Logistics: Haiti In Hell
Jan. 18th, 2010 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyI spent a little time today (slow day at work) digging into the mess in Haiti.
Crisis: Over 2,000,000 persons are homeless and without access to potable water. Food, fuel (price $10 USD if at all) and medical supplies are in very short supply, in effect none. An estimated 250,000 persons are believed to be injured and death tolls, while preliminary, are believed to exceed 100,000.
Response: With only one large working airport and a limited seaport one day away, with modern facilities two to three days away in neighboring Santo Domingo, there is virtually no chance of pushing through adequate supplies and personnel to treat the injured, or for that matter backhauling the injured.
The demand for water is such that there is a serious potential that many thousands of uninjured may actually die of thirst.
Neglecting injured and dead, the logistics haul to provide water to the residents of Port-au-Prince and environs is approximately 1,000,000 gallons per day (at survival minimum of 1/2 gallon per person per day). US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is now offshore with 400,000 gallons per day of potable water production ability and both heavy lift helicopters and water bladders to ease transport ashore. To put this in perspective, US AID assisted in Red Cross deployment of water purification equipment capable of producing 25,000 gallons per day.
Unless this gap of over 500,000 gallons is somehow met within the next few days, many thousands of Haitians, particularly the sick, elderly and children, will die of thirst. Reports have it that a main water line in the capital is broken and it is believed that no domestic water purification capacity is still up.
At 8 lbs per gallon, 250 gallons of water weighs one ton. A C-17 heavy lift aircraft (largest that can operate in the area) can carry 70 tons. That's a mere 17,500 gallons per flight. Eight flights a day carrying nothing but water would be 140,000 or just under a third of the projected shortfall.
Tanker trucks can carry 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of water each. Smaller tankers (which were in use for water delivery before) carry 500 gallons. All of these use vital fuel, which is now very scarce on the ground in Haiti.
There are precisely two major seaports, one at Cap Haitian (containerized cargo only, unconfirmed reports of one private shore crane, vessels need to be self-geared) and one at Port-au-Prince (destroyed, including the only container crane and several hundred yards of dock). A smaller private port at Terminal Varreux is damaged but believed partially serviceable despite 30 dockworker fatalities as reported by the port manager. Surveys conducted by US Coast Guard and World Food Programme.
Port-au-Prince airport (MTTP) is the only jet-capable airport in the country. It is presently under US military traffic control to maximize throughput but is normally capable of hosting only three to five aircraft. No refuel or services are available. Haitian officials have requested that food and water take precedence over medical supplies and equipment. Per UN and US FAA advisories, "All fixed-wing aircraft flying to MTPP are required to be on an active IFR flightplan and prior to departure obtain arrival slot times from the Haiti Flight Operations Coordination Center. PHONE NUMBER [REDACTED]."
Smaller airports such as that at Cap Haitian (MTCH) are also overwhelmed. Air cargo above the capacity of Haitian airports has been diverted to Santo Domingo MDSD in nearby Dominican Republic.
Ground convoys leaving Santo Domingo by road to Haiti must have military escort at Jimani border crossing, an additional 12 to 18 hours by road. The road net is jam packed with traffic, both ways. Cap Haitien to Port-au-Prince is nominally a six hour trip under pre-earthquake conditions, and now takes one full day.
The logistics push has resulted in supplies piling up at the airport and at the ports. The problem is distribution -- the stuff is there, but now must be handed out.
Complicating all of the above are security concerns. People do not sit down patiently to die of thirst or starvation, especially when able-bodied males have a day or two more strength than the elderly, the sick and injured, and children.
Links:
http://wfplogistics.org/haiti-earthquake-2010
http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a/Logistics%20Cluster_Haiti%20Update_100117.pdf
NYT "Before and After" Haiti satellite photo slider, with photos
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/14/world/20100114-haiti-imagery.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Prince
realtime incident management tool: http://haiti.ushahidi.com/main
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/maps/maptemplate_ha.html
CIA factbook and haiti raw reference map
UN prepared port information guide (current 2004)
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:y03QULc5IosJ:www.unjlc.org/23003/19272/19695/19697/+terminal+varreux&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=18.5654748&lon=-72.3322302&z=14&l=0&m=s&v=9
open source place information page
translation tool online: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
port listing: http://www.haitibio.com/index.php/2735
Crisis: Over 2,000,000 persons are homeless and without access to potable water. Food, fuel (price $10 USD if at all) and medical supplies are in very short supply, in effect none. An estimated 250,000 persons are believed to be injured and death tolls, while preliminary, are believed to exceed 100,000.
Response: With only one large working airport and a limited seaport one day away, with modern facilities two to three days away in neighboring Santo Domingo, there is virtually no chance of pushing through adequate supplies and personnel to treat the injured, or for that matter backhauling the injured.
The demand for water is such that there is a serious potential that many thousands of uninjured may actually die of thirst.
