Haiti's Earthquake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/13/haiti-earthquake-disast... of the earthquake's aftermath.
Contains disturbing images Link to this video René Préval, the president of Haiti, has described the devastation after last night's earthquake as "unimaginable" as governments and aid agencies around the world rushed into action.
Préval described how he had been forced to step over dead bodies and heard the cries of those trapped under the rubble of the national parliament. "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," he told the Miami Herald. "There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them." Préval said he thought thousands of people had died in the quake.
A 7.0 magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean and the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years – rocked Port-au-Prince, destroying a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines.
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said his "heart goes out to the people of Haiti" and announced the UN was releasing $10m (£6m) of emergency funds. The headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti was one of thousands of buildings destroyed by the quake and more than 100 people, including the mission chief, Hedi Annabi, are still missing in the rubble, according to the UN.
Describing the scenes from Haiti as "heart-wrenching". Barack Obama vowed "unwavering support" for the country. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the US was offering full assistance – civilian and military, while Britain, France, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico and Venezuela pledged immediate support in terms of personnel, cash and supplies. Gordon Brown promised to send firefighters, emergency equipment and finance, saying the country was at "the centre of the world's thoughts".
The pope said the Catholic church would immediately instruct its charitable institutions to generate aid and urged individuals to give generously. The international Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said up to 3 million people could be affected. Its spokesman, Paul Conneally, said there were "many, many people trapped in the rubble".
Save the Children launched an appeal for £3m to assist the relief effort. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which suffered serious damage to its 60-bed trauma centre hospital, one of the only free of charge surgical facilities in Port-au-Prince, said it would deploy more staff to the country.
The MSF head of mission, Stefano Zannini said, "The situation is chaotic. I visited five medical centres, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning. Many are damaged and I saw a distressing number of dead bodies. Some parts of the city are without electricity and people have gathered outside, lighting fires in the street and trying to help and comfort each other."
Location of the Haiti earthquake A blogger said the four-storey Caribbean market building, which was open at the time, was "completely demolished".
The Haitian ambassador to the US, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way" of estimating casualties. He told ABC television: "I'm quite sure we're going to face a disaster of major proportion."
Brazil, which has 1,266 peacekeeping troops in Haiti, said four of its soldiers were confirmed dead and a large number were missing.
Dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished country. Women covered in dust crawled from the rubble wailing as others wandered through the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares late into the night singing hymns.
The quake was shallow, with a depth of 6.2 miles, and struck at 4.53pm local time, with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted about a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.
Haiti, a former French colony that forms half of the island of Hispaniola, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Most of the capital's 3 million people live in hillside slums made of wood, tin and cheap concrete.
The UN said the airport in Haiti's capital had reopened and aid would start to arrive. Germany said it would donate €1m (£890,000) to relief efforts, while China pledged $1m (£610,000). One of the first teams expected to arrive today was 37 search and rescue specialists from Iceland, bringing 10 tons of equipment.
French rescue authorities said 65 clearing specialists and six sniffer dogs were leaving for Haiti, while Spain was rushing three planes there with at least 100 tons of tents, blankets and cooking kits. Israel said it would send an elite army rescue unit of engineers and medics.
"Everybody is totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a US agriculture official visiting Haiti. "The sky is grey with dust." He was walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake, he said. "I held on and bounced across the wall. I heard a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, sending people running on to the streets in the capital, Santo Domingo. Houses shook in eastern Cuba but no major damage was reported.
Contains disturbing images Link to this video René Préval, the president of Haiti, has described the devastation after last night's earthquake as "unimaginable" as governments and aid agencies around the world rushed into action.
Préval described how he had been forced to step over dead bodies and heard the cries of those trapped under the rubble of the national parliament. "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," he told the Miami Herald. "There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them." Préval said he thought thousands of people had died in the quake.
A 7.0 magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean and the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years – rocked Port-au-Prince, destroying a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines.
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said his "heart goes out to the people of Haiti" and announced the UN was releasing $10m (£6m) of emergency funds. The headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti was one of thousands of buildings destroyed by the quake and more than 100 people, including the mission chief, Hedi Annabi, are still missing in the rubble, according to the UN.
Describing the scenes from Haiti as "heart-wrenching". Barack Obama vowed "unwavering support" for the country. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the US was offering full assistance – civilian and military, while Britain, France, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico and Venezuela pledged immediate support in terms of personnel, cash and supplies. Gordon Brown promised to send firefighters, emergency equipment and finance, saying the country was at "the centre of the world's thoughts".
The pope said the Catholic church would immediately instruct its charitable institutions to generate aid and urged individuals to give generously. The international Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said up to 3 million people could be affected. Its spokesman, Paul Conneally, said there were "many, many people trapped in the rubble".
Save the Children launched an appeal for £3m to assist the relief effort. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which suffered serious damage to its 60-bed trauma centre hospital, one of the only free of charge surgical facilities in Port-au-Prince, said it would deploy more staff to the country.
The MSF head of mission, Stefano Zannini said, "The situation is chaotic. I visited five medical centres, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning. Many are damaged and I saw a distressing number of dead bodies. Some parts of the city are without electricity and people have gathered outside, lighting fires in the street and trying to help and comfort each other."
Location of the Haiti earthquake A blogger said the four-storey Caribbean market building, which was open at the time, was "completely demolished".
