I was watching the news about Haiti and I saw how people were short of food and water. So it occurred to me that there may have been a simpler solution for helping people in disasters in the short term. I would have dropped from the air small packages containing a couple of clear plastic sheets approx 3 feet square, and some big plastic bags, along with instruction in the form of writing and pictures. When the people opened the package they would have instructions on how to build a “solar still” in the ground, for distilling there own drinking water from salt water or plants. They would use the bigger plastic bags to place over plants or tree branches to collect drinking water. There would also be instructions on how to harvest bugs, worms, and mice or rats, or how to trap small birds for food/soup, as there is a lot of protein in bugs and worms. I would even have included some pictures of local plants that may be used for treating minor infections. The whole thing would cost penny's and would be a quick fix until help arrived. Also for the people on the ground, I would have commandeered cars in “groups of five”, from the locals, and then put a one soldier in the lead car and one in the last car. I would then have loaded the cars with supplies from the airport and sent them out, to reach as far into the surrounding area as possible, dropping the supplies then coming back for more. On the news I saw a lot of local cars not being used properly, and much needed supplies stuck in the airport There were a lot of people having limbs amputated with out any form of anesthetic. How difficult would it be to invent a small box, that would be placed over the limb to be cut off. The box would hide from the patent what would be about to happen. The box would have a powerful spring loaded blade like the one used in France to cut of heads, sorry I don't know how to spell gill-o-teen. With the flip of a hidden lever the blade would fall and in an instant cut of the limb. No it would not be painless but it would be very quick, and the box would be easy to transport and clean. It would mean less supplies would be needed such as scalpels and saws. Sorry it sounds crud but it is about survival. Or how difficult would it be to have someone invent a StarTreck type of knife with a blade that would kill the nerve endings using electrodes or some other thing on each side of the blade. This is all very basic survival tips that could have saved a lot of lives until help arrived, why were people not given this basic information in the form of pamphlets dropped from the air?
I think it would be better to parachute in medical experts. Untrained people trying to amputate a limb could actually do more harm than good, even with that box you suggested. It's a good idea though. Why don't doctors use a box like that? The solar stills are a good idea, though. You could probably make a pretty basic and inexpensive kit to drop down to people. I think they did something like that in WWII, where they dropped little packages of food and stuff.
