Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Feb 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A study of the landing logs of the flights undertaken by the United States military in order to supply relief to the earthquake ridden country of Haiti has revealed that the relief supplies did not reach the country according to the order of preference. In fact, it has been revealed, to the shock of many, that in the first few flights, supplies were taken to the country on the basis of who or what came first, and not on the basis of what was needed first by the people.

While the documents show that the aid was definitely provided on a rather chaotic manner, they also disprove the claims that aid was delayed by the Air Force in order to give priority to the military flights. The documents reveal that in many cases, the first flights that were taken to Haiti contained washcloths, and maybe Senators, instead of the vitally important food and water or doctors. It has been reported that initially, the Air Force did try to accommodate the military flights first. However, soon, the flights began carrying the supplies, on a first come first serve basis.

The problem stemmed from the fact that it was not possible for the officials to determine the level of importance of everything that was supposed to be on the flight, a job rendered particularity difficult on account of the fact that all the parties insisted on the vitality of their aid. As a result, planes that carried medical supplies along with doctors were taken on a detour to the Dominican Republic, resulting in the delay of the setting up of medical centers.