Cruise Ships Docking Near Quake Site: WTF?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...iti-earthquake
Have you seen this?
"OK," I thought. "These ships were en route anyway. I guess they don't just turnaround." Then I saw this:
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
OK, can we just kill the guy who said this...no questions asked? (Upon hearing this my wife thought I was reading a headline from The Onion. Really.)
Yeah..you selfless hero. How about this: Don't go to Haiti. Or, use your ships to bring them food and supplies for two weeks. Fucking unreal.
Have you seen this?
Quote:
Sixty miles from Haiti's devastated earthquake zone, luxury liners dock at private beaches where passengers enjoy jetski rides, parasailing and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks.
Sixty miles from Haiti's devastated earthquake zone, luxury liners dock at private beaches where passengers enjoy jetski rides, parasailing and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks.
"OK," I thought. "These ships were en route anyway. I guess they don't just turnaround." Then I saw this:
Quote:
"It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving," said another. "I can't imagine having to choke down a burger there now.''
"It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving," said another. "I can't imagine having to choke down a burger there now.''
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Quote:
Some booked on ships scheduled to stop at Labadee are afraid that desperate people might breach the resort's 12ft high fences to get food and drink, but others seemed determined to enjoy their holiday."I'll be there on Tuesday and I plan on enjoying my zip line excursion as well as the time on the beach," said one.
Some booked on ships scheduled to stop at Labadee are afraid that desperate people might breach the resort's 12ft high fences to get food and drink, but others seemed determined to enjoy their holiday."I'll be there on Tuesday and I plan on enjoying my zip line excursion as well as the time on the beach," said one.
OK, can we just kill the guy who said this...no questions asked? (Upon hearing this my wife thought I was reading a headline from The Onion. Really.)
Quote:
"In the end, Labadee is critical to Haiti's recovery; hundreds of people rely on Labadee for their livelihood," said John Weis, vice-president. "In our conversations with the UN special envoy of the government of Haiti, Leslie Voltaire, he notes that Haiti will benefit from the revenues that are generated from each call …
"We also have tremendous opportunities to use our ships as transport vessels for relief supplies and personnel to Haiti. Simply put, we cannot abandon Haiti now that they need us most."
"In the end, Labadee is critical to Haiti's recovery; hundreds of people rely on Labadee for their livelihood," said John Weis, vice-president. "In our conversations with the UN special envoy of the government of Haiti, Leslie Voltaire, he notes that Haiti will benefit from the revenues that are generated from each call …
"We also have tremendous opportunities to use our ships as transport vessels for relief supplies and personnel to Haiti. Simply put, we cannot abandon Haiti now that they need us most."
Yeah..you selfless hero. How about this: Don't go to Haiti. Or, use your ships to bring them food and supplies for two weeks. Fucking unreal.
Comments
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Probably another bunch of Republican voting Bankers spending their bonus.
Probably another bunch of Republican voting Bankers spending their bonus.
Oh, c'mon. You've been drinking the koolaid, giving people those "differences between dems and repubs" hallucinations. Incidentally, the Obama cabinet is almost entirely Wall St... and the last time I checked, the Obama administration was staffed by democrats.
And re. the OP, if these reports are for real.... what a bunch of sickos.
Probably another bunch of Republican voting Bankers spending their bonus.
Really? I was going to go with Eurotrash liberals.
But yea , rather distasteful.
The problem isn't lack of materials but lack of transport infrastructure to get stuff anywhere. One example was Mexico provided a mobile water purification system but it got turned away because there was no way to get it out of the airport area.
You can't carry cranes or heavy bulldozers in cruise ships. You can carry some food but there's enough other lift capabilities to get food there by ship if the docks were in better shape. You could sea lift some folks out if they wanted to go and you had a place to take them and there was an efficient way to get them aboard...but thus far there's no call for that.
So other than going somewhere else and spending money somewhere else there's not THAT much cruise lines can do. So it looks crass but in reality they don't much matter to relief efforts and Haiti could use the money. Heck, there's a bleeding carrier there and they were limited last week due to lack of ground control to safely fly their helos in.
Now that we've moved in to straighten out air traffic other countries are whining that we're hogging all the flights. Frankly the Brazilians and French can both go hang. WTF is the US supposed to do? Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Might as well be damned for doing.
