This is turning out to be one of the greatest disasters ever to hit this hemisphere. It's not just Port-au-Prince: The destruction caused at the epicentre of Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti is even more dramatic than in the ruined capital, a BBC correspondent says. Tens of thousands of people there are living in the open, and the population is in profound shock, he says. People from the town, about 19km (12 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, had taken refuge in the surrounding sugarcane fields or mangrove swamps, he said. One survivor said he had come to Haiti from America for his mother's funeral, only for his wife to be killed in the earthquake. He said that so far people in the area had received no help of any kind. "We don't have any aid, nothing at all," he said. "No food, no water, no medical, no doctors." The UN said up to 90% of the buildings in Leogane had been damaged. "It's the very epicentre of the earthquake, and many, many thousands are dead," said David Orr, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme. "Nearly every house was destroyed here. The military are talking about 20,000 to 30,000 dead." from Mark Doyle, BBC News, Haiti: "The scene an hour's drive west of Port-au-Prince is apocalyptic. Almost every single building on the road I'm driving on now has been flattened. Reinforced concrete roofs have fallen to the floors below, or have jammed into the ground at crazy angles. The destruction here is even more dramatic than the dreadful conditions in the capital. People have fled to the surrounding sugarcane fields or into mangrove swamps - anything to get away from the nightmare of the falling buildings. I've seen a long line of people queuing up at a single working water tap. Tens of thousands are living in the open in church compounds, school playgrounds and marketplaces. The population here are in profound shock. Many are wearing handkerchiefs over their mouths to keep out the dust and ward of the smell of dead bodies." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8463938.stm
I had heard that on the day of the earthquake. The docks are undwater with the container crane tilting into the water. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/ameri...:+Most+Recent)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher I'm wondering if the USMC is considering using amphibous landing craft to help bring aid and resources on shore?
It seems like there have been some breakdowns in the aid distribution anywhere outside of the city. I even read an article about a retirement home not even far from the airport that has got zero aid and all the senior citizens are dying not having had any help since the quake. This is unfortunate.
That was an excellent read via the link. Thanks. The guy interviewed sounded like all hell was going to break loose soon. What he said about the port must be on target. There's a limit to what you can fly in to care for so many people in dire need. I don't know if we can bring in a temporary dock, but we'll have to do something. I don't doubt that we'll be bringing in supplies from offshore. They need to secure the port ASAP.
Wow. 60 minutes showing incredibly graphic footage from Haiti. Piles and piles of bodies laying everywhere...
As terrible as that is I guess that is preferable to leaving people trapped or dying from gangrene. As bad as things are now I fear that things might get worse as diseases start to kicking in.
Possibly 200,000 dead and up to 5,500 Americans missing. This tragedy could be one of the worst disasters in US history. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34928950/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake// In more news from the link above it sounds like Haiti is descending further into chaos as citizens, encouraged by the police, have taken the law into their own hands. Also there is still a desperate need for basic medical supplies with Clinton reporting that medical staff have been reduced to using vodka to sterilize equipment.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/haiti_six_days_later.html Photos are pretty shocking no matter how many you see.
They are still rescuing people from the rubble 6 days after. I could not fathom being trapped, unable to move, with no water/food for 6 straight days.
Keep seeing that one father on TV looking for his daughter and basically saying anything to get more attention to her situation. They were in that big hotel that totally collapsed. I fear she and her volunteer friends are goners. He was basically wanting our government to send 1,000 troops to the hotel to start digging em out. There were other rescue teams on that site already. So far, I only know of one person they pulled out of that hotel. I feel bad for him...but they can't very well mobilize all those resources to just one spot given the devastation and what all is going on. The idea that they can dig her out with that many troops is not reality. They need the big equipment for that. Best they can probably do is have rescue teams drop tiny cameras in and listen for sounds in the holes/areas where they know people would have been. This is the same father that got false news that she was okay and was celebrating. That must make it a million times worse for him and the family. Anyway, I hope they find her and her friends...but I fear they are gone and it will be a body recovery operation. It must be awful feeling that powerless as a father.
thanks for all the links and the info guys. I hadn't had an opportunity to really look at everything at any rate, to piggyback on rimrocker's post of the A+ organizations, here are links to those 3 A+'s (some links on that twitter page from before aren't working anymore) since this is what I was looking for--a direct link to donating International Medical Corps (A+) https://www.imcworldwide.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=878 International Rescue Committee (A+) https://www.theirc.org/donate/donate-now-haiti UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) (A+) http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/donations/umcor/donate.cfm?code=418325&id=3018760 (I'm also wondering why American Red Cross is listed at A-.. I'll donate to one of the 3 above to be safe)
I haven't looked at the rating system but my guess is they get an A- for being more bureacractic and also to the trouble they got in after 9/11 when a lot of donations ended up paying for other things, keep in mind the other things were other disasters and funds to prepare for other disasters but the ARC didn't explain that funds might go to other needs that well.
Plus, the Red Cross is easily the most political and corporate of any of the relief agencies, maintains very nice office buildings, and pays a lot in salary (and severance). They tend to donate the least amount they can to maintain credibility and invest the rest for "future" emergencies. I've worked with a lot of Red Cross people and let me emphasize that I have the greatest respect for local volunteers... the people that run shelters, provide food, take care of people in need... to a person they are amazing. The Red Cross suits that show up when something garners regional or national media attention... eh, not so much.
If anyone is interested in where the money goes for a particular charity.... Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator
