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Remarks by President Obama on Recovery Efforts in Haiti
The White House releases remarks by President Obama on the recovery efforts in Haiti.
14 January 2010
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Officials Provide Update on U.S. Efforts in Haiti
State Department Counselor Cheryl Mills and USAID Administrator Raj Shah talk to reporters on the situation in Haiti.
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Interview With Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy of FOX and Friends
Interview With Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy of FOX and Friends Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State Washington, DC January 14, 2010QUESTION: Well, the nation of Haiti lies in ruins this morning after a catastrophic earthquake devastated the region. Buildings and homes have collapsed, and some estimates say the death toll could reach up to half a million people. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been closely involved with long-term development efforts in the region, and she joins us now with the very latest. Good morning to you, Secretary.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, everyone.QUESTION: I know that you were overseas on a trip in Hawaii, going on to New Zealand and Australia. And obviously, this devastation brought you back home. The main thing that so many people are wondering today is what about the security and safety of this nation right now in Haiti.SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Gretchen, Haiti has been devastated by this earthquake. Of course, Haiti’s got a tremendous set of problems under any circumstances, but there was a lot of hope that they were beginning to pull out of that. Businesses were going back into Haiti. There was a recovery from the four hurricanes that they had the year before. And then along comes this calamity.But I’m very encouraged by the positive response. President Obama ordered a coordinated, aggressive response by our government. Obviously, other countries are trying to help as well. The United States is on the ground. We’ve got the airport reopened. The Coast Guard has been magnificent in helping to evacuate people. We’ve got the 82nd Airborne on the way. We’ve got about 2,000 Marines there. We’ve got our crack search-and-rescue teams that are beginning the very laborious process of looking for any survivors in all of this debris.So there’s a lot that we’re doing to try to help, but I don’t want to in any way mislead people about the extent of this disaster. It is beyond our comprehension as yet, but we’re working hard to get a handle on what exactly happened, what the fatalities are, and what more we can do to help.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, we just ran a picture of their “White House,” and apparently the top two floors collapsed and the president was inside and he got out alive with his wife, their first lady. But over in the parliament building, which also collapsed, their senate leader, their senate president, apparently is trapped alive inside, as are a number of lawmakers. And it makes you wonder, well, who exactly is running the government, as it is.SECRETARY CLINTON: Right. Well, that’s a fair question because the government’s been destroyed. They have no communications system. The president did get out alive, but most of his government is unaccounted for. That’s why the United States is in close communication with him. Our ambassador has been working with him. We’re bringing down not only communications systems so that they can begin to try to piece together governmental authority, but we’re also coordinating with the United Nations. You probably know that there was a very large mission in the – from the United Nations, about 7,000 peacekeeping troops. Their commander was out of Haiti; the United States got him back. So he’s now back in charge. They’re providing law and order. They’re beginning to clear roads. The United Nations is sending more of their expert personnel.So the United States is providing a lot of the glue that is keeping people communicating and working together as we try to assert authority, reinstate the government, and begin to do what governments have to do to rebuild and reconstruct this damaged country.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, I guess the numbers are – we’ve given as a country without a crisis $9 billion to Haiti over the last three years. Now again, we’re leading the charge, sending in Marines. And that’s what the U.S. does. Knowing your career, it doesn’t surprise me that you’re leading this effort. But where’s Russia? Where’s China? Where’s the EU? Where’s India? Where are these emerging nations that are in so much competition with us economically, but we’re the only ones who seem to write the big checks when it comes to aid?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, this one’s in our neighborhood, so of course, you would expect us to be very focused on it. But, for example, a Chinese plane landed today with a lot of material. They had their own devastating earthquakes about a year and a half ago. So they’re sending assistance. We have people on the ground from the United Kingdom, from France, from Brazil, from elsewhere. I’ve been making a round of calls to my counterparts. Canada is extremely involved and supportive.We have a lot of the international community coming in with either direct assistance or making pledges of money. And that’s another thing that we’re going to be coordinating. It’s one of the tasks that I have ahead of me, to try to make sure that the good intentions and the generosity of the American people, first and foremost, but then of the international community, is put to good use.QUESTION: Right.SECRETARY CLINTON: And I think it’s wonderful that we have such a generous nation, even though I know that people in our own country are in many ways suffering because of our economic recession. Once again, we set up a text messaging account to assist the Red Cross right after the earthquake, about 38 hours ago, and we’ve already raised $3 million.QUESTION: Wow.SECRETARY CLINTON: And if your viewers want to help, they can text Haiti, H-a-i-t-i, to 90999. This is going to be a partnership, as it always is in our country, between our government and our people. And we’re worried about the Haitian people. We’re worried about our American citizens. But we’re going to be on the ground in force, and we’re going to do everything we can to try to help alleviate this.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, speaking of all of these pledges and money, because, as Brian mentioned, $9 billion has gone to this country over the last couple of years, how can Americans be reassured that this money, the money that they may give, is going to get into the right hands and not just to the rich rulers, potentially, of Haiti, but to actually the poor people who need it?SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s a great question. And that money that you’ve referenced is over a number of years. It goes back quite a few years. But it still is a fair question. And what is especially disheartening about what we see now is that we were on the track to what I thought of as probably the most accountable, effective, effort that we have seen.It’s somewhat ironic that my husband happens to be the UN envoy for the secretary general, and between the United Nations, the United States, and the Haitian Government and people, we had a really good system going. We had businesses investing in Haiti again. We were on the upswing. And unfortunately, this terrible disaster has occurred.QUESTION: Sure.SECRETARY CLINTON: But we have systems in place now to be able to track the money, to hold it accountable, to look for results. We’re doing that across the board. I’m revamping our aid system so that I can look you in the eye and the American taxpayer in the eye and say look, I’m not going to spend a penny unless I have some confidence that it’s going to go to the right place. In a disaster like this, you have to put in a lot of resources.QUESTION: Sure.SECRETARY CLINTON: But once we get through the immediate crisis and we begin the rebuilding/reconstruction period, we’re going to be doing this in a way that accounts for the money that the United States Government spends.QUESTION: All right. Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, thank you very much for joining us this morning. We know you are going to be really busy leading up efforts in Haiti. Thank you for joining us today.SECRETARY CLINTON: Nice to talk to you.QUESTION: You bet.SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.# # # PRN: 2010/048 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
14 January 2010
