TFHA01: HAITI EARTHQUAKE TASK FORCE SITUATION REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 005358 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT HA SUBJECT: TFHA01: HAITI EARTHQUAKE TASK FORCE SITUATION REPORT NO. 27 STATE 00005358 001.2 OF 003 VIP TRAVEL -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Actor Sean Penn is scheduled to arrive in Port-au- Prince January 20. (TF1/DS e-mail) SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR) -------------- ¶2. (SBU) To date, international SAR teams have rescued more than 122 individuals. U.S. SAR teams have rescued 42 of the ¶122. U.S. SAR teams rescued two young children shortly before 2300 EST January 19. In addition, a U.S. SAR team assisted a French SAR team in rescuing a Haitian female who had been trapped for seven days without food or water in a supermarket in the Bois Verna neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. The GOH has not confirmed when it will declare an end to SAR efforts. (USAID SitRep #14, TF1/Interagency Conference Call) COMMODITY FLOW -------------- ¶3. (SBU) A ship with 720,000 MREs will arrive in the Dominican Republic January 20. MREs will be transported by truck to Port-au-Prince. The WFP has contracted Shell to transport fuel from Santo Domingo to bolster declining fuel reserves, according to OCHA. In addition, the UN Logistics Cluster has organized transportation of 10,000 gallons of fuel from Santo Domingo. Water is available in sufficient quantities at treatment plants, according to OCHA, but a lack of storage and distribution capacity continues to hinder relief efforts. (TF1/Interagency Conference Call, USAID SitRep #14) AMERICAN CITIZEN WELFARE/WHEREABOUTS/EVACUATIONS -------------- --- ¶4. (SBU) As of 0500 EST, 88 American evacuees departed Port- au-Prince January 20; a total of 6,095 have been evacuated to date. There are 400 Americans inside the embassy and 400 outside. Seventy five Americans are at the airport landing zone waiting to board departing flights. A total of 8,500 Americans have been accounted for. There are 32 confirmed American fatalities and another 30 reported. DOT representatives are assisting DoD with evacuating Americans. Approximately 300 orphans are expected to arrive January 20 at the embassy for documentation to travel to the United States. Two 50 passenger buses departed Santo Domingo at 0411 local January 20 and will transport American citizens from Port-au- Prince to the Dominican Republic. Also in the caravan are a fuel truck, two vehicles for Embassy Port-au-Prince, and a tractor trailer carrying an all-terrain fork lift. (TF1/Embassy Port-au-Prince e-mail, TF1/Interagency Conference Call, TF1/CA e-mail, TF1/Embassy Santo Domingo e-mail) MEDICAL RESPONSE -------------- ¶5. (SBU) SOUTHCOM reports there is no indication of STATE 00005358 002.2 OF 003 widespread communicable diseases; nothing indicates an epidemic is imminent. There are six fully-operational and nine partially-operational local hospitals. USAID is sending surgical kits and orthopedic supplies and is procuring additional medical supplies. USNS Comfort will arrive January 20; patients will be flown-in when the ship is in flying range. (TF1/SOUTHCOM e-mail, TF1/USAID e-mail, USAID SitRep #14, TF1/Interagency Conference Call) INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION/REQUESTS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) A UN representative will join the United States and GOH flight prioritization team. The Mexican government offered a field kitchen, which requires C-17 transportation into Port-au-Prince. NORTHCOM will coordinate delivery of the kitchen. A Mexican hospital ship will arrive January 20. Belize SAR specialists will deploy as part of the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit into Haiti January 21. JTF Haiti and MINUSTAH will establish a joint Combined International Coordination Center. (TF1/Interagency Conference Call, DoD ExecSum, SOUTHCOM SitRep, TF1/WHA e-mail) DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. GOVERNMENT ASSETS -------------- ¶7. (SBU) DOE is coordinating all countries' efforts to provide an assessment of the electricity system. HHS teams have seen at least 3,200 patients to date; additional HHS employees will arrive by 0740 EST January 20. (TF1/Interagency Conference Call) HUMANITARIAN/SECURITY/INFRASTRUCTURE -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Sporadic looting continues, but overall the situation is calm and likely to remain so. Only 50 percent of the Haitian National Police forces have returned to duty; 80 percent of MINUSTAH forces have returned to duty. Haiti Flight Operations Coordinating Center (HFOCC) has allocated over 1,300 slots to aircraft to arrive in Port-au-Prince airport between January 20 and February 18. Approximately 190 flights departed Port-au-Prince on January 19, the highest single-day total to date. On January 20, Canadians plan to re-open the airfield in Jacmel, located on Haiti's southern coast approximately 28 miles from the Port-au-Prince airport. The San Ysidro airport is now open for C-130 flights and will being transporting USAID cargo. The U.S. Coast Guard continues to report that eight Haitian ports are fully operational, with Cap-Haitien being used by NGOs. The southern pier of the Port-au-Prince port is expected to be operational during the week of January 25. Forty banks are scheduled to re-open January 21 for four hours. MINUSTAH Radio broadcasting is up and running. Listenership is currently undetermined. (TF1/SOUTHCOM e-mail, SOUTHCOM AirOps, TF1/DoD e-mail, SOUTHCOM SitRep, DOD ExecSum, TF1/USAID e-mail, TF1/Interagency Conference Call, TF1/UN Conference Call) POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The State Department continues to work on the issue STATE 00005358 003.2 OF 003 of including Dominican Republic troops in UN peacekeeping efforts. On January 19, PM Bellerive announced that the GOH plans to assign one minister or secretary of state to each affected area to ensure regional coordination with relevant mayors and civil society organizations. The PM stated the priorities are to find adequate storage sites for relief items and to provide security for the transportation and distribution of food and water. The GOH also created the Citizens' Involvement Office to coordinate civil society efforts. (TF1/UN Office of Operations, USAID SitRep #14) ¶10. (U) Additional updates are available through our Intellipedia portal on the unclassified system at: http://www.intelink.gov/wiki/Portal:Crisis_Ha iti_Earthquake. ¶11. (U) Minimize considered. CLINTON