PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

The problem of sanitation threatens to undo the progress that has been made to assist the wounded and the struggling living in Haiti. There just aren’t enough latrines or portable toilets. According to some reports, in some areas of Port au Prince, the stench is becoming unbearable, but, more importantly, the threat of massive illness is just around the corner.

People cannot live crowded into a small area without sanitation. It just won’t work. The problem for relief workers in Haiti is compounded by the fact that no one knows what to do with the human waste even if there is a method to pick it up and truck it somewhere. Haiti is woefully short of ways to treat sewage even before the earthquake hit.

What is needed is leadership. First, how many latrines are needed and how quickly can they be acquired and transported to Haiti? Second, a rudimentary waste transportation and disposal system must be designed and implemented.

There is undoubtedly enough money to get these jobs done. The question is this: who will provide the leadership to, first, find the answers and, second, make the solutions happen? Six weeks after the earthquake, leadership is still the most important missing part of the Haiti equation.

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