PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

The TerryReport has confirmed that preparations are underway with military and civilian agencies for possible mass evacuations of civilians from Haiti. Details of the plan are not fully available, but it appears that those evacuated would be taken to military bases as a first step or perhaps housed there until they could return to Haiti. Tyndall Air Force Base in the western panhandle Florida could be one of the bases used for evacuees, since it is closer to Haiti than many others.  It is not known how many other bases or locations, in or outside the US,  would be involved.

The possibility of mass evacuations is a step that might be required by the dire circumstances in Port au Prince and neighboring towns, where essential services might not be restored for a period of months. Feeding, providing water and medical care for one million or more homeless people, in a country where services were weak to begin with, could be seen as an impossible task. The self evacuations of Haitians by boat, buses (tap taps) and private vehicles could have an impact on whether the US government elects to start the process.

Should there be evacuations on a large scale by other than boat, it would likely place a dire strain on the Port au Prince airport and the arrival of medical and food supplies. In bound operations at the airport might have to be halted or severely curtailed while passenger aircraft, or military transports, were brought in to pick up the evacuees.

It appears at this time that USAID is taking the lead role in planning for evacuations, but details of their efforts, or how far along they might be, were not immediately available. Likewise, it is not known which agency or official would make the final call, but the US military is taking the lead role on the ground and in making assessments of the situation in Haiti, along with other government agencies.

The Air Force has dispatched several Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers (ELPOs) from the Air Force reserve to assist in evacuation preparations. Two are working at Homestead Air Force base in southern Florida and two with FEMA in Atlanta, Georgia. The Air Forces Northern Command public affairs office confirmed preparations for mass evacuations of civilians  is under way.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Doug Terry, 1.20.10

LATE WORD: An Air Force spokesperson at the Pentagon confirmed that planning is underway for mass evac from Haiti. What military bases would be used and whether any evacuees would be taken to other nation’s in this hemisphere is not known. 6:17 PM (EDT0

by Carol Carpenter
Air Forces Northern Public Affairs

1/19/2010 TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- Responding to and supporting post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti is expected to be the one of the most challenging humanitarian operations in the history of the National Security Preparedness directorate, according to Col. Michael Hare, NSEP director.

Colonel Hare, who oversees Air Forces Northern Region's Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer program, said three EPLOs -- Air Force Reserve officers assigned to respond to natural and manmade disasters in the United States -- are now onsite at facilities set up in the Southeast Region to support Haitian earthquake relief efforts.

One EPLO is currently assisting with the relief efforts at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., and two others are working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta.

Four other members of the NSEP staff are helping out at the National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C.

The EPLO program is part of the Defense Support to Civil Authorities mission under 1st Air Force, headquartered at Tyndall.

EPLOs are currently helping prepare for possible mass evacuations from Haiti to a number of locations.

Many EPLOs, all of whom are part-time officers in the Air Force Reserve, have civilian jobs as doctors, nurses, police officers, emergency medical technicians and other career specialties that will be extremely useful right now in Haiti, he added.

(Underline added by the TerryReport

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