Moontown

RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE

SHEPHERD’S PIE; COW HEEL SOUP

BBQ CHICKEN; BAKED PORK

FRIED SNAPPER; GRILLED FISH

LAMB STEW; FISH GRAVY

STEAMED VEGETABLES

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – U.S. Black Hawk  helicopters swooped down on Haiti’s wrecked presidential palace  to deploy troops and supplies yesterday as a huge  international relief operation to help earthquake survivors  gained momentum.

The airborne troops in combat gear moved to secure  Port-au-Prince’s nearby General Hospital, where staff have been  overwhelmed by patients seriously injured in the 7.0 magnitude  that destroyed much of Haiti’s capital one week ago.

Their arrival brought crowds of quake survivors camped out  in the park opposite the palace rushing to its iron railings to  gawk and beg for handouts of food.

It was one of the most visible and potentially sensitive  deployments so far by the U.S. military, which is spearheading  international efforts to assist millions of injured and  homeless Haitians.

At least one Latin American leader, Venezuela’s socialist  President Hugo Chavez, a fiery critic of what he calls U.S.  “imperialism,” has already accused Washington of “occupying”  Haiti under the pretext of an aid operation.

The commander of the U.S. troops in Haiti, Lieutenant  General Ken Keen, said their primary purpose was humanitarian  assistance and providing food and water to Haitians. But, he  told CNN at the hospital protected by his men, “Security goes  hand-in-hand with our mission.”

Watching the soldiers, quake survivor Gille Frantz said:  “We know the world wants to help us, but it has been eight days  now and I have not seen any food or water for my family.”

In a bid to speed the arrival of aid and stem looting and  violence, the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to  temporarily add 2,000 U.N. troops and 1,500 police to the  9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

More than 11,000 U.S. military personnel are on the ground,  on ships offshore or en route. Haitian President Rene Preval  has said U.S. troops will help U.N. peacekeepers keep order.

Soldiers spread out to other ravaged towns outside the  capital, to Leogane to the west and Jacmel on the southern  coast, to guard and supply aid distribution points there.

Troops were working to reopen the shattered seaport in  Port-au-Prince so fuel and supplies could be brought in by  ship. They also planned to open additional airbridges, using a  runway at Jacmel and the San Isidro air base in the neighbouring  Dominican Republic.

Doctors Without Borders said that its cargo plane with 12  tons of medical supplies had been turned away from the  congested Port-au-Prince airport three times since Sunday, and  five patients died for lack of the supplies it carried.

“We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue  amputations,” said Loris de Filippi, emergency coordinator for  the group’s Choscal Hospital in Cite Soleil.

‘GOD’S HAND’

Haitian officials say the death toll from the quake was  likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000, and that 75,000  bodies had already been buried in mass graves.

Some 52 rescue teams from around the world raced against  time to find people still alive under collapsed buildings. They  have saved around 90 people, including an elderly woman pulled  out yesterday from the rubble around the National Cathedral.

“I felt her grab my hand and squeeze. I felt as if God were  squeezing my hand,” said an emotional Javier Vazquez, the  rescue crew member from Mexico who reached her.

As the United States and United Nations deploy more troops  to secure the relief operation, hundreds of looters have been  swarming damaged stores in downtown Port-au-Prince, seizing  goods and fighting among themselves.

Haiti’s Police Chief Mario Andresol said his depleted force  needs the help of U.N. peacekeepers because more than 4,000  criminals escaped from damaged prisons.

“Yesterday downtown the looters simply outnumbered my guys.  They could not control them,” Andresol told Reuters.

“It will be very difficult to get the bad guys back into  jail,” he said. “That is why we need outside help.”

U.N. relief officials said the violence had not hampered  distribution of food rations to 270,000 Haitians so far.

“The situation is tense but calm. Of course there are  lootings because the population is on edge,” Elisabeth Byrs,  spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of  Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva.

THREAT OF DISEASE

Medical teams pouring into Port-au-Prince to set up mobile  hospitals warned of the immediate threats of tetanus and  gangrene as well as the spread of measles, meningitis and other  infections in a nation where AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and  malnourishment were already rampant.

The World Health Organization said at least 13 hospitals  were working in the Port-au-Prince area and it was bringing in  medical supplies to treat 120,000 people over the next month.

“We are not past the emergency phase yet, but we are  starting to look at the long term,” said Margaret Aguirre of  the International Medical Corps, whose staff had helped with  150 amputations so far.

Under the protection of U.S. troops, food and water and  other emergency supplies have begun arriving more regularly at  the U.S.-run airfield in Port-au-Prince.

The World Food Program said 270,000 people had received  emergency food assistance by Monday night.

“We are looking at having 10 million ready-to-eat rations  going out in the course of the coming week,” WFP spokeswoman  Emilia Casella said in Geneva. That would feed half a million  people three times a day for a week.