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USAID to Provide Emergency Food Aid for Haiti Earthquake Victim: In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, USAI... http://bit.ly/54eDCw
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Interview With John Roberts of CNN’s American Morning
Interview With John Roberts of CNN's American Morning Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State Washington, DC January 14, 2010QUESTION: Welcome back to the most news in the morning and our continuing coverage of the rescue and relief mission going on right now in Haiti. As the death toll rises, the true extent of the damage is difficult, if not impossible, to assess. The next 24 hours will be critical for survivors. What is America doing to help?Joining us with an update on the U.S. relief efforts is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she’s live at the State Department this morning. Madame Secretary, thanks for being with us. I know that you’re very familiar with Haiti. You were there last April. Your husband is the UN envoy to Haiti.We’re seeing, obviously, a lot of pictures on the ground, talking to some people. But in the overall – the big picture, what’s the situation down there and how capable is the Haitian Government of responding to this?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, John, it’s a devastating situation, there’s no doubt, as you look at the pictures that are coming back that give you a snapshot, and you multiply that over an area that affects about 3 million people and the collapse of tens of thousands of buildings. But we’ve got a very coordinated, aggressive response going on. We have sent some of our crack search-and-rescue teams into Port-au-Prince. They’re beginning their work. We’re coordinating with the Haitian president, President Preval.Unfortunately, as you know, the government buildings were terribly damaged by the earthquake, a lot of government members unaccounted for, no communications system. We’re supplying a communications system so they can begin to get up and running. We’re working with the United Nations, which was equally devastated by the collapse of their headquarters.So the authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function. We’re going to try to support them as they reestablish authority. The peacekeepers, the UN peacekeepers, about 7,000 of them commanded by a Brazilian general, are beginning to clear the roads. Our Coast Guard has been unbelievable. They got there first, as you might guess, being in the area. We’ve got the 82nd Airborne and other military assets coming in. We had a military team reopen the airport so we can start to handle the big heavy planes.There’s an enormous amount of work going on. I’m very proud of our response. We’re grateful for the international response. But I think we have a long way ahead of us. The next 24 hours is critical to save those lives that can be saved. We know that from other earthquakes and other disasters. But then, we have a long way back to try to deal with the devastation of the loss of life and infrastructure.QUESTION: Oh, yeah, sure. And I can imagine that that’s a process that’s going to take years if not decades to fully recover when you look at the extent of the devastation and Haiti’s ability to recover from it.You know, you talk about search-and-rescue, clearing roads, that sort of thing. There’s also an enormous medical need there. What hospitals that remain standing are jammed with people. Doctors Without Borders has got a field hospital set up. But what is the United States doing in terms of bringing down medical teams to help care for the many, many people that we see that are so desperately in need? And our Ivan Watson yesterday had a story of a woman whose foot had been amputated in a collapse and she’d been sitting outside the hospital with a tourniquet around her leg for more than 24 hours.SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, you’re right. The hospitals in Port-au-Prince have collapsed. There’s a few facilities still opening, but not really capable of handling the surge of need. The other groups are there. The United States is bringing down medical personnel. We have some on the ground right now. I know that there are trauma teams that have been dispatched. We have the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier on the way, which will be able to provide some medical assistance. We’ve got the USS Comfort getting ready to leave to get down there.But the immediate trauma crisis, we’re trying to meet with volunteer doctors, with medical – with military doctors and others. Because the – and you’re right, I mean, this is a large area involving many, many, many millions of people who have been cut off from access. Just getting to people to provide the medical assistance they need is proving to be very difficult.QUESTION: And what about the security situation there, Madame Secretary? People have been pretty orderly up until this point, but we’re starting to get now into the end of day two, beginning of day three; people will begin to get desperate as they realize that they don’t have the food, medical, water supplies that they need. It’s a place where security has been shaky anyways. What can the U.S. do to help provide security? Is that why the 82nd Airborne is going down?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we also have a contingent of about 2,000 Marines going down. We’re going to work with the international peacekeepers under the UN to supplement them in providing security. You’re right that they’ve been basically the police force. Haiti doesn’t have an army. They didn’t have much of a police force. It’s being rebuilt by the United Nations with our assistance.This is a country that has suffered so many blows. Last year it was four hurricanes. This year, it’s an earthquake. It is hard almost to imagine. But the people of Haiti are resilient. They are a hopeful people. We are going to do everything we can to maintain order. As you say, so far it has been orderly. But in the wake of disasters like this, people do get desperate.QUESTION: Yeah.SECRETARY CLINTON: If you have a starving baby in your arms, you are going to try to find food wherever you can. So we’re moving as quickly as possible. Once we can get communications up so we can tell people where to go, what kind of help they can expect, we’ll be able to better manage the crisis.QUESTION: There’s also that issue of the prison that partially collapsed and a lot of criminals roaming free now.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, thanks so much for spending the time this morning. We’ll keep a close eye on what the U.S. is doing in relief efforts.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good. John, one quick thing. For people who are worried about missing friends, family, loved ones, please call 1-888-407-4747. And if you wish to donate, you can text the word Haiti, H-a-i-t-i, to 90999. We’ve raised $3 million. It goes to the Red Cross, which is in desperate need of resources to buy the supplies that the people of Haiti require.QUESTION: Okay, and we’ll keep reminding people of that all morning.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, great to spend some time with you. Thanks so much.SECRETARY CLINTON: Thanks, John.# # # PRN: 2010/047 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Interview With George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s Good Morning America
Interview With George Stephanopoulos of ABC's Good Morning America Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State Washington, DC January 14, 2010InterviewSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton January 14, 2010Washington, D.C.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, thanks very much for joining us this morning.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, George.QUESTION: I spoke with the Haitian Ambassador to the United States this morning. He thinks that there are about 100,000 casualties, other estimates as high as 500,000. What’s your best estimate right now?SECRETARY CLINTON: George, I don’t want to hazard a guess. We know from the analysis we’re doing with the teams that are on the ground there that it’s devastated. There are about 3 million people affected. Thousands and thousands – I don’t want to put a number, but tens of thousands we fear are dead, many thousands more are injured. When you look at the television pictures that you and others are broadcasting, you see all of this. But when you’re on the ground and you see the roads that are totally impassable, an airport that was knocked out of commission, no air traffic control, trying to piece together the step-by-step, patient work that is necessary to minimize the loss of both life and to try to get people back into some semblance of normalcy, it’s just very hard. QUESTION: This is a country that’s just going to have to be rebuilt from the ground up, isn’t it?