Probably another bunch of Republican voting Bankers spending their bonus.
Bankers are mostly liberals these days, thanks to the bailout.
Ya' know, most folks plan their vacations a long time in advance. If you had made the plans and paid the money, and then an earthquake struct, would you cancel everything? Why? Why wouldn't you put money into the local economy to help it? In fact, the best thing you can do is to go to vacation in Haiti.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news...-82038277.html
You should postpone your trip / your travel agency / cruise company should postpone it. It is fine and dandy that you want to enjoy your cruise, but not when the situation is as bad as it is in Haiti.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news...-82038277.html
I agree.
Or, if the cruise was already underway, change the course, donate the passage fees and take donations from the passengers (how many Haitians can afford a cruise?).
Corporate America's response to the Haiti quake comes under the lens here in comparison to Katrina:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-h..._b_427140.html
I agree.
Or, if the cruise was already underway, change the course, donate the passage fees and take donations from the passengers (how many Haitians can afford a cruise?).
Corporate America's response to the Haiti quake comes under the lens here in comparison to Katrina:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-h..._b_427140.html
What I can't understand is why the unions are doing nothing. Have they no shame?
What I can't understand is why the unions are doing nothing. Have they no shame?
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/01/19/un...-in-for-haiti/
http://www.seiu.org/2010/01/haiti-re...u-can-help.php
http://www.afscme.org/splash/
Outside US
http://www.apheda.org.au/news/1263767740_23501.html
I agree.
Or, if the cruise was already underway, change the course, donate the passage fees and take donations from the passengers (how many Haitians can afford a cruise?).
Riiiiiight
When you get off the mescaline, let me know.
You should postpone your trip / your travel agency / cruise company should postpone it. It is fine and dandy that you want to enjoy your cruise, but not when the situation is as bad as it is in Haiti.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news...-82038277.html
Well, if you're not actually helping WTF is the difference between your posting on AI as opposed to your jet skiing in the Caribbean? If you haven't changed your lifestyle one iota it's rank hypocrisy to demand some poor smuck on his vacation or honeymoon do so.
I'll even bet those folks have donated...and probably more than you have.
Well, if you're not actually helping WTF is the difference between your posting on AI as opposed to your jet skiing in the Caribbean? If you haven't changed your lifestyle one iota it's rank hypocrisy to demand some poor smuck on his vacation or honeymoon do so.
I'll even bet those folks have donated...and probably more than you have.
What the fsck has my lifestyle or my posting on AI got to do with every natural calamity that hits the planet? My earlier suggestion was made on the grounds of common sense. It has nothing to do with a person's generosity. When you are mugged by someone are you going to plead with them that you have donated generously? Is the concept of "Just don't rub it in" that hard to understand? The situation on the ground is quite bad with people migrating out of the capital in search of food and shelter. How long before the mob reaches your cruise port? What will you do then? Wait for the local riot police to clear the mob on an hourly basis so you can go jet skiing? You will be putting your life and your spouse's life in mortal danger as people who have lost everything can and will do anything to survive. Postponing your dream vacation is still a better option.
Well, if you're not actually helping WTF is the difference between your posting on AI as opposed to your jet skiing in the Caribbean? If you haven't changed your lifestyle one iota it's rank hypocrisy to demand some poor smuck on his vacation or honeymoon do so.
I'll even bet those folks have donated...and probably more than you have.
I'm not demanding anything.
What the fsck has my lifestyle or my posting on AI got to do with every natural calamity that hits the planet?
It has to do with asking other folks to change their behavior while doing nothing yourself.
The situation on the ground is quite bad with people migrating out of the capital in search of food and shelter. How long before the mob reaches your cruise port? What will you do then? Wait for the local riot police to clear the mob on an hourly basis so you can go jet skiing? You will be putting your life and your spouse's life in mortal danger as people who have lost everything can and will do anything to survive. Postponing your dream vacation is still a better option.
If security is a problem the cruise lines will alter the itinerary and not stop there.
What I'm tired of is the mock outrage from folks unwilling to get off their own asses to do anything.
vinea the cruise ship may or may not be helpful in the situation. But who wants to go jet skiing when there's 70,000 dead not too far away. When you make the port of call at Haiti what's the small talk with the local vendors?
