AIRBORNE ARRIVAL - Troops from the 82nd Airborne Division arrive at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after an early morning flight Jan. 16, 2009. As many as 3,500 troops are expected to arrive here in the next few days to begin security the areas for aid drop-off. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III From Newsweek:
As the international relief effort descends on Haiti, there are certain truths that nobody wants to acknowledge publicly. The first is that few of those still buried under the rubble can be saved. There will, of course, be stories of miracle rescues. But the reality, says Fred Krimgold, earthquake expert at Virginia Tech, is that "a very, very high percentage of the people who are rescued are found in the first few hours. The drop-off is significant after that. By the time the rescue teams and sniffer dogs and fancy equipment arrive, you're really left with the exceptional situations, the freak survivals." Many of those lucky enough to be pulled from the rubble will die too, succumbing to what disaster-relief experts call "crush injuries" from the rubble that entombed them. The toxins these injuries release in the body typically overwhelm the kidneys. Without dialysis, the injured tend to die—and nobody brings dialysis machines to a disaster zone.
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My Comment: From what I understand about the situation, everyone in Haiti is hopeful that the U.S. Military/US Government take command. My expectation is to see the US military assert control in the next few days, but with aid organizations/NGOs being on the front lines in providing assistance.