue effort.

[NEMDF]

Sounds like this food was for hurricanes, not earthquakes. WTH?

[tobyhill]

You're not missing anything. Neither Obama or the UN could manage a cleanup on aisle 5.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

15,000 tons (in U.S. measurements) is 30,000,000 pounds of food supplies. If an average Haitian eats 10 pounds of that food in a week, and there are close to 3,000,000 Haitians that are in need of aid, then the food will feed those that need it for a week.

So why sit on it?

First, the UN Mission was destroyed and many of the UN workers were killed or are still missing, so they couldn't release it.

Second, Bureaucratic red-tape would have taken days if not weeks to cut through, so it likely would have never been released.

I don't think it is “looting” if people break into a building to take what was given to them to live but government policy said they couldn't have yet.

However, hang each and every person selling food out of a UN marked bag.

[Iron Munro]

Better to have the food in the hands of the truly hungry and starving than being used by UN crooks to barter for sex and to sell on the black market.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

To be fair, many UN workers were killed when the UN headquarters collapsed.

[Daisyjane69]

I’m no fan of looting, but if our gov’t was as MIA as the Haitian gov’t is, and my kids were starving, I’D LOOT TOO.

This might be the most shameful display of gov’t incompetence I’ve ever seen. Not a police officer to be seen .... anywhere. No EMS, no fire department...nothing. Not even a token appearance of first responders. Unreal.

Think about it: these people have been traumatized, seeing loved ones crushed to death. They are engaging in search and rescue themselves, as civilians, backbreaking work. Now add to this: no clean water, no food, no shelter, no medical care, no communications, and NO HELP FROM GOV’T on any level. And this has been going on in 90 degree heat and humidity for three days!

How useless is the Haitian gov’t? They have basically turned over all gov’t functions to the U.S. Military, including control of the airport.

Good grief...what a mess. No wonder the people are frustrated.

[C19fan]

What happened to the 9,000 UN, mostly Brazilian, troops? I would think even a private would realize this would be a prime target fot looting.

[tobyhill]

No one expects them to sit around and starve but the UN is sitting there with 15000 TONS of food and after 4 days it’s still not getting to the people.

[sinanju]

If you’ve ever read about the place, lesson number one is that Haiti is NOT part of the Western Hemisphere. It is a dysfunctional, failed West African state that happens to be located in the Caribbean.

It was born in brutality, ruled by a succession of savage dictators, has a disgusting, bloodletting, amoral religion (Voudon, the Catholicism is just a surface mask).

The people aren’t bad and when they’re away from the place they tend to do pretty well, but even when they throw off their rulers (Baby Doc in ‘87, Cedras in ‘94, Aristide in ‘04) they just get themselves another. We’ve been there quite a few times before, with no lasting benefit.

I’m not saying they are addicted to tyranny and oligarchy any more than Iraqis or Afghans but after two centuries of this I don’t see any change on the horizon.

[bboop]

It’s not looting. The UN should be giving that food out. An emergency is an emergency. But where ARE the ‘saviors of the world’? Probably not there — there is no oil in Haiti, so the UN pervs are resting comfortably in Manhattan.