I wouldn't but they aren't me and that's fine by me. Much of the region is depressingly poor outside the resort areas and that's not somewhere I care to vacation to.
What do you do when your vacation's been booked for months and already paid for?
Within 3 days after the quake on January 12, the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) had a comprehensive fully-equipped and staffed field hospital set up with the latest medical technology. They had to fly all the required personnel and hardware from half way around the world, at considerable expense. Is that efficiency or what? In contrast, the medical response effort from the US, despite being far closer at hand (ie just across the Caribbean), is painfully slow; the US Navy hospital ship is still on the way to Haiti and it will probably take a few more days to become operational.
There are 50,000 US citizens in Haiti (presumably there are many injuries (and fatalities)... yet the Jewish population in Haiti numbered less than 50 in 2007. Even though there's an obvious effort on the part of both nations to be seen to be a part of (or leading) what is being touted in the media as a "humanitarian response", what is with the enormous disparity in effort and efficiency, especially as, apart from the great PR scoop (and the tiny Jewish population there), the IDF has zero interest in Haiti... unless there are other factors that we are not aware of?
Sure it's macabre. I can understand a lot of customers wanting to not go. I mean, myself, I definitely wouldn't. As you mention SDW it'd be just a bit too gut-churning for me personally. But by being there they are helping so what's wrong with this really?
Heres something that makes little sense:
Within 3 days after the quake on January 12, the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) had a comprehensive fully-equipped and staffed field hospital set up with the latest medical technology. They had to fly all the required personnel and hardware from half way around the world, at considerable expense. Is that efficiency or what? In contrast, the medical response effort from the US, despite being far closer at hand (ie just across the Caribbean), is painfully slow; the US Navy hospital ship is still on the way to Haiti and it will probably take a few more days to become operational.
There are 50,000 US citizens in Haiti (presumably there are many injuries (and fatalities)... yet the Jewish population in Haiti numbered less than 50 in 2007. Even though there's an obvious effort on the part of both nations to be seen to be a part of (or leading) what is being touted in the media as a "humanitarian response", what is with the enormous disparity in effort and efficiency, especially as, apart from the great PR scoop (and the tiny Jewish population there), the IDF has zero interest in Haiti... unless there are other factors that we are not aware of?
IDF Field Hospital: Air transportable. Arrived Jan 15
10 tons of medical equipment, 40 doctors, 24 nurses, medics, paramedics, x-ray equipment and personnel, a pharmacy, an emergency room, two surgery rooms, an incubation ward, a children’s ward and a maternity ward. Requires local power and resupply more often.
USNS Comfort: On Station TODAY (Jan 20) and has been treating patients (flown in) since YESTERDAY. NOT tomorrow or a few more days.
600 medical staff, 1,000 beds, 60 intensive care beds, expanded to 80, Between eight and 11 operating room beds, four X-rays, one CAT scan unit, an MRI unit, a dental suite, a pharmacy, an optometry and lens laboratory. Carries an immense amount of its own supplies including 5,000 units of blood. Has it's own power.
225 additional medical personnel will join them over the next few days.
USS Carl Vinson: On Station Jan 15
52 doctors, nurses and medical staff including general surgeon. 19 helos, huge ass bays for triage, pharmacy and 3 operating rooms.
USS Bataan: On Station Jan 19
four operating rooms, 14 ICU beds, and 38 ward beds.
USAF
The USAF had 48 folks in Haiti within 24 hours.
A 58 medical team and an 10 bed EMEDS (hospital in a box) was deployed Jan 17. Once there it got married to a 25 member team to bring it up to 25 bed capability. About the same capabilities and sustainability as the IDF field hospital (limited, needs power, water and security).
That's totally ignoring the American Red Cross ERUs and field hospitals deployed in Haiti and Army deployed assets (because I don't have that specific info handy).
Now the Vinson was underutilized for days because of ground SNAFUS but yes there WAS a HUGE disparity: the amount of medical staff from the US military dwarfs that of the Israel and is sustainable because they have their own power and water generation and a lot more than 10 tons of supplies.
But hey, what do facts matter? The IDF did well to get there fast but there were Chinese teams on the ground quickly as well. So were we and in far larger numbers than anyone else because we ARE close.