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thankfully, the people of Haiti are a resilient people. I’ve been going down there – I hate to say it – for 35 years. The first time I went was 1975, been back there since. As you know, my husband is the Secretary General of the UN’s Special Envoy to Haiti. And we had a full government effort under the Obama Administration to really help the people of Haiti. We were making a lot of progress. Businesses were returning to Haiti, we had a great plan from the Haitian Government, who is our partner.And this is devastating on every level, but we’re going to work with President Preval and the Government of Haiti, we’re going to work with the United Nations which has suffered a terrible loss with the collapse of its headquarters, a loss of its leadership, and as we get through this crisis, we’re going to do everything we can to help Haiti rebuild. QUESTION: You know, you hit on one of the reasons this is just so heartbreaking. You know, Haiti seems to be such a star-crossed country, and every time they seem to be getting back on their feet, most recently after these hurricanes from last year, it seems they get knocked right down again.SECRETARY CLINTON: George, that is unfortunately a fair observation. We have seen the cycle of hope and despair so many times, but what I have been encouraged by was that under President Preval and their government, they had a plan, it was their own plan, they came to the United States, we reached out to the international community, we had a really coordinated effort with the United Nations. But that’s not going to disappear. We just have to regroup and see what we’re going to do now.QUESTION: The scale of this effort is going to be massive, isn’t it? You know, we pledged, the United States, about $350 million in aid after the tsunami. Is this going to surpass that? SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we don’t know yet. We know it’s going to be very large because of the need, but I think the combination of international donations, the American Government, which is committed, as President Obama has said, and the generosity of the American people – there are about 45,000 American citizens in Haiti. Many of them, of course, are Haitian Americans, but many of them are Americans who are down in Haiti working with church groups, working with nongovernmental organizations on behalf of children or the environment or many of the other needs that Haiti faces. And I’m very proud of our government response and I’m very proud of the outpouring of generosity and concern. QUESTION: One final question: Of those 45,000 Americans, only several hundred have been in contact with U.S. officials. What more can you tell us about the safety and security of Americans now in Haiti?SECRETARY CLINTON: I know that there are many worried families, loved ones out there. I have a number we want you to call for information. It’s 1-888-407-4747. Please call that number. Let us know about your loved ones. We will try to get information.QUESTION: Okay, Madame Secretary. We’ll put that number up on our website as well. Thanks very much for your time this morning. SECRETARY CLINTON: Thanks, George. PRN: 2010/044 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Interview With Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez of CBS’ Early Show
Interview With Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez of CBS' Early Show Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State Washington, DC January 14, 2010QUESTION: Right now, we want to switch gears and speak with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is coordinating the relief efforts in Haiti. Good morning, Madame Secretary.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, Maggie.QUESTION: We have heard all morning long from people in Haiti who just want help, and they’re frustrated that it has been slow in arriving. We’ve also heard about the many U.S. resources that have been deployed to Haiti. Can you tell the people there and their relatives watching here in this country when you expect these resources will start to make a difference there?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, they already are. The President ordered a swift, coordinated, aggressive response, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. But let me just give you a sense of what we’re up against. The airport lost its air traffic control system, and of course it was damaged. In order to get the airport up and going so we can land the kind of heavy planes with the massive amounts of aid that is needed, we had to send in a military team to get the airport running. That has been accomplished. You heard about how the port has been damaged. That is a big problem because that prevents us from getting our ships in. We have a team working on that. We also have our crack search-and-rescue teams from FEMA and USAID, from Fairfax County, from Miami-Dade, from L.A. They’re already there on the ground. The Fairfax County team has been working. We’ve got the 82nd Airborne coming in. The Coast Guard has been magnificent. The depth of it and the extent of it is just unimaginable, as Katie and others are telling you. And depending upon where you are, you may or may not see the results of this coordinated effort. But we’re working closely with the Haitian Government. The president was safe, but many parts of his government are unaccounted for. They have no communications system. We’re bringing the communications system so they can start to talk to one another. We’re working with the United Nations, which was responsible for coordinating aid, which as you know has been devastated with an enormous loss of life. So I think the American people can be assured that we’re doing everything we can to help the people of Haiti. And it’s not just for the days ahead with the terrible crisis of search and rescue. It’ll be for months and years ahead as we help them rebuild.QUESTION: I know you’ve also been successful in getting some Coast Guard choppers in there and airlifting some injured Americans. With 45,000 Americans living in Haiti, do you have any idea how many Americans were lost or injured in this earthquake?SECRETARY CLINTON: No. I mean, the hopeful news is that we don’t have many reports yet. We’ve had a good outreach. It’s called the Warden System, run by the State Department. Our Ambassador and his team is on the ground, trying to track down every American who we have any kind of contact information for. As you know, the cell phones were down, all kinds of difficulties with impassable roads. But we are locating Americans. We are evacuating those Americans who wish to leave. We’ve evacuated some of the injured Americans. And I want to give you a number, Maggie –QUESTION: Okay.SECRETARY CLINTON: – so that if people are worried about Americans in Haiti, it’s 1-888-407-4747. Please call that number –QUESTION: The number the President --SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes.QUESTION: -- gave us yesterday, and then we’ve put it up on the screen right now.SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s right. Good, good. QUESTION: I just have one more quick question: Has there been any discussion about giving Haitian nationals temporary protective status, allowing them temporarily to have asylum in Florida or elsewhere in this country?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have, as you know, many Haitian Americans. Most are here legally. Some are not documented. And the Obama Administration is taking steps to make sure that people are given some temporary status so that we don’t compound the problem that we face in Haiti.QUESTION: Secretary Clinton –SECRETARY CLINTON: But I have to add, Maggie, that we need the help and the generosity of the American people. We have a text messaging system that the State Department set up. It’s Haiti, H-a-i-t-i, to 90999. We’ve raised about $3 million for the Red Cross. That’s what’s needed right now. Please, if you can, contribute. Ten dollars will be billed to your cell phone, and it’s helping us get the food, the water, the medical supplies that we need.QUESTION: Thank you so much for your time, Secretary Clinton.SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.QUESTION: You’re welcome. PRN: 2010/043 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Interview With Meredith Vieira of NBC's Today Show
