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| Survivors carry clothes along a road at typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines, Nov. 12, 2013. (Aaron Favila/AP Photo) |
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
MANILA — There are signs here in the Philippine capital that the
government simply cannot handle the massive challenges the country faces
in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.
Villamor Airbase — home of the Philippine Air Force and the main
staging area for relief flights to the disaster zone — seems to be
operating at half-speed. There is no thrum of activity, no evidence that
there’s a real sense of urgency among the Philippine troops here. Every
once in a while a civilian car pulls up and unloads a few boxes of
goods some neighbors have collected. They put them on the sidewalk and
drive away. A little while later, some Filipino troops (or reporters)
move them inside. No method. No organization. It’s as if an earthquake
hit southern California and Vandenburg or Nellis AFB were quiet and
half-populated.
The U.S. Marines have swung into action, certainly. But there are
just 215 of them right now, and they must coordinate with the Philippine
government. As one high-ranking officer told me here about the host
government, “They’re paralyzed.”
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official confirmed that impression
privately to me. The Israeli team is here to assess what their country
can contribute and where. Over the years, Israel has developed excellent
field hospital capabilities that they’ve brought to disasters in Haiti
and elsewhere.
But the Israelis, too, need to coordinate with the Philippine
government. “When we ask them what they need, they tell us to talk to
the Americans,” the official said.
And then early today, about 5 a.m. local time, we went to what we
were told was a major relief staging area at the National Resource
Operations Center. No one was there. Repeat: No one was there. A few
pallets of water were on the ground. A couple of dogs barked at us. We
were told everyone else had gone home for the night.
Now, of course, this is one day’s view of a bit of the huge effort
beginning here. And the sheer scale of this catastrophe would overwhelm
the governments of the most advanced and wealthiest countries.
Superstorm Sandy revealed that in the U.S. And the Philippine government
is still reeling from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month.
Still, there is what seems like a strange lethargy and lack of direction on the ground here. They need to fix that.
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