Haiti Quake Updates

Wilco, the mighty alt-rock band with they eponymous album, have sprung into action again, after a brief time away from the spotlight.

Fans can download two full concerts in pristine audio for free fromWilcoworld.net; in return, the band asks that you donate at least $15 dollars to Oxfam’s Haiti relief effort or Doctors Without Borders. The shows are both from the 2009 tour; one from Brooklyn’s Keyspan Park, and the other from the HMV Forum in London.

Following is the first set of responses from Elsie St. Louis-Accilien, the executive director of Haitian-Americans United for Progress.

Thank you for taking the time to put me to the test with very thoughtful questions, some of which may even be beyond my pay grade. As the executive director of the Haitian-Americans United for Progress, I normally deal with issues of domestic import, in particular those that relate to the health and welfare of the residents of the greater Cambria Heights community in Queens. Yet the catastrophic earthquake that devastated a third of my native land has forced us all to provide a most humane response while not forgetting the tough questions.

I will respond to the questions in no particular order, but I hope that though I may not respond to each one of you individually, I will have nonetheless touched upon the concerns that you have raised.

Is Doctors Without Border a good organization to donate to?

— Posted by Tom Delane

Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services, and Project Medishare are among the organizations that had viable and worthy programs in Haiti before the earthquake. This allowed them to respond quickly to the emergency and to provide life-saving support to hundreds, perhaps thousands. They are all worthy of your donations. There are many more organizations — some well known and well financed, some not so popular — that are also rising to the challenge and are able to bring resources to bear on the relief efforts.

Bear in mind, however, that just beyond the search and rescue efforts lies the daunting task of keeping the survivors alive through sustained medical care and tending to the physical and emotional trauma of hundreds of thousands.

Yet it is also important to ensure that Haitians are not simply passive recipients of international charity, but that they are put to work immediately so that they can be the primary builders of the Haitian dream. Thus my sincere hope is that the remarkable support and solidarity that you and most people of the world have given Haiti will not fade away once the spotlight is turned off. There will be plenty of opportunities for people wishing to be involved in the rebuilding of Haiti. Just note that bare-bones accommodations are all that will be available in the near future.

Six Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cargo planes loaded with vital medical material like antibiotics have been redirected to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This will delay MSF staff's ability to treat patients who urgently need it.

Doctors Without Borders reported that flights carrying critical medical equipment were being diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic. Oxfam warned that fuel shortages could be on the horizon. And a volunteer at a hospital in northern Haiti said he has large numbers of open beds, but no way to get patients there from Port-au-Prince.

"My surgeons are sitting around looking at each other, wondering why they came," Tim Traynor told CNN.

While visiting the injured at a U.N. clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haitian President Rene Preval said his ravaged population -- already the Western Hemisphere's poorest -- needs medicine, food and long-term reconstruction assistance.

"The more we receive help, the more we can take care of them," he said.

Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam in Port-au-Prince, said many roads have been cleared of debris since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday. That has allowed trucks to deliver aid to parts of the capital and its suburbs that had been cut off by collapsed buildings.

But with thousands of tons of aid heading into Haiti, the airport in Port-au-Prince "can't handle all the aid that's coming through," Belanger said.

Top State Department and military officials on the ground in Haiti said their ability to quickly get vital food and water in Haitians' hands has been hampered by their reliance on Port-au-Prince's tiny airport. Because of damaged roads and a devastated port, an airfield that typically serves three flights a day and lacks electricity and a functioning tower is having to handle up to 60 civilian flights a day.

The airport has been swarmed by incoming flights carrying emergency relief items from many nations, and some officials and organizations have been angered that the U.S. military took over prioritizing which flights it considered the most important to gain entry.

After the complaint from Doctors Without Borders, its hospital plane was given clearance to land around 3 p.m. Sunday. An Air Force official said the military had 67 civilian flights trying to arrive Saturday, and turned away only three.