Editor's Note: Thursday’s American Morning viewers offered various suggestions for relief efforts in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake on Tuesday evening. All eagerly awaited reports of active participation by the international community to provide supplies and medical attention, and some expressed frustration as the delay. Others reflected on the destruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and wondered about the needs of that community still in dire straits, so many years later.
- Janice: If possible, couldn't planes be used to inform the people in Haiti of contact areas for medical help – food, etc. The type of banners used at the beach for advertising? This would be a way everyone could see it.
- Paul: please suggest to the us gov. to start air drops of small food/water, may be little parachute on the boxes or bags, this will help not to have run over each other or riot on the trucks when they try too deliver it !!!!! it going too get real bad send in troops if we have any?
- Carrie: Why doesn't the US load up all the FEMA trailers they're trying to sell on a huge freighter and send them all to Haiti? I know there have been complaints about the trailers, but they are at least shelter and better than a lot of those people's homes were before the quake.
- Susan: Haiti Suggestions: 1. Supply planes should be flying in day or night, one right after the other. Light the runway with tires. It works in other places. 2. TENTS!! Thousands of tents need to set up immediately for all those people on the streets. Tents, with food, clothes and medical supplies. Thank you for all you do!
- Alberto: With the Province of Guantanamo less than 150 miles away from the disaster zone in Haiti, with tens of empty school buildings capable of housing 500-600 person each, thousands of highly trained healthcare and other professionals, hundreds of thousands of hurricane victims lay exposed to a crude environment, threat of epidemics, only because of a lack of political will of international institutions and powerful governments unwilling to work out an agreement that could enable tens of thousands of victims to find temporary safe haven in Cuba. What will we do in the next 48 hour when massive transmissible diseases spreads like wildfire through Port au Prince.
- Ronald: tell me whether Cuba has sent its massive amount of doctors and medicine is arriving to Haiti. I recall, Cuba offering to send a massive amount of doctors to USA with tons of medicine but the State Dept denied entry to them for the victims of Katrina. Now, will Cuba get there.
- Sandy: it's wonderful to see the world come together to help Haiti, my first thought was where was all these people when Katrina hit us. It's been almost five years and our own country isn't put back together. New Orleans still doesn't have a hospital. People are still homeless. The schools haven't been rebuilt. The people affected by Katrina were put through hell, floating dead in the same water other people had to walk through to try to get to some kind of safety. No they weren't buried under rubble, they were dying in sewage water, heat stroke, and thirst for Gods sake! Where was our own government, watching it on T.V And the rest of the world where were they .Helping people in need is a wonderful thing. Taking care of our own should come first. If we have all these resources why isn't the effects of Katrina fixed?
What do you think of the relief efforts in Haiti? How do you think this compares to the mobilization of efforts for Hurricane Katrina? What ideas do you suggest for relief in the devastated nation?