Interview With Meredith Vieira of NBC's Today Show Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State Washington, DC January 14, 2010QUESTION: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cut short a planned overseas trip to deal with the crisis. Madame Secretary, good morning to you.SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, Meredith.QUESTION: You called the devastation in Haiti biblical, and certainly the pictures that we’re seeing from there bear that out. This morning, what reports, if any, are you getting about the loss of life there and the extent of the damage?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, this calamity has affected 3 million people. It has caused the collapse of tens of thousands of buildings. We know that there will be tens of thousands of casualties. We don’t have any exact numbers now. I’m very proud of the U.S. Government response. The President ordered a swift, coordinated, aggressive effort. We’ve got the airport open, thanks to the U.S. military. We’ve got our civilian search-and-rescue teams on the ground, thanks to USAID and FEMA. We are doing all we can to figure out how best to attack the devastation all around. And this is going to be a long-term effort. We have the immediate crisis of trying to save those lives that can be saved, to deal with the injured and the dead, to try to provide food, water, medical supplies, some semblance of shelter, and then to work with our Haitian partners, the Government of Haiti, NGOs, others to begin the rebuilding process.QUESTION: You mentioned the Government of Haiti. Right now, we know that many government buildings were badly damaged or destroyed, including the presidential palace and parliament. The president is safe, but there are legislators and ministers who are still among the missing. Is the government effectively up and running at this point? Is there someone in charge? And are you concerned about that?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, the president, thankfully, is safe. He has nowhere to live. His home was in the palace. He is working closely with those members of his government that can be located and communicated with. We have brought in communications systems to try to create some means for the government to function. We’re going to be working closely with the government as well as with the United Nations, which has equally been terribly affected by the loss of life and damage of their facilities, so that we can have authority, we can have government to coordinate the response. QUESTION: But we are hearing now, Madame Secretary, reports of looting and potential violence. What is the American Government prepared to do to shore up security in Haiti?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thankfully, there already was on the ground about a 7,000-person peacekeeping mission from the United Nations under a Brazilian general’s command. The general was not in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. The United States facilitated his return. He is now back in charge. The peacekeeping force known as MINUSTAH is out on the streets. They’re clearing streets. They’re bringing law and order. In a situation like this where people are injured, where people are hungry, where people are disoriented, there is often the aftermath of looting and other violence. There hasn’t been a lot of it until perhaps recently, but we’re going to do everything we can with our resources. The 82nd Airborne is getting to Haiti today. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson will be on the horizon soon. The Coast Guard has performed magnificently in helping to evacuate the injured, particularly American citizens. So we have a full-court press going on here at the President’s direction. But this is – I don’t want to mislead anybody. This is a devastating catastrophe, and just to figure out what steps to take so we don’t make the situation worse – I mean, it’s like – looking at these collapsed buildings, Meredith, you pull out one piece of wood, you may cause more damage than if you just let it stay there and went in a different way. This is incredibly complex work. We have some of the best people in the world from the United States down there. And we’re just going to do everything we can to be helpful.QUESTION: All right. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we thank you so much.SECRETARY CLINTON: Before you go, could I just say one last word?QUESTION: Sure, certainly.SECRETARY CLINTON: I know there are many people watching who are worried about loved ones or family members. For information, please call 1-888-407-4747. And if you wish to help, you can text Haiti, H-a-i-t-i, to 90999. We’ve collected about $3 million for the Red Cross and I thank the generosity of the people of our country.QUESTION: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, thank you so much for your time. And we’ll put those numbers on our website as well.SECRETARY CLINTON: Great. Thanks a lot, Meredith.QUESTION: Thank you. PRN: 2010/045 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
14 January 2010
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Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Press Availability on the Situation in Haiti
Press Availability on the Situation in Haiti Hillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of State PACOM Headquarters Honolulu, Hawaii January 13, 2010SECRETARY CLINTON: Let me start by just thanking General Darnell and the whole team here at PACOM for taking us in and allowing us to have the opportunity to communicate as broadly as we needed to. As I said earlier this morning, I’ve been staying in close touch with our team back in Washington to monitor developments in the wake of this catastrophic earthquake. And we’ve received a lot of additional information. I’ve spoken with the President, with the National Security Council, with Secretary Gates, Administrator Shah, as well as numerous other State Department officials, to talk through exactly what is happening on the ground. I delayed my departure this morning in order to make additional calls, to gather more information, and to get thoroughly briefed by the military as well as our civilian teams about how quickly assistance was flowing, what kind of assistance was needed. In addition, I’ve spoken with a number of international leaders – the president of the Dominican Republic, which has been very helpful in providing direct assistance. As you know, they share a border with Haiti. They suffered some minor damage, but they have been sending assistance over their border to try to help, including food and medical personnel. Their military airport is also serving as a staging ground for others who are trying to get into Haiti. I spoke with the Canadian foreign minister. Canada has a longtime commitment to Haiti, which they are very focused on doing all they can now to continue, as well as to add additional resources. I spoke with the French foreign minister, who informed me that there were planes coming from France and from some French nearby islands in the Caribbean. The Brazilian foreign minister and I discussed the loss of life in the UN mission. The Brazilians, as you know, play a major role in Haiti and have been extremely supportive of the Haitian people over the last number of years. President Lula spoke with President Obama. We will be closely coordinating as we go forward. I’ve spoken to a number of others, but I think that the general impression is that we are facing a disaster of as yet unknown magnitude. And the problems that we’re going to confront over the next days in particular as we try to launch successful search-and-rescue missions, followed up by the immediate pressing need for food and water in particular, are just of unimaginable extent. Therefore, I’ve decided to cancel the remainder of my trip and return to Washington this afternoon. The President has ordered an aggressive and coordinated strategy to address the difficult conditions we face in providing assistance to the Haitian people and then following through in the weeks and months ahead to help with their reconstruction. The President has named our new USAID Administrator Raj Shah to coordinate that effort. I have every confidence that Raj will continue in that role with the same caring and competence that he has always shown. We are obviously bringing in additional resources to support him. He just took the job, was sworn into the job a couple of days ago and had not had a chance to really staff up USAID, which many of you know has been depleted over the last years. So we are working to augment what Raj has on hand. I want to take a moment to thank the tens of thousands of people who have already donated to relief efforts. As a reminder, you can donate by texting Haiti, H-a-i-t-i, to 90999 and $10 will automatically be billed to your cell phone. We’ve already raised nearly a million dollars through this State Department text messaging initiative. There continue to be a great deal of inquiries about friends and family in Haiti. There are up to 45,000 American citizens in Haiti. And the public number to call for