Imagining a Haitian-scale Disaster in the US

The difficulty of mounting an effective humanitarian relief mission in earthquake-striken Haiti is enormous. MSNBC has a surprisingly good article that describes the challenges by imagining similar challenges in the United States. It begins with the following compelling imagery:

The White House and the Capitol have been destroyed. Congress and critical government agencies overseeing finance, health and other domestic services have been critically impaired. Many of the government employees who used to work in those offices are dead.

There is no Pentagon (because there is no Haitian military).

With the risk of aftershocks and doubts about the safety of government buildings still standing, President Barack Obama holds his cabinet meeting outside in a circle of white plastic chairs.

As an aside, the situation in Haiti is a perfect example of the kind of SHTF scenario I referenced in yesterday's "Guns and Gear" post. What would you to do provide for the safety and well-being of your family until help arrived? If this happened in the US, the relief mission would not be quite as difficult because of the sheer size of our country and our relatively robust infrastructure and emergency services, but you would still have to live a lot of danger and hardship.

By: Guardian