Within hours of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, Haiti's main airport was back up and running. While the quake knocked out the control tower in Port-au-Prince, an Air Force special operations team quickly took over flight operations, and the single-runway airport is now handling a record amount of traffic -- as many as 140 flights a day.
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The country's main seaport is another matter: It is currently able to handle only about 30 percent of its pre-quake capacity. Reuters, quoting the U.S. Navy admiral in charge of the task force overseeing repairs to the port, said the main pier was extensively damaged, and that it would take 10 to 12 weeks to complete repairs.
"We have to bring everything from the bulldozers to the people to the showers to the tents," the admiral said.
Some reconstruction and port operations are underway: In the photo above, sailors of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 are shown unloading equipment and supplies from a maritime prepositioning ship docked in Port-au-Prince. But according to Reuters, the port can only handle between 200 to 250 containers a day, and earthquake debris has limited the size of ships that can enter the port.
And that has potential to hamper short-term relief efforts, as well as Haiti's long-term reconstruction. For starters, airlift is a very expensive way to deliver supplies, and Haiti needs a functioning commercial port if its economy is going to recover.
Much of the current humanitarian effort will depend on ocean-going transport. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, for instance, has issued a solicitation for a massive water barge capable of carrying approximately 1 million gallons of potable water every fourteen days. (A separate solicitation, for a smaller, self-sustaining vessel to supply potable water to vessels operating within the harbor of Port au Prince, was issued yesterday.)
The service may also hire out a commercial ferry to will operate from Port-au-Prince. In a separate announcement, the Navy said it was looking to charter a U.S. or foreign-flagged passenger vessel capable of carrying, berthing, and feeding a minimum of 400 passengers.
And more supplies will be arriving by sea: According to U.S. Southern Command, the amphibious ship USS Carter Hall just onloaded more than 400 pallets of water, food rations and medical supplies, as well as thousands of cots and tents to support relief operations. The ship loaded the supplies at Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military's Task Force 48 is operating a joint logistics hub for Haiti operations.
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
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