questions or information is in the State Department and that number is 1-888-407-4747.Now, most urgently, our priority is search-and-rescue. We want to do everything we can to try to get as many people as possible as close to these collapsed buildings as is able now to see if we can save any of the lives of the tens of thousands of people who are trapped in the collapsed buildings. But in the coming days, we will have to also work closely with the international community, with the United Nations, as well as with the Haitian Government and people to deal with the immediate and long-term consequences of this catastrophe. I have long been concerned about and interested in Haiti, having made my first visit in 1975. As many of you know, my husband is the UN secretary general’s special envoy to Haiti. We had in the Obama Administration set up a high-level team to coordinate across the government to work with the Haitian Government to try to help them recover from the four hurricanes they were hit with last year and to attain a more stable economic situation. And we were making lots of progress. We had a lot of businesses opening up and interested in moving to Haiti. We had a good plan that the Haitian Government developed that we were working with them to implement. And there was a lot of hope about what the future might hold for Haiti. This is not only a physical catastrophe, but it’s just a devastating blow to the people of Haiti. But I have seen their resilience. I have seen their joy and their hopefulness in the face of very difficult circumstances over many years now. So I am confident that once we get through this period of great tragedy, we will have the opportunity along with our colleagues around the world to once again help the Haitian people toward that better future. MODERATOR: We’ll take a few questions. Andy Quinn of Reuters.QUESTION: Madame Secretary, thank you. Firstly, I’m just wondering, is it your assessment that Haiti today has in any way a functioning government? And secondly, what – we know in the past that Haiti has been the source of refugees to other places in the region. How much of a concern is it that this disaster could send new waves of refugees out to Florida and elsewhere, and what sorts of contingency plans is the U.S. putting in place about that?SECRETARY CLINTON: Andy, as you may know, the government buildings in Haiti were severely damaged. The President is alive but has nowhere to live. There is no communications system. We are attempting to help set up a communications capability for the government. The United Nations, which, as you know, provided a lot of the authoritative assistance for the Haitian Government, not only through MINUSTAH, the peacekeeping operation, but a very large UN mission that was focused on helping us to implement this broad plan for development and economic growth, has been devastated. So both the Haitian Government and the United Nations were particularly hard hit.I just have to say a word. The United Nations has suffered grievous losses. Some of us remember the devastating bombing in Baghdad and the bombing in Afghanistan. This earthquake and the damage that it has imposed on the UN mission is even more horrible in terms of loss of life. So we have a lot of work to do. Part of what we’re doing with our coordinated civilian-military strategy is to try to set up the rudiments for communication and assertion of authority. The peacekeepers are getting back out into the streets, which will be important. But we still don’t have a full assessment of everything that has been affected.What was your second question? I’m sorry.QUESTION: The possibility of refugees.SECRETARY CLINTON: Yeah. That is something that we obviously are concerned about, but right now the island is so devastated it will be very difficult to focus on that as our primary mission. We will have our Coast Guard out, as they always are. We have a lot of Haitians living in the United States, as you know. Many, many are there as legal citizens and residents. Others are not. It will be important that they continue to be able to send back remittances and support their family members. So we’re looking at this broadly and we’ll have more to say about it probably in the next couple of days.Lachlan.MODERATOR: Lachlan Carmichael.QUESTION: Hi. Obviously, you’re going back to Washington and you will discuss – try to coordinate international relief. Can you give us an idea of the scale of relief you expect and also what countries could play a big role? You mentioned Brazil, but I don’t think you mentioned it in the context of relief. SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, yes, they are already prepared to make a generous contribution to a relief effort. I discussed with the foreign minister the need to coordinate our donors and make sure that we know how we’re going to best spend that money. I think you’ll see an outpouring of support. There are longtime donors like the Canadians and the French who are very committed. When I called my counterparts in Australia and New Zealand to tell them that I very regretfully could not be coming on this trip, they said, look, we have special rescue teams, we have some potential financial help. I mean, this is going to be global because I think as people watch this unfold on their televisions, the extent of it is just beyond the imagination. I think it’s the most severe earthquake to hit Haiti, and maybe in the Caribbean, for 250 years.QUESTION: To rally support, do you think you’ll need to call an international donors conference?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Lachlan, we’re not sure. That probably is something down the road. But we have so much immediate work to get through first. But one of the reasons I’m going back is to begin that process, working closely with the United Nations, which is kind of easy for me since my husband is the special envoy. So we’ve talked several times as well today. He’s been at the UN all day. The UN is trying to regroup from this terrible loss and figure out who is going to be sent down there.So there will definitely be a lot of international consultation and efforts undertaken, but I can’t give you the details about that now. QUESTION: Just one more?SECRETARY CLINTON: Mm-hmm.QUESTION: You alluded to it earlier. You said you had felt obligated or we felt obligated – you and Secretary Gates – to attend the AUSMIN conference.SECRETARY CLINTON: Right.QUESTION: So what’s the effect of not going now?SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thankfully, these are very good friends and they know that we wouldn't be canceling were it not for something of this magnitude. When I talked to the foreign minister, he was very understanding. I told him we would try to reschedule as soon as we can find a mutually convenient time. I talk to the foreign minister all the time. I know that Secretary Gates talks to his counterpart all the time. So we have a very close consultative relationship and we will reschedule the AUSMIN as soon as we can. QUESTION: And Papua New Guinea and New Zealand?SECRETARY CLINTON: I will definitely reschedule Papua New Guinea. I talked with the prime minister. We are looking forward to going there and it will be on the same trip, I’m sure. And similarly with New Zealand, where we’ve forged close working ties with the new government over the past year and we’re going to continue to deepen those as we move forward. MODERATOR: We have time for a last question from (inaudible).SECRETARY CLINTON: Hi.QUESTION: Hi there. We’ve heard that there was also a powerful earthquake in Indonesia today. Do you have any information about that situation?SECRETARY CLINTON: I do not yet have any information about that. But obviously, if there is need, we will stand ready to help Indonesia as well.QUESTION: In terms of the Haiti situation, based on what you know so far, how do you think that ranks in terms of global catastrophes (inaudible)?SECRETARY CLINTON: This is going to be one of the highest in terms of loss of life in recent years, so far as we can tell. The estimates are very high. I don’t want to repeat them because we can’t verify them; we just know what we’re hearing anecdotally. But the Indian Ocean tsunami was such a terrible tragedy and with such high loss of life. This will be a very high loss of life as well.MODERATOR: Thank you all.SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much. PRN: 2010/T18-6 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
13 January 2010
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Article
Ambassador DiCarlo Comments on Haiti Earthquake
Ambassador Rosemary A. DiCarlo, U.S. alternate representative for special political affairs, comments on the earthquake in Haiti and discusses cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in addressing crises.
