Haiti desperate for supplies as rescues go on
Source: Agencies |
January 18, 2010, Monday
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DRUMBEATS called the faithful to Mass behind mounds of rubble and amid the few remaining walls of Port-au-Prince's destroyed Roman Catholic cathedral to listen to a sermon in a scene resembling the Apocalypse.
"Why give thanks to God? Because we are here," said the Reverend Eric Toussaint. "We say 'Thank you God.' What happened is the will of God. We are in the hands of God now."
As Toussaint preached to a small crowd of survivors amid the ruins, rescuers across the Haiti capital were still struggling to pull an increasingly slim number of living from collapsed buildings amid the stench of death. Hundreds of thousands waited for food and water to finally reach them five days after Tuesday's earthquake.
Frustration grew over efforts to get aid through the small, damaged and clogged airport that has been taken over by United States military controllers, and to get it from the airport into town.
Doctors Without Borders said yesterday that a cargo plane carrying a field hospital was denied permission to land and had to be rerouted through the Dominican Republic - creating a 24-hour delay in setting up a crucial field hospital.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the quake "one of the most serious crises in decades."
"The damage, destruction and loss of life are just overwhelming," he said before flying toward Haiti yesterday.
Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies - not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said.
Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime said a total of around 50,000 bodies had been collected and the final death toll would likely be between 100,000 and 200,000.
At the cathedral, a military helicopter roared overhead, drowning out a hymn by the congregation. Above loomed the partially destroyed office of the archbishop who died.
Amid the struggle for food, some have turned to looting, infuriating people struggling to guard what little they still have.
Residents in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince caught two suspected looters, tied them together, beat them and dragged them through the streets.
An American rescue team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard in the ruins of a supermarket.
And a woman was pulled alive, dehydrated but otherwise uninjured, from the ruins of the Montana Hotel, to the applause of onlookers.
"It's a little miracle," her husband, Reinhard Riedl, said after hearing his wife was alive in the wreckage. "She's one tough cookie. She is indestructible."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited and pledged more American assistance. President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Washington and urged Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
"Why give thanks to God? Because we are here," said the Reverend Eric Toussaint. "We say 'Thank you God.' What happened is the will of God. We are in the hands of God now."
As Toussaint preached to a small crowd of survivors amid the ruins, rescuers across the Haiti capital were still struggling to pull an increasingly slim number of living from collapsed buildings amid the stench of death. Hundreds of thousands waited for food and water to finally reach them five days after Tuesday's earthquake.
Frustration grew over efforts to get aid through the small, damaged and clogged airport that has been taken over by United States military controllers, and to get it from the airport into town.
Doctors Without Borders said yesterday that a cargo plane carrying a field hospital was denied permission to land and had to be rerouted through the Dominican Republic - creating a 24-hour delay in setting up a crucial field hospital.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the quake "one of the most serious crises in decades."
"The damage, destruction and loss of life are just overwhelming," he said before flying toward Haiti yesterday.
Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies - not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said.
Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime said a total of around 50,000 bodies had been collected and the final death toll would likely be between 100,000 and 200,000.
At the cathedral, a military helicopter roared overhead, drowning out a hymn by the congregation. Above loomed the partially destroyed office of the archbishop who died.
Amid the struggle for food, some have turned to looting, infuriating people struggling to guard what little they still have.
Residents in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince caught two suspected looters, tied them together, beat them and dragged them through the streets.
An American rescue team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard in the ruins of a supermarket.
And a woman was pulled alive, dehydrated but otherwise uninjured, from the ruins of the Montana Hotel, to the applause of onlookers.
"It's a little miracle," her husband, Reinhard Riedl, said after hearing his wife was alive in the wreckage. "She's one tough cookie. She is indestructible."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited and pledged more American assistance. President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Washington and urged Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
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