The Haitian ambassador to the US, Raymond Joseph, said there was "no way" of estimating casualties. He told ABC television: "I'm quite sure we're going to face a disaster of major proportion."
Brazil, which has 1,266 peacekeeping troops in Haiti, said four of its soldiers were confirmed dead and a large number were missing.
Dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished country. Women covered in dust crawled from the rubble wailing as others wandered through the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares late into the night singing hymns.
The quake was shallow, with a depth of 6.2 miles, and struck at 4.53pm local time, with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted about a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.
Haiti, a former French colony that forms half of the island of Hispaniola, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Most of the capital's 3 million people live in hillside slums made of wood, tin and cheap concrete.
The UN said the airport in Haiti's capital had reopened and aid would start to arrive. Germany said it would donate €1m (£890,000) to relief efforts, while China pledged $1m (£610,000). One of the first teams expected to arrive today was 37 search and rescue specialists from Iceland, bringing 10 tons of equipment.
French rescue authorities said 65 clearing specialists and six sniffer dogs were leaving for Haiti, while Spain was rushing three planes there with at least 100 tons of tents, blankets and cooking kits. Israel said it would send an elite army rescue unit of engineers and medics.
"Everybody is totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a US agriculture official visiting Haiti. "The sky is grey with dust." He was walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake, he said. "I held on and bounced across the wall. I heard a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, sending people running on to the streets in the capital, Santo Domingo. Houses shook in eastern Cuba but no major damage was reported.
Tags: caribbean, earthquake, haiti
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ady on -
I've been seriously considering it, actually.
It's both devastating and sobering news. And to think, while we've been complaining about a little bit of snow disruption here, other people have real problems...
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Permalink Reply by Derrick on -
I don't mean to bring in more bad news, but I just had to add this clip of Keith Olbermann's reaction to Rush Limbaugh's and Pat Robertson's comments of the Haitian earthquake victims. I'm glad somebody are putting a check on those guys stupid remarks, especially Limbaugh.
Rush's remarks on MSNBC's "Psycho Talk":
Pat Robertson's remarks:
Keith Olbermann's rebuttal:
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Permalink Reply by Ady on
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Derrick said:I don't mean to bring in more bad news, but I just had to add this clip of Keith Olbermann's reaction to Rush Limbaugh's and Pat Robertson's comments of the Haitian earthquake victims. I'm glad somebody are putting a check on those guys stupid remarks, especially Limbaugh.
Rush's remarks on MSNBC's "Psycho Talk":
Pat Robertson's remarks:
Keith Olbermann's rebuttal:
Excellent rebuttal. Very well put. So much so, there's little point in me even attempting to compose a response.
However, I will say that by Robertson's rationale, America must also be "cursed" because of 9/11 given that it is founded on the genocide of the indigenous people, slavery and politically steeped in Freemasonry, but I suppose none of that matters because some profess christianity; and those Native Americans had it coming because they were a bunch of dirty old devil worshippers, right?
It reminds me of a sermon I happened to hear on a radio somewhere from another quack preacher some years ago. He was talking about how God intended to mete justice on the world. From his words, the US and most of Europe would get what amounts to a slap on the wrist from his angry, vengeful god, but Africa... according to him, were in for a world of shit (not quite his words, but you get the idea), and he proceded to talk about all the fire and brimstone that he'd bring on the continent for all the naughty things they've done. And of course, none of it has anything to do with the way the continent has been destabilised by the "west" over the centuries, has it? Yes, let's just conveniently ignore that.
The double standards of some of these religious nutjobs amaze me in an utterly despicable sort of way. What's worse though is that there are probably thousands of so-called christians out there, black and white who agree with them. Pitiful.
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Permalink Reply by iNDi on -
50,000 dead in Haiti in a matter of moments...
I offer my deep condolences and share sympathy with the quake victims..
May God Help and Bless us All.
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Thompson on -
I'm going to donate just as soon as I get paid which is next week :) It it aint much but jeeeez the news and papers are showing some horrific images and when I see kids in distress it really sinks deep.
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Permalink Reply by Chweetgurl on -
Hi Lil missy thank u for posting this up here...i have already donated but i m also urging people to donate genrously its sad to see people stuggle for medical help, water,food..basic essentials..Its nice that many countries are helping in aid..
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Permalink Reply by Derrick on
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I just heard another critique of Rush Limbaugh's remarks about the earthquake victims in Haiti on The Young Turks show:
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Permalink Reply by Derrick on
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Thank you nDn gUy. I had the unfortunate news to hear that the death toll has doubled. It's now over 100,000 dead in Haiti.
nDn gUy said:50,000 dead in Haiti in a matter of moments...
I offer my deep condolences and share sympathy with the quake victims..
May God Help and Bless us All.
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Permalink Reply by Stacee on -
This is truly devastating. I was not going to post anything here because I didn't really have anything to say. When I first heard that the earthquake had hit, I did not think anything of it. I was at work and saw it on Yahoo's headliner, and continued on my day as usual. It wasn't until later that night on the news that I became sensitive to what happened. My God, shame on me for being so caught up in my own problems, in my own little world for a moment that I had lost a sense of humanity! I have been praying for the families of those who have lost their lives and the survivors whom God has blessed to live thru that disaster.
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Permalink Reply by Stacee on
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Yeah I saw that there was another earthquake that hit! But on a more positive note, I am happy to hear from my sister who works with Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Foster care, that Illinois just received people from Haiti tonight and many of the children will go into her foster care system.
Ady said:
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