Posted: January 15, 2010 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: (Carl, (Patrick, 03000000, 03002000, 12, 13, 13015001, 14, 2010, 43, a, adult, aerial, alive, american, Aminise, Amputated, areas, assessment, assistance, attention, bed, Bestof, boarding, body, boy, capital, capital cities, Casualty, center, charity and relief work, city, coffin, Come, Confirmed, Creole, cross, damage, daughter, dead, debris, department, devastates, devastation, dis, disaster, disbelief, doctors, down, Downtown District, earthquake, ecstatic, Eliazar, Emanuela, Emergencies And Disasters, facility, Farrell/Miami, fear, field, fire, general, Geographical Locations, Germain, gets, girl, Gladys, greeted, group, Haiti, Haiti's, Haitian, HAITIEARTHQUAKE, Headshot, help, Herald/MCT), hold, home, hope, horizontal, hospital, hotel, hours, HTI, human body, human toe, hundreds, injured, injuries, inside, january, jeune, joseph, Juste/Miami, krt2010, krtcaribbean caribbean, krtdisaster disaster, krtedonly, krtquake earthquake quake, krtworld world, lap, large, left, leg, lie, Loiuis, looks, magnitude7, makeshift, male, man, mct, medical, men, missing, mission, Mother's, mourn, Nearly, news, NGO, occupation, officials, outside, People, perished, Physical Injury, placing, Port-au-Prince, PortauPrince, pulled, quake, React, recovering, red, remains, reports, Resourceful, rest, Roselyn, rubble, ruined, school, seek, seen, shelter, street, surrounding, Tag, Thousands, thursday, topics, Topix, town, transport, tries, turns, underneath, UPI/American, victim, villa, waiting, water, woman, women, young |
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: A women tends to an injured relative at a small clinic after she was caught in the massive earthquake on January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake killing possibly thousands. Numerous buildings were reduced to rubble by the 7.3-strong quake on January 12. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
[tweetmeme]In a country that has been totally dependent on the United Nations and the Red Cross even before the earthquake, the biggest blow to a swift humanitarian response in Haiti is the United Nations Mission has suffered a major blow with more than 150 staff still missing, presumed buried under rubble.The UN Haiti mission has about 1700 staff including 1200 Haitians. Among those reportedly still missing in Haiti is the head of the UN mission.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – JANUARY 13: A man holds a severely injured woman, while waiting for assistance in the town of Canape Vert January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
US President Barack Obama ordered a swift and aggressive US rescue effort, while the European Union activated its crisis systems and the Red Cross and United Nations unlocked emergency funds and supplies for the destitute nation. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the 7.0-strong quake on January 12 but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea.
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BBC World Service’s Andy Gallagher reported this morning that there isn’t really any sense or signs of any kind of organised international aid relief, or search and rescue, in earthquake-stricken Haiti.
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Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is seen from an aerial assessment mission by the American Red Cross.
BBC’s Gallagher, as he walked the rubble-strewn streets of Haiti:
…I barely saw anyone of any official capacity, just perhaps one Haitian police car and one Haitian ambulance.
…Still no signs of international aid..People keep asking me and stopping me and asking me, where is the help, where is the supplies, where are the promises that have been made? People just feel desperate, but more than anything else, for now completely alone.
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People walk in the streets after the earthquake.
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An injured women is seen at a makeshift field hospital in Port-au-Prince
Queried about reported problems getting aid into the international airport at Haiti, Gallagher said:
…I can hear what sounds like a C130 military plane either coming in or going out….definite activity there. The airport runway we were lead to believe was badly damaged in the earthquake but when I landed last night, it seems that the runway is fine, there is power at the airport, the runway lights do work at night, there were aircraft taking off and landing last night.
On The Ground in Haiti BBC World Service: interviews with people on the streets, aid worker, Hillary Clinton, international aid experts
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People wait in line for water from the fire department after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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A casualty is identified with a makeshift toe tag on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
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A car remains parked outside the ruins of a cafe January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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Outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, January 14, 2010, the injured from surrounding areas have come for shelter and medical attention by a medical NGO, Hope for Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Roselyn Joseph, left, gets help in placing the body of her daughter, Emanuela Aminise, 14, inside a coffin, in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A group of women mourn and react is disbelief as the body of the daughter of the woman in the center turns missing in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A woman whose leg was amputated tries to lie down on a make-shift bed inside the Eliazar Germain General Hospital where the injured seek medical help, but the medical facility has no doctors in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A man looks at the body of a dead man outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young girl gets medical attention for her injuries outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young boy tries to rest on his mother’s lap outside the Villa Creole Hotel
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Gladys Loiuis Jeune is pulled alive from the rubble of her home after nearly 43 hours where she was greeted by her ecstatic daughter in Port-au-Prince. (Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald/MCT)
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A woman reaches joyously to Gladys Louis Jeune.