Fuel prices have doubled, and there were long queues  outside gas stations, where cars, motorbikes and people with  jerrycans have lined up. Haitian police stood guard at some.

SOME SIGNS OF

LIFE RETURNING

One sign of the return to normality was the emergence of  street vendors selling fruit, vegetables and charcoal, though  tens of thousands of survivors still clamored for help.

“It’s astonishing what the Haitians have been able to  accomplish, performing surgeries at night … with no  anesthesia, using vodka to sterilize equipment,” U.S. President  Bill Clinton, the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti, said on Monday  after touring a hospital where supplies were very tight.

World leaders have promised massive assistance to rebuild  Haiti and Preval appealed to donors to focus not just on  immediate aid for Haitians but also on long-term development of  the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. (Stabroek News)

-commercial banks donate

The Guyana National Com-mittee for Haiti Relief has netted over $230M in cash and there have also been several donations in kind which head of the committee, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand said can be used to provide sustained assistance.

Chairperson of the National Committee for Haiti Disaster Relief, Priya Manickchand receives a cheque from Assistant Police Commissioner, Krishna Lekraj. (GINA photo)

Following the 7.0 earthquake that devastated  Haiti last week,   destroying the  capital Port-au-Prince and killing tens of thousands, Guyana coordinated a national effort to assist the country.

Yesterday all the commercial banks presented cheques to the national effort and these were accepted by Manickchand at the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) office at Thomas Lands.

Manickchand yesterday announced that it is hoped that the first shipment of assistance from Guyana would be made to Haiti later this week.

During the presentation, which also saw the Guyana Police Force donating $2M following contributions by officers and ranks of the force, the minister noted that all of the monies donated to the committee will be going to Haiti and none would be used for the administrative purposes of the committee.

Meanwhile, Manickchand yesterday acknowledged that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has indicated that the Caribbean’s response to the disaster should be in the area of health but Guyana is not of the view that any member state should be restricted to any one area. She said Guyana has since dispatched a letter to that agency expressing this view.

Asked if Guyana’s contribution would be channelled through CDEMA or CARICOM, the minister said that the country would not depend on either of the two when contributions can be made through other mediums. She said the country is attempting to establish where and to whom donations can be made to the suffering people of Haiti. She said that Guyana is working with the community’s disaster agency which has established a staging area for the region’s response in Jamaica but it is believed that one can also be established in the Dominican Republic.

The minister said that there is no consensus on the position that the region’s efforts should be focused in the area of health as all heads of government have not agreed.

However, she stressed that Guyana is not opposed to supporting the health initiative “but we are not confined to it.”

She pointed out that Haiti would need long-term  assistance in  areas such as rebuilding and local companies have made pledges of assistance in that regard.

For example BK International has pledged a ship to transport items, Fibre Tech is offering 200 kitchen sinks, the Beharry Group of Companies one container of food items and the Pomeroon Oil Mill has pledged a quantity of cooking oil.  DDL has  pledged water while the New GPC has pledged $6M worth of pharmaceutical items.

The Guyana Bank for Trade  and Industry (GBTI) and Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd donated $5M each while Citizens Bank, Scotia Bank and Demerara Bank contributed $1M each and the Bank of Baroda donated $500,000.

On Monday, Toolsie Persaud Limited handed over $500,000 while M&M Snackette donated $200,000. Bishop Juan Edghill presented $193,000 on behalf of a local body of churches.

Earlier, the government had announced a donation of US$1M ($205M) for the fund. (Stabroek News)

Yesterday, during the midday lunch hour, the Antigua and Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association (ABCTA) and the St. John’s Development Corporation (SJDC) launched the first of its fund -raising concerts in aid of the people of Haiti.

Passengers aboard the day’s visiting cruise ships, Explorer of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas, Norwegian Dawn and Braemer got the opportunity to make their contributions to the people of Haiti while enjoying pure local entertainment.

Performers took to the band stand’s platform while spectators, both foreign and local alike, were encouraged to drop their donations into the Haiti Relief Fund box which was provided.

Among the list of entertainers at the afternoon function were the Rio Band, Aubrey “Lacu” Samuel and his jazz band, the Uprising Dance Troup, the Sunnydale Dancers, Sylvin Farrell, Nigel “Niah” James and the winners of the Indies Trade-Rock Star Dance kickoff, Frontside.

The event, hosted by popular local personalities, Norris Morris Harris and Algernon “Serpent” Watts is the first of a two-day initiative being held under the auspices of the Minister of Tourism, John Maginley.

