By Katie Paul
“A hungry man is an angry man. A hungry mob is an angry mob.” So cautions Richard Morse, a Haitian musician whose tweets have provided a window into postquake Port-au-Prince. His words were prescient: more than a week after the earthquake struck, with aid still not reaching many of its intended recipients, some survivors are gathering up whatever food and supplies they can find. But that frightens relief personnel and endangers the weakest survivors—the first to see their rations snatched when order breaks down. That’s why the U.N. is sending 12,500 troops and the U.S. has sent 2,000—all devoted primarily to keeping order in a tense city. All of which has brought back questions last heard after Hurricane Katrina: When conditions are so dire, is it really looting? And should preventing it really be a priority of rescue workers? After all, every dollar and every hour spent bringing in security personnel is one that can’t be spent distributing aid. Here, a look at some of the ethical problems at the heart of the debate.
