from CTV.ca..................

Date: Thu. Jan. 14 2010 1:13 PM ET
Canada and a host of other nations are sending food, medical supplies, experts, even mobile hospitals and collapsible shelters to Haiti, all in an attempt to help the country still reeling from a devastating earthquake.
But major obstacles lie between the aid and those who desperately need it.
In the best of times, the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation faces huge logistical, social and infrastructure-related challenges that make even simple projects difficult for NGOs.
With the destruction of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince, the collapse of key government buildings and a hospital, and the fact the capital is essentially in shambles, the aid delivery process is expected to be complicated and slow.
"Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere prior to this happening," Craig Kielburger, founder of Save the Children, told CTV's Canada AM.
"(Haiti has) an infant mortality rate, a maternal mortality rate that is through the roof. We hear so many conflicting numbers on the casualty rates because no one even knows how many people live in Port-au-Prince."
The CIA's World Fact Book also paints a grim picture of the situation in Haiti:
80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, with 54 per cent in abject poverty
Telecommunications infrastructure is among the least developed in Latin America and the Caribbean
The country has inadequate supplies of potable water to supply the population
It lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and is subject to sever storms from June to October
It's also politically volatile, and relies on 8,000 UN peacekeepers for what security and stability it has.
President Rene Preval, who was democratically elected following a coup in 2004, has said the state's basic infrastructure was destroyed in the quake -- along with the presidential palace, the main prison, and parliament buildings to name a few.
Electricity has reportedly been almost completely nonexistent since the temblor, along with water. Airport, roads and bridges were all damaged and it appears that ships can't access the harbour at Port-au-Prince, which doesn't bode well for aid ships currently steaming towards the port with much needed supplies.
"It's chaos," United Nations humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told The Associated Press. "It's a logistical nightmare."
By Thursday, she said, 40 international search-and-rescue teams were on the ground and ready to start searching for survivors still trapped in the rubble.
But the teams rely on heavy machinery to sift through collapsed buildings, and that equipment simply isn't available, Byers said. So if teams didn't bring their own, they are largely unable to do their work until machinery can be brought in from the nearby Dominican Republic.
But the "greatest handicap for everybody," Charles Vincent of the World Food Program told AP, is the broken communications network.
The lack of working phones makes it difficult, if not impossible, for various groups and organizations to co-ordinate efforts once they are on the ground, said Mike Weickert, senior team leader of humanitarian and emergency affairs for World Vision Canada.
"It's really crucial to making our plans, communicating to the Canadian public and the Canadian government. That has really been a challenge," Weickert told CTV.ca.
In addition, he said, damage to the airport has slowed down travel and deliveries, and those on the ground are struggling to find spaces to warehouse supplies as it arrives, run operations, shelter staff and treat the injured.
Even travelling by road to assess the damage is a huge challenge, he said.
"It makes it more complicated and makes it very hard to do our work," he said.
The situation in Haiti is also unique due to the virtual collapse of the government and UN in Port-au-Prince -- which normally play "crucial" roles in the co-ordination and delivery of international aid," Weickert said.
But with 800 mostly-Haitian staff already working in country for World Vision Haiti, he said the group is in a good position to deliver aid quickly and effectively, despite the challenges.
Debarati Guha Sapir, director of the World Health Organization's Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, told AP that the delays caused by the infrastructure and communications problems are especially problematic for medical teams.
The longer it takes for doctors to reach the injured, she said, the deadlier the quake will be.
"Impacts are not natural nor is there a divine hand or ill fate," Sapir said. "People will also die now of lack of follow-up medical care. In other words, those who survived the quake may not survive for long due to the lack of adequate medical care."