13 January 2010
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13 January 2010
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Article
Western Hemisphere and Caribbean : Briefing on the Situation in Haiti
Briefing on the Situation in Haiti Cheryl MillsCounselor USAID Administrator Raj Shah and U.S. SOUTHCOM Commander General Douglas Fraser Washington, DC January 13, 2010MR. CROWLEY: Good morning and welcome to the Department of State. As the President said earlier, we are committed to helping the people of Haiti, as well as looking after the welfare of the roughly 40,000 Americans who live and work in Haiti, including those who are part of our U.S. Embassy family in Port-au-Prince. This is a whole-of-government effort, as you’ll see by the speakers who will be at the – who will give you kind of a status report on the way forward, representatives from the Department of State, Defense, and Agency for International Development. We are obviously supported by other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, as we go forward. And as you will hear, we’re responding as rapidly and effectively as we can to the difficult situation in Haiti. We’ll begin this morning’s briefing with Cheryl Mills, Counselor to the Secretary of State and a driving force behind Haiti policy formulation here at the State Department, followed by Raj Shah, the Administrator of USAID. And we’re thrilled to have General Doug Fraser, the Commander of U.S. Southern Command, who will be coordinating the considerable military response to this disaster. But we’ll begin with Cheryl Mills. MS. MILLS: Good morning. Let me just first start out by saying, and echoing the sentiments of the President, that our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and the vast international community that is present in Haiti as we are going through what is going to undoubtedly be a very challenging and difficult time. And we are looking forward to being able to provide all the support that we can bring to bear to try and ameliorate the impact of this terrible situation. As you all know, shortly before 5 o’clock yesterday, an earthquake struck outside of Port-au-Prince and outside of the island of Haiti, and then there were multiple aftershocks that had an impact on the island as well. According to our initial overflights that have gone on this morning, it appears that most of the damage has been within Port-au-Prince, and that the outlying areas have sustained less damage or very limited damage. The situation on the ground is very fluid. We have very limited telecommunications, and certainly within the Haitian community there’s limited telecommunications. We have been fortunate our U.S. ambassador has been able to reach President Preval, who is safe and who is grateful to the outpouring of assistance that he has been receiving from the international community. And they have had a couple of occasions to have a conversation. As many of the people have already seen, there are numerous structures that have sustained substantial damage, and we also know that there have been not insignificant numbers of casualties. We do not have any estimates yet of the numbers of those, nor for the number of individuals who are – who have been injured, but the situation is very severe. In addition to the numerous facilities that have sustained damage, we also note that the UN peacekeeping force headquarters also sustained considerable damage, and so we will be lending our assistance to see how we can provide the appropriate support to be able to provide search-and-rescue support in that area. I’m going to speak a little bit about our American citizens who are there, and Raj will be speaking about disaster assistance – Administrator Shah. And we will then have General Fraser, who will also be speaking about our military response. So in that vein, there are approximately 45,000 U.S. citizens who are in Haiti. The Embassy Port-au-Prince has activated its Early Warning System to connect with those citizens and establish, one, how they are doing and, two, what support they might need. We have received a number of reports of injured U.S. citizens, so we are working through those to be able to make sure that we are getting everybody the assistance that they need. There have been a number of calls that have come into our Consular Affairs here at the Department seeking information about loved ones who are in Haiti. For those people who are seeking information, the President gave out this number. I just want to give it one more time, and that is 1-888-407-4747. And that’s a number that you can call into if you are seeking information or seeking to make a request with respect to someone who is – that you are trying to connect with that’s in Haiti. In terms of Embassy personnel on the ground there, we have about 172 personnel who are there under chief-of-mission authority. As of 8:00 a.m., we had accounted for just about all of them. There were eight personnel who were wounded, four who had been seriously wounded. We have already had U.S. Coast Guard heels on the ground to be able to medevac them to get appropriate care. And so we are beginning to see that happen as well. We have ordered the departure of approximately 80 Embassy spouses, children, and non-essential personnel. Those will begin happening later today so that we can ensure that the infrastructure and resources that are there can be properly concentrated on those who are in need. The Coast Guard will have planes actually arriving, I believe, this afternoon. And I’m sure General Fraser will be able to speak to that to help and assist in that evacuation process. The Embassy structure has remained intact and so it has become a point of support. And it has been providing medical support and other support for Haitians and Americans and others who have been able to reach the Embassy. We have reached out to the government of Haiti to be able to assess what their needs are and to be able to understand what their priorities are. We have launched a multiagency effort to provide disaster assistance, which is being led by Ambassador Shah through the Office of Disaster Assistance. And so with that as a background, I’m going to turn it over to Ambassador Shah, who can speak to those efforts. ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl. Our first comment, of course, is that our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti, who have, of course, suffered a tremendous tragedy with this earthquake that started last night just before sundown. We are working aggressively and in a highly coordinated way across the federal government to bring all of the assets and capacities we have to bear to quickly and effectively provide as much assistance as possible. The goal of the relief effort in the first 72 hours will be very focused on saving lives. That is the President’s top priority and is what the President has directed us to do. We will do that by first putting in place significant Disaster Assistance Relief Teams. We’ll have, by the end of today, 15 members of that team doing surveillance, collecting data, identifying priority sites, and guiding the efforts of the larger search-and-response units that will following their entry into the country. We have two urban search-and-rescue units on their way, both are units with 72 individuals, people who have significant training and significant equipment and technical capacity to conduct search and rescue in urban settings, to drill through and clear as much as is possible rubble in order to try and identify individuals that can be saved and continue with the mission of saving lives. We’re working aggressively across the various agencies of the federal government, including FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, to identify additional units that will be able to deploy as rapidly as possible. And we’re working hand-in-hand with the Department of Defense and General Fraser to make sure that we have the transport and logistics to get these assets into the country and efficiently operating as quickly as possible. The other comment I wanted to make is that as part of this we are also, of course, thinking about critical needs in the area of health and food, water, transportation, and infrastructure, and other advanced planning that needs to take place now so that we can, because we know that we will have quite a lot of work to do in the days and weeks ahead. We are committed to a significant effort, and we are committed to doing everything we can in all of those sectors. And so our team, which includes members from every agency in the federal government that has the capacity to help, is working to develop plans and put resources in place so that we can effectively respond to some of the requests that have come from the Haitian leadership and from our teams on the ground. Finally, I’ll point out that we do already have, of course, teams on the ground, including our Ambassador, our USAID mission and mission director, and other brave men and women who work for the U.S. Government in that capacity. And they’ve been providing guidance and support and data and information, and are very much a part of the effort despite having themselves gone through a very significant and challenging experience. So we want to thank them for that effort. So we will be pushing forward with an aggressive and coordinated effort, focused very much on saving lives through aggressive search-and-rescue in urban – in the urban environment for the next 72 hours. And that’ll be the primary focus of our engagement. I’ll hand it to General Fraser, who can talk about the logistics support that we are getting and that we need to continue to get and will continue to get from our armed forces in order to make sure that we’re using every capacity we have in the government to be effective. Thank you. GEN FRASER: Thank you, Raj. From the United States Southern Command and from the Department of Defense, our prayers and our condolences go out to the citizens of Haiti also. In coordination with USAID and with the entire U.S. Government, we