PHOTOS, PAGE 1

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

Getting around in Haiti is still very, very difficult. Just Friday (1.22.10), an aid group which managed to reach Jacmel said they had to travel by boat, after landing at the airport in Santo Domingo.

Haiti needs 50 or more smaller helicopters in civilian hands and perhaps a dozen or more big helicopters to carry supplies in and people out. The military, which has the huge SeaHorse helicopters on the USS Vinson, just can’t do the whole job themselves. Further, the military follows its rules and orders, which don’t always match up with the immediate, pressing need nor the general needs of NGOs.

One big advantage of helicopters is that they can land at other places than the airport in Port au Prince, which is turning into a big holding station for supplies, rather than a transshipping point. Helicopters can go directly to where there is need and, sometimes, by passing bureaucratic snarls.

Working through our small effort, the Haiti Coordination Group, we have made efforts to get helicopters into Haiti, but the process of coordinating with NGOs, in the first place, and getting backing to guarantee the costs have so far proved too much. The need is still real, present and urgent.

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