Port-au-Prince (Haiti):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the UN peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.
   President Rene Preval said he believes thousands of people were dead from Tuesday afternoon’s magnitude-7.0 quake. “Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,” Preval told the Miami Herald. “There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.”
   The Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was among the dead, and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission was missing.
   The international Red Cross said a third of Haiti’s 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.
   President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort, adding that the US commitment to its hemispheric neighbour will be unwavering. “We have to be there for them in their hour of need,” he said.
   Other nations—from Iceland to Venezuela—said they would start sending in aid workers and rescue teams.
   Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital of 2 million people as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares to sing hymns.
   People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road. Passersby lifted the sheets to see if loved ones were underneath.
   The UN’s 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
   The quake struck at 4.53 pm, centred 15 kms west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 8 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
   With electricity out in many places and phone service erratic, it was nearly impossible for Haitian or foreign officials to get details of the devastation.
   Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the internet.
   “Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it’s unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this,” she said. AP

BROKEN AND BATTERED


Bodies littered the streets of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince after the Caribbean nation was hit by its most powerful earthquake in 200 years

The death toll from the 7.0 magnitude quake, which hit the country at 5.00 pm on Tuesday, is expected to climb into thousands

The epicentre of the quake was less than ten miles from Port-au-Prince and only a few miles below the surface, leaving most of the capital destroyed

The temblor toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike. The Red Cross estimated that up to 3 million people have been affected

The UN headquarters was also brought down, killing the Tunisian head of the mission and leaving up to 250 personnel unaccounted for

Over 30 significant aftershocks of 4.5 magnitude or higher rattled the country through the night into Wednesday morning

AID ON THE WAY

World governments and aid agencies mobilized emergency rescue teams and supplies for Haiti on Wednesday

France, which has close historical ties to the Francophone island nation, announced it was sending two aircraft with aid supplies and rescue teams

President Barack Obama said the United States stood ‘ready to assist’ the impoverished Caribbean nation

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVl called for a generous international response and said that the Catholic Church would mobilise its global aid network