Neglecting injured and dead, the logistics haul to provide water to the residents of Port-au-Prince and environs is approximately 1,000,000 gallons per day (at survival minimum of 1/2 gallon per person per day). US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is now offshore with 400,000 gallons per day of potable water production ability and both heavy lift helicopters and water bladders to ease transport ashore. To put this in perspective, US AID assisted in Red Cross deployment of water purification equipment capable of producing 25,000 gallons per day.
Unless this gap of over 500,000 gallons is somehow met within the next few days, many thousands of Haitians, particularly the sick, elderly and children, will die of thirst. Reports have it that a main water line in the capital is broken and it is believed that no domestic water purification capacity is still up.
At 8 lbs per gallon, 250 gallons of water weighs one ton. A C-17 heavy lift aircraft (largest that can operate in the area) can carry 70 tons. That's a mere 17,500 gallons per flight. Eight flights a day carrying nothing but water would be 140,000 or just under a third of the projected shortfall.
Tanker trucks can carry 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of water each. Smaller tankers (which were in use for water delivery before) carry 500 gallons. All of these use vital fuel, which is now very scarce on the ground in Haiti.
There are precisely two major seaports, one at Cap Haitian (containerized cargo only, unconfirmed reports of one private shore crane, vessels need to be self-geared) and one at Port-au-Prince (destroyed, including the only container crane and several hundred yards of dock). A smaller private port at Terminal Varreux is damaged but believed partially serviceable despite 30 dockworker fatalities as reported by the port manager. Surveys conducted by US Coast Guard and World Food Programme.
Port-au-Prince airport (MTTP) is the only jet-capable airport in the country. It is presently under US military traffic control to maximize throughput but is normally capable of hosting only three to five aircraft. No refuel or services are available. Haitian officials have requested that food and water take precedence over medical supplies and equipment. Per UN and US FAA advisories, "All fixed-wing aircraft flying to MTPP are required to be on an active IFR flightplan and prior to departure obtain arrival slot times from the Haiti Flight Operations Coordination Center. PHONE NUMBER [REDACTED]."
Smaller airports such as that at Cap Haitian (MTCH) are also overwhelmed. Air cargo above the capacity of Haitian airports has been diverted to Santo Domingo MDSD in nearby Dominican Republic.
Ground convoys leaving Santo Domingo by road to Haiti must have military escort at Jimani border crossing, an additional 12 to 18 hours by road. The road net is jam packed with traffic, both ways. Cap Haitien to Port-au-Prince is nominally a six hour trip under pre-earthquake conditions, and now takes one full day.
The logistics push has resulted in supplies piling up at the airport and at the ports. The problem is distribution -- the stuff is there, but now must be handed out.
Complicating all of the above are security concerns. People do not sit down patiently to die of thirst or starvation, especially when able-bodied males have a day or two more strength than the elderly, the sick and injured, and children.
Links:
http://wfplogistics.org/haiti-earthquake-2010
http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a/Logistics%20Cluster_Haiti%20Update_100117.pdf
NYT "Before and After" Haiti satellite photo slider, with photos
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/14/world/20100114-haiti-imagery.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Prince
realtime incident management tool: http://haiti.ushahidi.com/main
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/maps/maptemplate_ha.html
CIA factbook and haiti raw reference map
UN prepared port information guide (current 2004)
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:y03QULc5IosJ:www.unjlc.org/23003/19272/19695/19697/+terminal+varreux&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=18.5654748&lon=-72.3322302&z=14&l=0&m=s&v=9
open source place information page
translation tool online: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
port listing: http://www.haitibio.com/index.php/2735
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 02:54 am (UTC)Or, talk to your friends about Haiti. Read up a little on the history. Don't forget about the place when the headlines fade.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 03:12 am (UTC)what a nightmare.
talk about the ultimate worst case scenario. the government of haiti is completely and totally corrupt even in the best of times. now everything has litterally fallen apart.
where do you even begin.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 10:21 am (UTC)-- three months without companions
-- three weeks without food
-- three days without water
-- three hours without shelter (in wet, very cold or very hot conditions)
-- three minutes without air
... but you can't durvive three seconds without hope!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 09:17 pm (UTC)Draft local labor? Wouldn't that be like slavery?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 09:22 pm (UTC)Building proper docks takes months. The only fast way to build a dock is to fill a ship with rock and sink it in a convenient spot -- as was done at D-Day. Otherwise you're up against concrete curing times which are measured in weeks.
>> Wouldn't that be like slavery?
Like the Haitians don't have a button to push on that subject? What you do is tell able-bodied men that if they work twelve hours, you will give them three meals, one for themselves and two to give to loved ones. If they come back the next day with their blood relatives, you will put the relatives in a safe area nearby. If they keep working, you will pay them in more food (which then gets distributed by them to their loved ones, excess sold to the hungry). Capitalism at street level, gotta love it.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 09:28 pm (UTC)Certainly that would be the best thing to do - but I don't see it getting done. We don't have the will to do so, nor the chutzpah to stand up to the International Community once people start blathering on about "Colonialism".
From the few photos on-line and Sunday's 60 Minutes piece, it seems as if nothing there was built quake-safe and that minimal rebar was used in the concrete structures. Lots of pancaking there.