US will stand by Haiti: Clinton
2010-01-17 15:14
Special Report
There is not much left of the city's numerous churches, beside crosses and the occasional surviving stained glass window...
Port-au-Prince - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday pledged US support for Haiti's recovery from a devastating earthquake, in a lightning visit to the hub of relief operations for the Caribbean nation.
Amid the clatter of aid-laden helicopters flying in and out of the international airport at Port-au-Prince, Clinton declared the United States would work closely with Haiti to restore electricity and communications.
"As President Obama has said, we will be here today, tomorrow and for the time ahead," Clinton said as she stood next to President Rene Preval, whose palace was destroyed in Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude temblor.
The two countries were to unveil a statement on Sunday on how they planned to co-operate together.
Breakdown in basic utilities
The breakdown in basic utilities, along with the destruction of the palace and key ministries, has left Preval's government barely functioning and reliant on foreign donors for massive quantities of emergency aid.
"We are here at the invitation of your government to help you," Clinton told a news conference after an hour-long meeting with Preval and talks with US officials organising the relief operation.
"I know the resilience and strength of the Haitian people. You have been severely tested," said Clinton, the highest-ranking US official to visit the Caribbean nation since the quake.
"But I believe that Haiti can come back stronger and better in the future," the chief US diplomat said.
Preval, who said he had just visited a man pulled out of the rubble alive after four days by rescuers, said Clinton's visit "warmed our hearts".
"But it's also a chance for us to restate priorities and to ensure co-ordination with the American government and with the international community."
Clinton said the pair "discussed the priorities of restoring communications and electricity."
Anger building
Anger was building at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor co-ordination continued to hamper the relief effort.
But tons and tons of badly-needed aid was finally getting to some of those left destitute in Port-au-Prince, and even to at least one devastated town beyond the capital.
Clinton said criticism that aid was piling up at the airport was unfair, saying US forces, in charge of the airport, were getting it out as quickly as possible.
She and Rajiv Shah, director for the US Agency for International Development (USAid), said the UN World Food Programme had begun setting up food and water distribution centres at 14 points across the capital.
Logistic hurdles
Clinton said the international relief operation faced many logistics hurdles.
The US military had tried to establish helicopter landing zones for some aid deliveries but had to drop the plan when it realised Haitians would mob the site each time and make it dangerous to land, she said.
Clinton said State Department officials had asked the US military whether supplies could be parachuted to Haitians, but were told that such drops could provoke riots in crowded urban areas or could hit people on the ground.
The chief US diplomat said officials were still looking for innovative solutions.
"The other thing we're trying to do is get our helicopters outside the immediately affected area, outside of Port-au-Prince, because people are leaving the city," Clinton said.
"They are seeking medical help. They are trying to get to relatives," she added. "The countryside is relatively unaffected... We're trying to get ahead of the curve here."
Operation Unified Response
The US operation has been officially dubbed "Operation Unified Response," General Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command, said on the command's official page on micro-blogging website Twitter.
Philip Crowley, Clinton's spokesperson, said there were hopes to make the northern city of Cap Haitien operational as a second container port, but he gave no details.
Clinton, who never ventured beyond the airport in order not to burden relief efforts with security concerns, later left Haiti taking with her 50 US citizens who had been living in or visiting Haiti.
One group was dropped off in Jamaica to take commercial flights to the United States in the coming days, while the other group travelled back to Washington DC with Clinton.
Marie Lindor, who sat with her newborn baby aboard the Spartan C-130 transport plane, told reporters she hoped to find a flight from Kingston to Miami, where she lives with her husband.
She had gone to stay with relatives in Haiti only to experience the earthquake and learn that her cousin had died in it, along with other family members. Her brother and sister had lost their homes there.
- AFP