have a significant effort undergoing to support this. From the time we found out about the earthquake, we started into motion. There are still concerns about the airport and the access to the airport in Port-au-Prince. The word we are getting is that the airport is functional but the tower and the capability to operate there are limited, and so we’re pushing capability there now to be able to operate and secure that airport. We’re also pushing command-and-control capability and communications. As you all know, communications has been very difficult in Haiti. And so we’re pushing that to not only support U.S. forces who are there, but because of a lot of the communications from MINUSTAH was in their headquarters, that has been lost, and so we’re looking to support the MINUSTAH effort as we go forward also. We also have various ships within the region, U.S. Coast Guard ships, as well as some Department of Defense ships that are moving in that direction. They have limited humanitarian assistance supplies on them, but they have some vertical lift capability, some helicopters with them. In addition, we’re moving the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson from Norfolk to the vicinity. It will take on a complement of helicopters as it proceeds, and we’re hoping to have that in the vicinity of Haiti tomorrow afternoon. So we continue to robustly move capability and support into the area to provide that lifesaving assistance as well as do assessments of what the follow-on needs will be. And we’re already looking beyond the immediate needs to understand, as we get those assessments in, to provide the capability as quickly as we can to Haiti. So a significant effort across the board, onboard. So thank you very much. QUESTION: Yeah. General, can I ask, all of the – MR. CROWLEY: Why don’t you identify yourself for the – QUESTION: I’m Matt Lee with the Associated Press. I’m wondering, considering the situation there right now and the fact that the UN appears to be not completely functional, the – you know, a hundred people trapped and their command – their communications out, and the fact that this humanitarian response is – can’t really function unless there is – unless there is law and order there, I’m wondering if there’s been any thought given to sending troops to complement the UN forces who may or may not be able to secure the area. GEN FRASER: We’re really looking at that capacity. And as you heard, from my standpoint, the destruction is very focused, at least it appears right now, in Port-au-Prince. MINUSTAH has forces all around the island of Haiti. So we’re working with them right now to get an assessment. As a matter of circumstance, my deputy commander happened to be in Haiti during the earthquake, so he’s working with MINUSTAH to coordinate those efforts. So that is a significant concern that we have with security, so we’re working with MINUSTAH and then doing the assessment to understand what kind of follow-on capability we’re going to need. QUESTION: So it is possible that American troops might be sent to – at least temporarily to help the UN and secure – GEN FRASER: We’re very seriously looking at that. We’re looking at the possibility of sending a large-deck amphibious ship that will have a Marine expeditionary unit embarked on that, and so that will be in support of MINUSTAH and the Embassy and USAID as we continue this effort. MS. MILLS: I would just – also just stress that the commander of MINUSTAH happened to be out of Haiti at the time, and so the Coast Guard is providing him with transportation back, so he will be able to also establish command-and-control. And so in that regard, we have a fortuity of events and – GEN FRASER: Right. He should get in early this afternoon. QUESTION: Elise Labott with CNN. Thank you for doing this. I have a couple, and maybe a few, if you can just take each one. MS. MILLS: You have a multi-part question. QUESTION: Multi-part. We’re famous for them. Cheryl, in terms of the Americans, we understand that you’ve only heard from a couple dozen out of 40- to 45,000 Americans. Is that – do you think that’s a factor of the lack of communications and the ability to get around, or are you bracing yourselves for serious American casualties? And what’s being done about that? Then on the – just if you could talk a little bit about the communications with the government to this point. It seems as if the government itself – because you have your own kind of U.S. communications that are working well – but the rest of the government doesn’t necessarily have communications. So how are you working with them not just on kind of talking, but given the state of Haiti even before the earthquake, they had a lack of capacity, a lack of infrastructure, you know, the government, while stable, certainly needed a lot of help to begin with. So, I mean, how are you dealing with this delicate balance of dealing with the Haitian Government that was – needed help to begin with and now not trying to be seen as taking over, but seriously know that you can provide a lot of capability right now? MS. MILLS: Let me try to address both of your questions. In terms of U.S. casualties, we are a – we’ve activated our warden system there, which is in communication with our folks that are on the ground there and American citizens there. We have not yet had reports of major U.S. casualties. We are obviously going to continue to monitor the situation. We do have – we have relatively good communication in terms of being able to start doing some assessments of where folks are, and so that’s what we’re going to continue to do, and we’re going to continue to be hopeful that this – it works out for everybody on the ground there, Haitian or American. With respect to government communications, Ambassador Joseph from Haiti has indicated a request for communication support, and that’s something that we are going to be providing. USAID and DOD are providing support that will actually arrive there today and be able to provide that kind of support, because I do believe that one of the challenges is being able to communicate among themselves as a government and to their people, and we’re going to do the very best that we can to provide that kind of support to them so they can do so. QUESTION: Administrator Shah, could you just pick up on the point of the kind of – even before the earthquake, the lack of development and infrastructure in the country puts Haiti – this seems to be a country that can afford it the least right now. So how do you, you know, not be seen as taking over, but know that certainly the government doesn't have the resources to provide? ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, it’s without question that Haiti has had less capacity than we have here, of course, to administer these types of efforts and to run these types of emergency operations. We’re working in close coordination with the Haitian Government. We are – the principle of our assistance, whether humanitarian or development and its orientation, is around deep partnership with those whom we work with and serve. And so we are being responsive to their stated request for health and medical services, for example, by deploying specific assets to meet the needs that they have there and exploring a range of other things we can do by standing up emergency medical services and emergency medical facilities in Port-au-Prince. We will continue to stay connected and communicate with them. That’s why we’re sending the communications package to allow the leadership there to have regular access to effective communications. And we made that a priority and put that on the first plane down. So we will continue to work with them to stand this up, but you’re right, it’s going to be a challenging operation for everyone involved. But we have the resources and the capacities to be effective, and so we’re going to work that way. QUESTION: Thank you. MR. CROWLEY: Michelle. QUESTION: Michelle Kelllerman with National Public Radio. You talk about saving lives is the priority, but I wonder if you have any sense of where these teams of – rescue teams are going to head first. I mean, do they go first to the UN Headquarters or their hospitals? Talk about – a little bit about the priorities. ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Sure, and I may ask my colleagues to help address that. That’s why we send the Disaster Assistance Response Team in to do the assessment. We’re also getting information, of course, from our partner countries around the world from the UN system, and of course, some of the challenging situations they are facing right now, and from our various partners in Haiti. But we will have a team on the ground that can actually survey firsthand. We have overflight data right now that’s getting better by the moment that’s allowing us to get a sense of where the destruction is and what the priorities ought to be. And our goals will be to save as many lives as possible in the first 72 hours, because that is the window in which that is a possible outcome. So we’ll stay very focused on that while meeting the obvious priorities of supporting our American personnel there and the personnel of our partners. MS. MILLS: Can I just – I’ll only add one thing. The UN is also sending in a disaster team that is going to help coordinate all the different efforts that are coming in from multiple countries, and so we anticipate being in close partnership with them as they go about making those assessments as well and providing whatever support that we can. MR. CROWLEY: Charles. QUESTION: Charlie Wolfson with CBS. First of all, General Fraser, can you tell us how many Marines are on that ship, the Vinson? I believe it is called the Vinson. GEN FRASER: Well, on the first ship going down there, there are no Marines down there. On the aircraft carrier that’s going in, it’s really going to be to provide the support lift. That ship just happened to be out of port. It was training and it has a limited capacity onboard, and so that’s why as it goes south we’re going to put a complement