Military Engineers Help Haiti Build A Better Future

By Judith Snyderman, Defense Media Activity

April 15, 2010 - WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Efforts to help Haiti rebuild after a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12 will continue after the joint U.S. military task force there winds down at the end of May.

The chief engineer for Joint Task Force - Haiti, U.S. Navy Capt. James Wink, recapped progress and outlined plans for the next phase of recovery during an April 15 DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable discussion.

When he arrived Jan. 29, Wink witnessed overwhelming scenes of destruction.

"The amount of rubble that is caused by this earthquake is 25 million cubic yards. To put that in a picture, that's five Louisiana Superdomes filled with rubble," he said.

Logistics rather than technical engineering obstacles posed the greatest challenges. Many people, he said, were still living on the streets of Port-au-Prince at the end of January, so engineers began working in a triage mode to move people into shelter.

"Before we could do anything else, we had to get the rubble out of the way," Wink said.

Throughout the operation, he said he's been impressed by the unified effort between the Joint Task Force, which is working in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, international representatives and Haitian officials. The triple mission everyone is working towards, Wink said, is to establish a basic level of functioning shelter, sanitation and settlement for the people of Haiti.

He explained that an initial priority for engineers was to assess the main seaport which was heavily damaged. Analyses showed that, "the north pier was a complete loss," Wink said, but by the end of February, Seabees and Army divers had repaired the south pier well enough to allow small watercraft to relay critical humanitarian supplies from ships stationed offshore to troops at the pier who transported them to stranded civilians. By the end of March, he added, the south pier was fully operational and the port is now being run entirely by Haitian authorities with no DoD involvement.

Now, Wink said, engineers are focused on mitigating dangers from flash floods and landslides during the upcoming rainy season for people living in camps. "We're [working with] some of the Japanese and [U.S.] Navy Seabees inside some of those camps to install drainage systems and to build reinforcements to some of the walls," he said. Also, he said they are supporting the United Nations to build camps north of the capital city so they can move some displaced people out of harm's way.

Although Joint Task Force - Haiti will be deactivated at the end of next month, some Seabees will remain to work on a new Operation New Horizons mission. Wink said equipment is moving in now to help build community centers and schools in association with the mission.

Wink credited the service and sacrifice of U.S. troops and their families including the contributions of Navy Seabees, Army and Air Force engineers with much progress to date. Wink also recognized the remarkable resilience of the Haitian people.

"These people are dealing with a disaster that is almost unexplainable in U.S. terms. They are living in conditions that are foreign to us. Yet with a little bit of hope and a little bit of help they just pick up and move on," he said.