United States remains firm in its commitment to Haiti’s recovery

By Jon Gallo

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The United States' military said it will maintain its high level of assistance to earthquake victims in the impoverished nation. Col. Gregory Kane, a high-ranking U.S. military official in Haiti, said his country's armed forces would be in Haiti as long as the situation in the devastated nation required their presence, according to Agence France-Presse. "We are in Haiti as long as needed and are welcomed by the government of Haiti," said Kane, who leads U.S. Joint Task Force Haiti, to AFP. "The military portion of the operation, if you follow historical trends, probably takes 45 to 50 days." After that, Kane said he envisions other U.S. agencies taking the military's place in the relief effort. "You'll see a precipitous drop off and you'll probably see other agencies, other activities, both international and U.S., to step forward and take on more roles," he told AFP. The decision to remove troops will be made by the U.S. government, but the U.S. military has sent home personnel whose expertise was providing relief immediately after natural disasters. Right now, there are an estimated 17,000 U.S. troops in Haiti, about 5,000 fewer than it had in the country at the height of the relief effort, according to AFP.

Relief groups provide vaccinations to earthquake victims

Relief groups have launched a vaccination campaign that will protect 140,000 people in Haiti against measles and other diseases. The campaign is a joint effort among the international Red Cross federation, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Haitian health ministry, according to The Associated Press. The project will concentrate its efforts in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where the risk of disease to earthquake survivors is greatest, according to the AP. The project began on Feb. 8, where 1,800 people received vaccinations at a camp on an airport runway. Clinicians are expected to arrive at other camps throughout the nation's capital in coming weeks, according to the AP.

Haiti's neighbors to supply country with Creole speakers to help in relief efforts

Haiti will be supplied with speakers who are fluent in Creole from the Commonwealth of Dominica and Saint Lucia to help bridge any communication gaps in the relief effort, according to Agence France-Presse. The Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti, will send between 50 to 60 Creole speakers in the coming days, according to Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica. It is believed that between 90% and 95% of Haitians only speak Creole, according to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles. The language, however, is not spoken very much outside Haiti, according to AFP. P.J. Patterson, the former Jamaican prime minister who currently works as the Haiti special envoy for the regional Caricom bloc, said his staff would help in the rebuilding of the many ministries that were destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed as many as 200,000 and left a million homeless. "We will obtain support from countries such as Dominica and Saint Lucia, where there are citizens and professionals who have the capacity to converse in Creole," he told AFP.

Source: Infosurhoy.com-09/02/2010

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