To give an idea of what has been sent to Haiti:
Vinson Deploys to Respond to Haiti EarthquakeNavy.mil
Release Date: 1/13/2010 7:15:00 PM
MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) has been ordered to deploy to Haiti to conduct Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response (HA/DR) missions Jan. 13. Currently, Vinson is underway in the Atlantic Ocean, and will briefly loiter off the coast of Mayport to receive equipment and supplies.
Along with Vinson, USS Bataan (LHD 5) embarked with Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU 22), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), and USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) were ordered to get underway as soon as possible. Additionally, USS Normandy (CG 60) and USS Underwood (FFG 36) will deploy from their homeports and stand ready to assist, while USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), homeported in Baltimore, Md., is preparing to get underway, if required.
USS Carl Vinson Arrives in Haiti to Support Humanitarian OperationsRelease Date: 1/15/2010 7:38:00 AM
USS CARL VINSON, At sea (NNS) -- The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) arrived off the coast of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti Jan. 15 to commence humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
...
The carrier arrived on station with a robust airlift capability, picking up extra helicopters while in transit that will will prove essential during the mission.
Carl Vinson commanding officer Capt. Bruce H. Lindsey said, "When tasked to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Haiti, we immediately headed to Mayport, Fla., at more than 30 knots and loaded 19 helicopters, personnel and support equipment from five different East Coast Navy squadrons in less than eight hours. There is no other platform that can do all of that so quickly."
It would be difficult to overstate the kind of self-sustaining resources this task group brings to Haiti: electrical power generation, communications, transport, medical personnel and facilities; skilled damage control and recovery people.
On another tack, some of the most immediately available aid resources - people, logistics and materiel - will be from missions organizations who already there or in neighboring Dominican Republic. Also, Mercy Ships has a hospital ship, with staff either enroute or recently arrived, another self-sustaining mobile medical facility.
Isn't it ironic that some of the groups liberal folk who claim to "care" most despise - the military and missionaries - are going to be doing some of the earliest and heaviest lifting in Haiti. That's the way it was as well after the Indonesia quake several years ago.