State Department
spokesman P.J. Crowley said that in
addition to the previously reported
death of agency employee Victoria DeLong,
there have been at least five other
confirmed U.S. deaths — all private U.S.
citizens whose names have not been
released publicly.
“And that number is going
to go up,” Crowley told reporters
without offering a specific forecast.
DeLong, a cultural
affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy, was
killed when her home collapsed in the
earthquake.
Obama, who had been
unable to contact Preval several times
this week, talked for 30 minutes with
the Haitian leader, the White House
said.
Obama told Preval the
world has been devastated by the loss
and suffering and pledged full U.S.
support for both the immediate recovery
effort and the long-term reconstruction.
Preval said that the needs in his
country are great, but that aid is now
making its way to the Haitian people.
Preval ended the call with a message to
the American people, saying “from the
bottom of my heart and on behalf of the
Haitian people, thank you, thank you,
thank you.”
In a joint news
conference at the Pentagon with Mullen,
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the
primary goal is to distribute aid as
quickly as possible “so that people
don’t, in their desperation, turn to
violence.” He suggested that the U.S. is
aware of perceptions it could have
too-high a profile in the ravaged
country.
“I think that if we,
particularly given the role that we will
have in delivering food and water and
medical help to people, my guess is the
reaction will be one of relief at seeing
Americans providing this kind of help,”
Gates told reporters.
Gates also said “there
will be a lot of other people there as
well,” noting Brazil also has a
significant presence. He said it was
vital to get food and water into the
country and called the security
situation “pretty good,” except for some
isolated cases of scavenging for food
and water.
Gates said military
planners have been reluctant to drop
food and water packages from the air
because it could lead to rioting. But
bringing in supplies by sea and air have
proved difficult because of Haiti’s
badly damaged sea port and congested
airport.
Crowley, the State
Department spokesman, acknowledged the
limitations of the initial U.S. effort
to get water, food and other emergency
requirements into Haiti. He said, for
example, that the main port at
Port-au-Prince, the capital, was so
badly damaged in the quake that it is
not useable. He likened the stream of
aid thus far as flowing through a
“garden hose” that must be widened to a
“river.”
The arrival off the
Haitian coast of the aircraft carrier
Carl Vinson, a ship laden with
helicopters, essentially provides a
“second airport” from which aid can be
delivered to the stricken capital,
Crowley said.
As of Friday morning,
846 of the approximately 45,000
Americans in Haiti had been evacuated
from the country, Crowley said. Another
160 were at the U.S. Embassy in
Port-au-Prince awaiting evacuation, he
added.
Gates said the U.N.
peacekeeping force in Haiti has primary
responsibility for security in the
capital.
Mullen said the
hospital ship Comfort, with hundreds of
medical professionals and medical
support, should be off the Haitian coast
by the end of next week.
“While these assets
tend to the immediate material and
medical needs of the people of Haiti,
these ships, aircraft and troops also
deliver hope, although it seems that
supplies and security cannot come
quickly enough,” Mullen said.
More on the relief
effort
•
Troops, ships arrive in
devastated Haiti
•
CG evacuates 160
Americans from Haiti
•
100 Seabees bound for
Haiti
•
3 amphibs leave Virginia
for Haiti
•
Conway: 22nd MEU tapped
for earthquake relief
A tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