of helicopters on it. So we’re providing and provisioning the carrier as it steams south, so there is not a complement of Marines on there right now. The ship that I was talking about where there may be is a large-deck amphibious ship. That’s another day or two away, and so it will have a standard Marine expeditionary unit. Don’t tie me to the precise numbers – roughly, 2,000 Marines potentially on there. But we’re still determining that right now. MR. CROWLEY: Margaret. QUESTION: Margaret Warner, the PBS NewsHour. General Fraser, under what circumstances would you feel it is necessary to deploy the Marines there? In other words, is it a question of keeping civil order, or is it just facilitating the disbursement of supplies? And what is the situation on the ground in terms of the degree of order or disorder? GEN FRASER: From what I’ve been told by General Keen, who is my deputy commander who is on the ground, is the situation is calm right now. And so we’re anticipating going in being able to provide that humanitarian assistance, that lifesaving effort, and that’s going to be the focus primarily getting out there. So it’s going to be our assessments that are going to determine, in conjunction with MINUSTAH and the other international partners who are there, how best to deal with any security situations that come up. QUESTION: So are you saying the Marines are being sent there as – for a security situation or simply that they may be actually needed to help facilitate the delivery of aid? GEN FRASER: What I’m saying is we don’t know precisely what the situation is on the ground, so we’re leaning forward to provide as much capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there. ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Could I also address that? This is about having options. And the President has asked us to make sure we look across the entire government, all of our capabilities, and make sure we generate as many options as possible. We’re doing that on the health side, where we’re standing up two or three different types of emergency medical service provision strategies. And as we get real information on the ground about what is the best way to pursue the President’s goal of saving lives in this critical timeframe, we’ll be able to narrow those options and make strategic decisions. But we are in the process of trying to generate as many potential options and put as many assets as we have into where they could potentially be used quickly and efficiently to achieve that goal. QUESTION: Yes, for General Fraser. This is Luis Martinez with ABC News. You mentioned the Marines, but the Army also has the Global Response Force with the 82nd Airborne and the brigade out there. Have you given any consideration to them possibly assisting in this effort? GEN FRASER: We have given consideration to that, so we have put various forces around the Armed Forces on alert so that as we get the assessments in we are postured to move those forces in an expeditious manner. So we have put a brigade on alert just in the circumstance. So we’ll determine that as we get the assessments. QUESTION: In the flow of air resources flying in, do you anticipate tomorrow C-17s coming on a regular pattern or – GEN FRASER: I think it’s going to be an international effort that we go – we’re working with USAID. We’re trying to understand what the other partners are doing there. I think it’s also important to understand that there’s really one airfield, one runway, limited ramp space. The terminal is not functional right now, or we’re not certain what the status of it is, so it’s a difficult environment that we’re going into. So we’re trying to understand that. We think that we’re going to – we’re working our team in there to make sure that we can operate that airfield as efficiently as we can to keep the flights moving in and out of it. We’re also taking an assessment of the port, because in likelihood, the port of Port-au-Prince will be more important in being able to move a volume of goods through. We don’t know what the status of that is, so we’re looking at all of the options to try and make sure that we have as much flexibility as possible. QUESTION: Mike Emanuel from Fox News. I know it’s early on the disaster, but I’m wondering if there’s a relevant disaster that this seems to compare to from experience so the American public maybe can get their minds around exactly what’s going on there. ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, rather than comparing this to a previous disaster, I would just say that this does present unique challenges because so many of our partners and many of our own people are in a position where we’re still accounting for their safety and their security. And certainly, that’s the case, as was mentioned, with the UN team out there. So of course, these are people who have gone through a lot in the last day and now are also called upon to help protect and serve others. And it will be challenging, they will need all of our support, and that’s why when the President asked us to be swift and aggressive and coordinated in doing this, we’re bringing together the entire federal government to make sure we have as many options as we possibly can to provide that support as quickly as possible. QUESTION: Thank you. MR. CROWLEY: Ken. QUESTION: Ken Dulaney and USA Today. Administrator Shah, you mentioned you were looking to deploy more urban search-and-rescue teams. Does the federal government have that capability or are other countries pledging to move those in? Or where are you looking for those teams? ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, both, and in particular through our partnership with FEMA, we can expand our capacities and make sure that in addition to the teams that the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance has ready to go, we can explore using other teams and getting them ready and getting them in place quickly. So that’s what we’re doing to try to expand the search and rescue immediately. QUESTION: But – so why was it just the two initially? Is that all that were ready to deploy sort of at a moment’s notice? ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, two teams of 72 people each with significant equipment, training with all of their visas and international training and status ready to go is a significant capability. In addition to that, and really in parallel, it was not something where we waited before we deployed. We built – we have a partnership with FEMA and are trying – and are deploying a third team. And we will look to get other teams onboard as well. Part of the challenge will be getting information from the ground, which we will start to do in a matter of hours, understanding the priorities, and letting that guide the capabilities we have so that we can affect this work in a really coordinated way. QUESTION: Where’s the third team coming from? ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: The third team is currently based in Miami. MR. CROWLEY: Goyal. QUESTION: Raghubir Goyal, India Globe & Asia Today. Administrator Shah, if you go back 2001, January 26th, in your state where you come from, the state of Gujarat in India, thousands of people died and millions were homeless. And what – the people of Gujarat were not ready just like the people of Haiti this time – what can you learn from that? And what you have for the people of Haiti this time? ADMIINSTRATOR SHAH: Well, that’s a broader question. We’re going to stay very focused in the short term on the search and rescue and saving lives in the first 72 hours. The question does touch on when the rebuilding commences, and it will commence, thinking in a smart and strategic way about building the right types of structures and building the right types of institutions that can be more resilient in the future. And of course, our agencies and many of the other agencies that we are working with around the federal government have had a wealth of experience working in disaster environments, and there are ways to be prepared. But right now, our focus is entirely on the search-and-rescue effort, and the effort to save lives in the first 72 hours. QUESTION: I mean, what sort of international help you are seeking from other countries, like let’s say, including India? Because maybe in this case, doctors and medical help and all that sort of – ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, there are a wide range of countries that have offered to provide support, and those are coming in by the moment. So we are working through that and trying to have a coordinated approach on the ground to make sure we execute that in a way that’s most effective. For example, I believe the Dominican Republic is offering helicopter transport support and a few other capacities. Those are important partnerships that we hope to have with a range of international partners. QUESTION: Are you specifically coordinating the international assistance, or is this done through the Haitians with your assistance, or how does that work? ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Well, we’re working with the Haitian Government. We’re working with the U.S. Government in a broad way, the Department of State and others. Right now, we have an Embassy that is standing and with some communications, so we will do everything we possibly can with the capabilities we have to make sure that we’re serving the Haitian people and that we’re serving American citizens in that environment and trying to save lives. And if that means being more active and aggressive and fast about trying to secure commitments and support from other countries and trying to coordinate that effort, we’re prepared to do that. MR. CROWLEY: One or two more. QUESTION: He already responded to the question that was about international coordination, so we are -- MR. CROWLEY: Very good. Thank you very much. QUESTION: Thank you. GEN FRASER: Thank you. PRN: 2010/039 The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
13 January 2010
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