According to the ABCTA President, Nathan Dundas, the concerts are being held as a way to get both locals and tourists alike to get involved in donating to Haiti; the target amount to be received from each passenger is US$1.  An employee onboard the Explorer of the Seas and Haitian native also took to the stage to offer further encouragement to the many passersby to make a donation.
During the course of the event, which lasted from 12:30 to 4:30, auctions of several souvenirs and other items were carried out.
Contributors to the day’s fundraiser included vendors at the Vendors Mall, Flora Cabral of Flo’s Perfume Plus, the Corner Store, United Colours of Benetton, the Linen Shop, Timeless Treasures, Caribbean Gems, Whispering Bamboo, VCNG, Island Originals, Zion, Abbott’s Jewellery and JCM Jewelers.  All funds received from items auctioned will be put towards the Haiti Benefit Fund. (Antigua Sun)

The opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) has lent its support to the voices of several well-known citizens who want government to allow families in Antigua and Barbuda to adopt children left orphaned by the massive earthquake in Haiti a week ago.

The ALP in a public statement said because thousands of children in Haiti are left orphaned by the death of their parents, relatives and neighbours, and since so many homes and buildings in Haiti have been destroyed, the number of children requiring a home and loving parents has ballooned.

The executive of the party met last Friday and decided to make an appeal to the government to relax restrictions that would normally impede the ability of Antigua and Barbuda households to adopt children from abroad.

The ALP urges the government to grant special permission to those heads of households who have pledged to adopt orphaned Haitian children, in the wake of the devastating earthquake of last Tuesday.

“In 1979, the government of Antigua and Barbuda, following a devastating hurricane in Dominica, permitted 50 children from Dominica to be adopted by households in Antigua.

“In 1994, when Haitians began fleeing in rickety boats, hoping to escape the political instability and violence that followed a military coup, the government of Antigua and Barbuda agreed to allow a few Haitian families to migrate lawfully to Antigua and Barbuda”, the statement said.

It continued that in 1995 when the volcano on Montserrat erupted, the government of Antigua and Barbuda opened the gates and allowed all those Montserratians who wanted to seek safety, to migrate to Antigua and Barbuda.

“This crisis in Haiti caused by the earthquake of last Tuesday, 12 Jan., 2010, is an even greater threat to life and well-being than any of the other events which caused government to relax entry requirements and to act in a humane manner.”

The opposition is making a special appeal to the government to allow as many as 100 Haitian children orphaned by the earthquake to enter Antigua and Barbuda without all the formalities normally required, once Antigua and Barbuda families are willing to accept them.

The ALP response would have come on the heels of statements by Attorney-General Justin Simon who said while Antiguans and Barbudans may be ready and willing to adopt orphans from Haiti after last week’s devastation, there are certain legal requirements which they need to consider.

Simon said that while this is a good humanitarian gesture, but as it stands, the laws in the country, would not allow for these adoptions.

“One of the restrictions is that the infant that is being adopted would have to be a Commonwealth citizen and also resident in Antigua and Barbuda.”

He stated that Commonwealth constitutes the various countries or territories that were part of the British Empire and Haiti is outside of the commonwealth.  The law therefore makes it impossible for legal adoptions.

“That is a severe restriction but nonetheless, we could organise for there to be adoptions outside the law at some appropriate time because the law for the adoption of children is actually currently been reviewed by the OECS territories for a more manageable system.

The AG opined that there could be adoption once appropriate legislation has been passed to remove the restrictions.  He said it is also his intention to bring the matter before the Cabinet to ensure that the government plays an important role in this process.

“One has to be very concerned because it is the children that can be injured; that must govern the entire situation and we would certainly need to have some sort of committee which would investigate and interview the persons who are interested in adopting to ensure that the proper social, emotional and financial capabilities are there.”

He continued that there is also the issue of the children who have to be properly educated on the language and different culture.

He added that proper documentation on the infant’s health and religion will also be required.

“When we in fact address this adoption issue, there are many things to be taken into consideration to allow the process to run smoothly and also to allow for records to be kept and for the monitoring of the infant can be done for their own interest.” (Antigua Sun)

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has accepted an invitation to be CARICOM’s representative on a coordinating committee established to organise an international conference to flesh out a strategic plan for Haiti’s reconstruction.Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives that Monday’s meeting in Santo Domingo focused primarily on the challenges for Haiti’s recovery and rebuilding, where he was asked to invite Patterson.

Consulted with heads

The prime minister disclosed that he consulted with chairman of CARICOM, Roosevelt Skerrit; Trinidad and Tobago’s Patrick Manning; Barbados’ David Thompson and Hubert Ingraham of The Bahamas to select a suitable CARICOM representative on the committee.

Golding said the committee would comprise representatives of Haiti, Dominican Republic, United States, the Rio Group and the Inter-American Development Bank.

He revealed that the committee would be convening its first meeting in Montreal, Canada, next Monday.

The prime minister disclosed that 56 Jamaicans have so far returned home from Haiti, but did not state how many remained in the earthquake-wrecked state. (Jamaica Gleaner)