Madam, – In order to put the tragedy in Haiti into a technical perspective from a relief point of view, I believe the following figures are important for dealing with future similar catastrophes.
Approximately a million people were affected in Haiti. Assuming four people were living in a house comparable to what we know as a semi-detached house, about 250,000 houses were demolished. Such a house weighs about 50 tons and would have to be removed in order to ascertain if people were buried and this would have to be done within two to three days of the quake as otherwise people die of dehydration.
A reasonably able-bodied person can remove about a ton of material per hour (carrying it a little distance away). Thus three people working in eight-hour shifts for 48 hours can remove the pieces of one whole house in two days. Exposed ferroconcrete reinforcement can easily be cut with a hand hacksaw and the rest broken up with a sledgehammer. On this basis 750,000 people, instead of walking around in a daze, would have been able to handsift the rubble in Port au Prince and saved many lives – if there had been a plan of action.
Further, in order to feed and water a totally distressed population, lightly packaged (40 grammes, like soup packages) high energy foods and water purification tablets, suitably packaged with cartoon instructions, can be scattered over population centres. One Hercules aircraft working continuously can serve the needs of 250,000 people on a continuous basis from a reasonably near airport. Such a system allows for heavier land and sea transport to establish itself without undue loss of life.
It is amazing, and also disgraceful, that earthquake disasters still catch the world community apparently completely unprepared. A trained UN emergency unit should be on continuous standby to be available at instant notice. – Yours, etc,