Today marks one week since the magnitude 7.0 Jan. 12 earthquake hit Haiti. If there is anything in the world that, at least momentarily, brings people together it is the innate humanitarian impulse to help those who have been struck by natural catastrophe.

In this regard Haiti is no exception. Nations from around the world, not just the United States, are rushing supplies and various specialists to assist in search and rescue, provide food, water, and housing, and begin the effort to assist with what will, of necessity, have to be a long term recovery effort. Early estimates state that one third of Haiti’s nine million people have been affected by the quake. Already 20,000 bodies are estimated to have been recovered. The final toll will undoubtedly be far higher.

The United States, by virtue of its geographic proximity to Haiti, its long term involvement with the country, and its immense logistical capabilities is taking the lead role in coordinating relief efforts. No problem there; as the Haitian government has been almost as destroyed as the housing in Port au Prince.

In terms of domestic politics nobody thus far, aside from the usual rightwing whack jobs, such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are objecting to the U.S. rushing to the rescue. And U.S. efforts are significant. If President Bush had done for New Orleans what President Obama is doing for Haiti the Bush legacy would be significantly different.

This past weekend, in a striking example of bipartisanship, President Obama asked former Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush  to spearhead private-sector fund-raising efforts.

Thus far, the U.S. military is doing a useful job. Whether it has done as much as it could or should will be a question that will doubtlessly be debated.

A three-star general, Lt. Gen. P. K. Keen, the deputy director of the military’s Southern Command, has been tapped to lead a new joint task force devoted to Haiti.

7,500 troops and four ships arrived in Haiti yesterday to join the about 5,000 U.S. military personnel already assisting on the ground and from ships nearby. Reportedly the bulk of the troops will operate off the ships, not on the ground.

Air Force special operations controllers set up an air-traffic control center. It was the beginning of an operation that, by Sunday, had unclogged one bottleneck preventing aid from reaching Haiti’s desperate population. By Sunday, the Air Force had landed some 300 planes, most of them laden with relief supplies.

The 82nd Airborne has established small posts around the city to protect food and water drops.

President Obama signed an executive order over the weekend allowing members of the reserves to be called up to support the relief efforts in Haiti.

The Navy hospital ship USS Comfort will arrive Wednesday. The ship has 250 beds and a 550-person medical team. Military leaders also are moving to assemble a 150-bed surgical hospital at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which will coordinate patient loads with the ship’s operating rooms.

The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson arrived last Friday. Its primary mission is using its 19 helicopters to ferry supplies onshore. But the carrier itself did not carry relief supplies.

Meanwhile the International Search and Rescue Team, fully equipped and self-sufficient for up to seven days in the field, deployed immediately with ten metric tons of tools and equipment, three tons of water, tents, advanced communication equipment and water purifying capability. They’re from Iceland.

The first elements of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group reached Haiti yesterday. The four ships in the group are the USS Carter Hall, USS Gunston Hall, USS Fort McHenry and the USS Bataan.

But much more needs to be done and quickly. Already scatted looting andd fighting has broken out. Although given Haiti’s poor state befroe the quake it is a tribute to the Haitian character and spitit that there has not been more. Given that transportation in Haiti has been all but destroyed in Haiti promised aid cannot be delivered. In the meantime people live outdoors without shelter, sustenance or protection.

Unless the pace of aid distribution quickens, there could be mass violence as hundreds of thousands of people begin to compete for scarce resources. Given that Haitian police forces were not particularly robust to begin with security is going to have to depend on large part, at least in the short term, on U.S. military and the 9,000 member UN force, although the latter are said to be deeply unpopular. But the sooner that task can be tuned back to Haitians the better.

One thing to keep in mind is that Haiti is not all that different from where your or I live. Last week David Brooks, the conservative New York Times columnist, used the quake to argue against foreign aid.

But the truth is that everywhere in the world people will fight for survival when the situation becomes desperate. Wherever you live your city is just one natural disaster away from total chaos. Hurricane Katrina proved it.

The truth is most people aren’t prepared for disasters. They aren’t even prepared for a disruption in food and electricity lasting more than 48 hours. Almost nobody has spare food, water, emergency first aid supplies or the ability to physically defend themselves against aggressors. They are betting their lives on the idea that their government will save them if something goes wrong.

The people of Haiti are now learning what the people of New Orleans already know: Your government won’t save you. In a real crisis, you are on your own.

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