Haiti despairs as quake deaths mount
Friday, 15 January 2010
Cries from victims entombed beneath concrete debris pierced the air of seemingly every street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Wednesday, where shocked residents carried the injured and the dead, a day after the nation was hit by a quake that has killed more than 100,000 people, report agencies from Port-au-Prince.
Haitians tried digging through rubble with their bare hands to rescue people trapped after the biggest earthquake to hit the impoverished Caribbean nation in two centuries. Thousands of buildings from shanties to the presidential palace were destroyed, streets were blocked by debris and telephone service was knocked out. Countries around the world, meanwhile, scrambled to send in help.
There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday's quake, however, a leading Sen Youri Latortue said the number could be 5,00,000, but conceded that nobody really knew.
President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands. "Let's say that it's too early to give a number," Preval said.
Meanwhile, planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain landed at Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies - with more promised from around the globe.
Search and rescue squads from Virginia and Iceland arrived Wednesday and some groups - from Cuba's government and Doctors Without Borders - used staff already in the country to offer aid immediately after Tuesday's magnitude-7 quake.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "Tens of thousands, we fear, are dead, and the United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its cycle of hope and despair."
The US was sending troops and ships along with aid to Haiti, and other nations were joining the effort to help the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, where the international Red Cross estimated 3.0 million people - a third of the population - may need emergency relief.
In the streets of the capital, survivors set up camps amid piles of salvaged goods, including food scavenged from the rubble.
"This is much worse than a hurricane," said Jimitre Coquillon, a doctor's assistant working at a triage center set up in a hotel parking lot. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."
The aid group Doctors Without Borders treated wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere to replace its damaged facilities. Cuba, which already had hundreds of doctors in Haiti, treated injured in field hospitals.
US President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort including the military and civilian emergency teams from across the US.
"The 82nd Airborne is getting to Haiti today, the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson will be on the horizon soon, the Coast Guard has performed magnificently in helping to evacuate the injured, particularly American citizens," Clinton said.
The Navy said a 2,000-member Marine unit was aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan.
A US military assessment team was the first to arrive, to determine Haiti's needs.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that 91 injured French nationals were evacuated to the Caribbean island of Martinique in three planes that had delivered aid and medical personnel.
Survivors used sledgehammers and their bare hands to try to find victims in the rubble. In Petionville, next to the capital, people dug through a collapsed shopping center, tossing aside mattresses and office supplies. More than a dozen cars were entombed, including a U.N. truck.
Nearby, about 200 survivors, including many children, huddled in a theater parking lot using sheets to rig makeshift tents and shield themselves from the sun in 90-degree heat.
Haitians tried digging through rubble with their bare hands to rescue people trapped after the biggest earthquake to hit the impoverished Caribbean nation in two centuries. Thousands of buildings from shanties to the presidential palace were destroyed, streets were blocked by debris and telephone service was knocked out. Countries around the world, meanwhile, scrambled to send in help.
There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday's quake, however, a leading Sen Youri Latortue said the number could be 5,00,000, but conceded that nobody really knew.
President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands. "Let's say that it's too early to give a number," Preval said.
Meanwhile, planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain landed at Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies - with more promised from around the globe.
Search and rescue squads from Virginia and Iceland arrived Wednesday and some groups - from Cuba's government and Doctors Without Borders - used staff already in the country to offer aid immediately after Tuesday's magnitude-7 quake.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "Tens of thousands, we fear, are dead, and the United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its cycle of hope and despair."
The US was sending troops and ships along with aid to Haiti, and other nations were joining the effort to help the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, where the international Red Cross estimated 3.0 million people - a third of the population - may need emergency relief.
In the streets of the capital, survivors set up camps amid piles of salvaged goods, including food scavenged from the rubble.
"This is much worse than a hurricane," said Jimitre Coquillon, a doctor's assistant working at a triage center set up in a hotel parking lot. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."
The aid group Doctors Without Borders treated wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere to replace its damaged facilities. Cuba, which already had hundreds of doctors in Haiti, treated injured in field hospitals.
US President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort including the military and civilian emergency teams from across the US.
"The 82nd Airborne is getting to Haiti today, the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson will be on the horizon soon, the Coast Guard has performed magnificently in helping to evacuate the injured, particularly American citizens," Clinton said.
The Navy said a 2,000-member Marine unit was aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan.
A US military assessment team was the first to arrive, to determine Haiti's needs.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that 91 injured French nationals were evacuated to the Caribbean island of Martinique in three planes that had delivered aid and medical personnel.
Survivors used sledgehammers and their bare hands to try to find victims in the rubble. In Petionville, next to the capital, people dug through a collapsed shopping center, tossing aside mattresses and office supplies. More than a dozen cars were entombed, including a U.N. truck.
Nearby, about 200 survivors, including many children, huddled in a theater parking lot using sheets to rig makeshift tents and shield themselves from the sun in 90-degree heat.