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The body of a person is trapped in the rubble of a home destroyed by the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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A man carrying a coffin through the streets. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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People look on as others search for survivors under a church in Port-au-Prince.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Christopher Holmes from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue searches for survivors in the rubble of a building in Port-au-Prince on 14th January.
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A corpse is carried on a stretcher down a street.
Posted: January 14, 2010 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: adult, arm, Bestof, capital cities, clinic, earthquake, Emergencies And Disasters, Haiti, healthcare and medicine, horizontal, investigation, paramedic, People, Petionville, Port-au-Prince, rubble, Sitting, survival, topics, Topix, Waist Up, waiting, women |
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: A father carries his daughter after a major earthquake on January 12, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti, followed by at least a dozen aftershocks, causing widespread devastation in the capital of Port-au-Prince. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
[tweetmeme]
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People search for survivors amongst the rubble of the Caribbean Super Market in Delmas. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
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A wounded person is carried on a stretcher. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images)
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A woman faints in the arms of a medic in an emergency clinic in Petionville.
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A private house in Petion-ville Rue Louverture is badly damaged. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images)
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Gregor Avril, the executive director of the Haitian Association of Industry, helps a wounded child with the support of artist/musician Mikaben.
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Women wait on the floor at the emergency clinic of Petionville.(Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images)
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Survivors sit in an emergency clinic in Petionville.(Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images)
Posted: December 16, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: anticipation, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Ban Ki-Moon, Bestof, bhutan, British Royalty, capital cities, charles chauvel, climate change, copenhagen, denmark, environmental issues, Group of People, horizontal, Human Interest, Opening Ceremony, People, Politics, Prince Charles, prince charles at the climate change conference, Prince of Wales, royalty, scotland, Secretary-General, Sitting, Start, tahiti, topics, Topix, UN secretary general, united nations, united nations climate change summit, Waist Up, waiting |
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COPENHAGEN, DENMARK : Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales (C) seated between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) and Yvo de Boer Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change await the start of the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 15, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians and environmentalists are meeting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. Some of the participating nation’s leaders will attend the last days of the summit. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
An on-the-ground view from Charles Chauvel, a New Zealand Member of Parliament, who is currently in Copenhagen attending the UN Climate Change Summit. Chauvel, a lawyer of Tahitian and Scottish descent, is the Climate Change Spokesperson for the Labour Opposition. He has given pacificEyeWitness.org permission to publish his post here.
COP15 – What will come of Copenhagen?
By Charles Chauvel in Copenhagen
Day 4 for me today. Yesterday, the developing nations staged a walkout from the negotiations. This was largely to dramatise their concern about the developed world’s unwillingness to taken on meaningful pollution reduction targets. After negotiations were suspended, there was a lot of discussion over what would happen here over the four days of the Conference that remain. To simplify massively, there are four big sticking points in the way of reaching a comprehensive agreement – the targets each country adopts; the level of compensation to be paid to developing countries; the best way to measure and police each nation’s emissions; and how the Copenhagen agreement takes over from the Kyoto Protocol.
Based on what veterans of the process have been saying, the consensus is that there are four alternative scenarios for how the week will end up:
1. A comprehensive agreement with detailed rules. Unfortunately, given the complexity of the issues that remain to be agreed, and the fact that the US is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol, but is the key player in terms of making commitments for its replacement, this seems virtually impossible. The US has only really been engaging since President Obama’s coming into office in January, and although considerable progress has been made, including developing countries voluntarily agreeing to some fairly impressive emissions reduction targets, an enormous amount of detail still has to be resolved.
2. A political framework with minimal detail. This seems to be the best outcome that can be hoped for. Under it, countries will agree to a set of principles and goals that lack final numbers, with those numbers being negotiated in the two years between now and the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol. This is in fact how Kyoto itself came about – in 1995, countries agreed the “Berlin Mandate” which two years later became the detailed set of rules we now know as the Protocol.
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Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore listens to speakers at the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference.
3. A ‘greenwash’ agreement. Under this scenario, countries paper over their many disagreements but fail to make and real progress, or agree further steps. A high level statement of concern, but no agreed timetable for concrete actions, would be the outcome. In many ways, the worst possible outcome because it would take huge effort to get things back on track.
4. A dramatic failure. Developing nations,especially small island states at risk of devastation from climate change, frustrated at a lack of commitment from wealthy countries, walk out of the negotiations permanently because they won’t agree to a greenwash. Some new framwork would need to be found going forward, potentially via individual UN bodies like the Food and Agriculture Organisation on land use change and forestry, and International Martime Organisation and IATA on bunker fuels.
