mr president our hearts and minds go out to the people of haiti in their hour of suffering
i commend baroness ashton and karel de gucht for what they have already said has happened and is being done
there is no question that there will be funds coming
i was present at the tsunami which hit sri lanka and then later indonesia
i have witnessed earthquakes in turkey
i watched what happened in china
every time one of these things happens we are caught short not with water purification tablets or tents or clean water but with infrastructure
we say oh the infrastructure is destroyed
of course it is destroyed
we need to be able to supply very rapidly an emergency infrastructure
how can this happen
what about an aircraft carrier
it has electricity it has nuclear power it has generators for water purification and it has helicopters
could we set up a global rescue operation ready to go at a moment's notice that can provide makeshift harbours temporary shelters and all the infrastructure that gets destroyed
we need to think afresh as to how to save lives immediately afterwards
