Driving home this afternoon through Port-au-Prince, less than 72 hours after the earthquake, the collapsed buildings stood as testimony to the quake. The Haitian people, however, seemed normal. The gas stations are functioning, the cooking charcoal is available, drinking water is flowing, and the street markets are operating. Ate too many MREs yesterday, so we stopped and bought a papaya, a pineapple, two avocados, and several tomatoes. The fruit was beautiful and close to normal Haitian prices. Where is the disaster? This morning we drove to the airport and offered our services to an Army unit distributing bottled water. The US taxpayer flew bottled water down here, along with heavily armed troops to distribute it by helicopter. We could have delivered it by Tim's truck. The Haitians would have been happy to have an extra plastic bottle, but they are getting plenty of water from their normal wells. Then, the mission was postponed and the troops were diverted to handle the "riot" of passengers boarding planes to leave. The chaos I saw today was inside the carefully-secured confines of the Airport and was the chaotic process of gaining positive media attention. Time to leave. With luck, the chaos will remain at the airport and the Haitians can get on with their lives. Later, we did see one helicopter delivering water to a select group of people within easy news camera range of the US Embassy. At the embassy, the security guards claimed a "riot" justified their increased presence, which prevented us from even entering. Scripted justifications easily allow millions of dollars to be wasted. The streets of Port-au-Prince already show many healthy signs of normalcy, before the tsunami of massive foreign "aid" has even struck.
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