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Delegation from Bhutan awaits the start of the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The NZ officials from MFAT, MFE and MAF are really well thought of here – as opposed to the political leaders from NZ. The officials are seen as having worked hard for many years on the technical issues at stake, and have a reputation for diligence, honesty and integrity. Thank goodness for them, even if they make our current Government look better than it deserves. It would not surprise me if the officials end up playing an important role in brokering any forward deal. Hopefully there will be one!
Posted: November 27, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Community, Current, Honour & Tribute, NZPacific, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: afghan, afghanistan, american, army, Army Soldier, battalion, Bestof, Blackfoot, celebration, chicago, conflict, dinner, guard, holiday, horizontal, john dever, matakhan, meal, music, People, Spokane, standing, thanksgiving, topics, Topix, tower, waiting, war, watch |
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MATAKHAN, AFGHANISTAN – NOVEMBER 26: SPC John Dever of Chicago, IL with Blackfoot Company 1st Battalion 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment has Thanksgiving dinner while standing watch in a guard tower November 26, 2009 in Matakhan, Afghanistan. The soldiers of Blackfoot were served pre-packaged turkey breasts, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing and pie. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images). Content © 2009 Getty Images All rights reserved. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 6, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Community, Current, education, health, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: afghan, afghanistan, american, american soldiers, army, Army Soldier, Bestof, canadian, carrying, conflict, fort hood texas, helicopter, horizontal, iraq, Kandahar, Kandahar Province, Medevac, middle east, military, Physical Injury, Province, shooting of soldiers in Texas, suicide prevention program military, topics, Topix, waiting, war, war in afghanistan |
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KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN – NOVEMBER 01 2009: Afghan, Canadian and American troops carry a grievously wounded unidentified Afghan National Army soldier (ANA) to a waiting Medivac helicopter of the 82nd Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade November 1, 2009 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The soldier, who later died of his injuries, had stepped on a land mine planted by insurgents severely wounding his legs. Medivac medics, crew chiefs and pilots fly at a moments’ notice into the war zone in Afghanistan, quickly retrieving wounded Western and Afghan troops alike from the battlefield. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Official records on Fort Hood, the US Army’s largest military base with more than 53,000 soldiers, reveals it has the highest number of personnel who have taken their own lives, since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
US soldiers are said to be under increasing strain with multiple deployments and with as many as 30 percent returning home suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
Washington Post report official military records show that this year 117 active-duty Army soldiers reportedly took their lives, with 81 of those cases confirmed. That up from 103 self-inflicted deaths the same period last year. At Fort Hood Military base, 10 took their lives this year and more than 75 have taken their lives over the past six years.
Major Nidal Malik Hasn, an army psychiatrist now in custody for the shooting of 12 soldiers, and wounding 31 others, at Fort Hood earlier today, would have treated soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Army officials say it is not uncommon for counsellors treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder to experience those symptoms vicariously themselves, particularly hearing story after horrific story in the battlefield.
The 39-year-old Virginia-born psychiatrist was an intern at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from June 2003 to July 2009, Army officials said. It is being reported that he wanted out of the army but had repeatedly been refused. Although he had yet to serve in combat, he was deeply opposed to American’s war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Associated Press reported that Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement agencies this year after an Internet posting under the screen name “NidalHasan”. His posting compared Islamic suicide bombers to Japanese kamikaze pilots. “To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate,” the posting read. “It’s more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause.”
The day before the horrific shooting in Fort Hood, the US Army released its newest guide for leaders on suicide awareness aimed at identifying Soldiers at risk and connecting them to suicide-intervention resources.
Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States, and is the only post in the United States that is capable of supporting two full armored divisions. In addition to the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood is also home for the Headquarters Command III Corps, 3d Personnel Group, 3d Signal Brigade, 13th Corps Support Command (COSCOM), 13th Finance Group, 89th Military Police Brigade, 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, the 21st Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat), the Dental Activity (DENTAC), the Medical Support Activity (MEDDAC), Army Operational Test Command (AOTC) formerly TEXCOM, and various other units and tenant organizations.
