As the world has geared up to help a devastated Haiti, new challenges came into view. Destroyed ports, a crumbling airport and the lack of a local counterpart are hampering the international effort to help people still trapped under the rubble. Survivors, many of whom have no place to sleep, may have lost friends and family, and are now left to scavenge for food. President Obama has pledged $100 million and is dispatching 5,000 soldiers, as well as a hospital ship. Britain, China, France, Belgium and even debt-saddled Iceland have followed suit. But the scale of the disaster is frightening. When it becomes clearer how best to help, I will donate money; you should too.
Even the most civilised society would struggle in those current conditions. In a country like Haiti, with its history of gangs, conflict and repression, a dog-eat-dog Hobbesian reality is all the more likely.
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