Online Resources for Military Families and Soldiers
24/7 Crisis Intervention Resource for Military Members, Spouse and Families
For Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (Defense Centers of Excellence)
For Warriors, Families, Health Professionals
Mental Health Self-Assessment Program
Post-Deployment Health
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
US Army Suicide Prevention Program
Archives to March 2010 - PEW 
Latest Photos: Earthquake Devastates Haitians; Waiting for Aid (be warned, some pictures may disturb)
Posted: January 15, 2010 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: (Carl, (Patrick, 03000000, 03002000, 12, 13, 13015001, 14, 2010, 43, a, adult, aerial, alive, american, Aminise, Amputated, areas, assessment, assistance, attention, bed, Bestof, boarding, body, boy, capital, capital cities, Casualty, center, charity and relief work, city, coffin, Come, Confirmed, Creole, cross, damage, daughter, dead, debris, department, devastates, devastation, dis, disaster, disbelief, doctors, down, Downtown District, earthquake, ecstatic, Eliazar, Emanuela, Emergencies And Disasters, facility, Farrell/Miami, fear, field, fire, general, Geographical Locations, Germain, gets, girl, Gladys, greeted, group, Haiti, Haiti's, Haitian, HAITIEARTHQUAKE, Headshot, help, Herald/MCT), hold, home, hope, horizontal, hospital, hotel, hours, HTI, human body, human toe, hundreds, injured, injuries, inside, january, jeune, joseph, Juste/Miami, krt2010, krtcaribbean caribbean, krtdisaster disaster, krtedonly, krtquake earthquake quake, krtworld world, lap, large, left, leg, lie, Loiuis, looks, magnitude7, makeshift, male, man, mct, medical, men, missing, mission, Mother's, mourn, Nearly, news, NGO, occupation, officials, outside, People, perished, Physical Injury, placing, Port-au-Prince, PortauPrince, pulled, quake, React, recovering, red, remains, reports, Resourceful, rest, Roselyn, rubble, ruined, school, seek, seen, shelter, street, surrounding, Tag, Thousands, thursday, topics, Topix, town, transport, tries, turns, underneath, UPI/American, victim, villa, waiting, water, woman, women, young | 2 Comments[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=haiti+earthquake&iid=7542868″ src=”f/e/6/a/Major_Earthquake_Devastates_b159.jpg?adImageId=9000764&imageId=7542868″ width=”500″ height=”343″ /]
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: A women tends to an injured relative at a small clinic after she was caught in the massive earthquake on January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake killing possibly thousands. Numerous buildings were reduced to rubble by the 7.3-strong quake on January 12. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
[tweetmeme]In a country that has been totally dependent on the United Nations and the Red Cross even before the earthquake, the biggest blow to a swift humanitarian response in Haiti is the United Nations Mission has suffered a major blow with more than 150 staff still missing, presumed buried under rubble.The UN Haiti mission has about 1700 staff including 1200 Haitians. Among those reportedly still missing in Haiti is the head of the UN mission.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – JANUARY 13: A man holds a severely injured woman, while waiting for assistance in the town of Canape Vert January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
US President Barack Obama ordered a swift and aggressive US rescue effort, while the European Union activated its crisis systems and the Red Cross and United Nations unlocked emergency funds and supplies for the destitute nation. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the 7.0-strong quake on January 12 but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea.
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BBC World Service’s Andy Gallagher reported this morning that there isn’t really any sense or signs of any kind of organised international aid relief, or search and rescue, in earthquake-stricken Haiti.
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Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is seen from an aerial assessment mission by the American Red Cross.
BBC’s Gallagher, as he walked the rubble-strewn streets of Haiti:
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People walk in the streets after the earthquake.
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An injured women is seen at a makeshift field hospital in Port-au-Prince
Queried about reported problems getting aid into the international airport at Haiti, Gallagher said:
On The Ground in Haiti BBC World Service: interviews with people on the streets, aid worker, Hillary Clinton, international aid experts
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People wait in line for water from the fire department after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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A casualty is identified with a makeshift toe tag on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
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A car remains parked outside the ruins of a cafe January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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Outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, January 14, 2010, the injured from surrounding areas have come for shelter and medical attention by a medical NGO, Hope for Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Roselyn Joseph, left, gets help in placing the body of her daughter, Emanuela Aminise, 14, inside a coffin, in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A group of women mourn and react is disbelief as the body of the daughter of the woman in the center turns missing in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A woman whose leg was amputated tries to lie down on a make-shift bed inside the Eliazar Germain General Hospital where the injured seek medical help, but the medical facility has no doctors in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A man looks at the body of a dead man outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young girl gets medical attention for her injuries outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young boy tries to rest on his mother’s lap outside the Villa Creole Hotel
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Gladys Loiuis Jeune is pulled alive from the rubble of her home after nearly 43 hours where she was greeted by her ecstatic daughter in Port-au-Prince. (Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald/MCT)
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A woman reaches joyously to Gladys Louis Jeune.
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The body of a person is trapped in the rubble of a home destroyed by the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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A man carrying a coffin through the streets. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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People look on as others search for survivors under a church in Port-au-Prince.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Christopher Holmes from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue searches for survivors in the rubble of a building in Port-au-Prince on 14th January.
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A corpse is carried on a stretcher down a street.