Hell on Earth: Port-au-Prince in shambles after earthquake
Source: Agencies |
January 15, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DESPERATELY needed aid from around the world began arriving in stunned Haiti yesterday even as people struggled frantically to save the trapped and injured after the catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince and buried countless people.
Tens of thousands of people were feared dead and many were believed to be still trapped alive in the rubble of the quake that hit on Tuesday.
Planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain flew into the Port-au-Prince airport with rescuers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies - with far more promised soon from around the globe.
It took six hours to unload the Chinese plane because the airport lacked the needed equipment - a hint of possible bottlenecks ahead as a global response brings a stream of relief flights to the airport, itself damaged by Tuesday's magnitude-7 earthquake.
Search and rescue squads from Iceland and Fairfax County, Virginia, had arrived the day before and some groups - from Cuba's government and Doctors Without Borders - used staff already in the country to offer aid immediately after the quake.
American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday "tens of thousands, we fear, are dead" and added that the United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its "cycle of hope and despair."
The International Red Cross estimated 3 million people in Haiti - a third of the population - may need emergency relief. It believes up to 50,000 may have perished.
In the streets, 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 makeshift triage center set up in a hotel parking lot. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."
Doctors Without Borders treated wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said 91 injured French nationals were evacuated from Haiti to the Caribbean island of Martinique in three planes that had delivered aid and personnel.
There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed in Tuesday's quake.
Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands. Senator Youri Latortue told The Associated Press the number could be 500,000, but conceded that nobody really knew.
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 United Nations 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 32.2-degree Celsius heat.
Wisnel Occilus, a 24-year-old student, was in a truck bed headed to a police station. He was in an English class when the quake struck at 4:53pm and the building collapsed.
"The professor is dead ... some of the students are dead, too," said Occilus.
Bodies lay everywhere: tiny children next to schools, women in rubble-strewn streets with stunned expressions frozen on their faces, fly-blown men hidden beneath tarps and cotton sheets.
Balancing suitcases and belongings on their heads, people streamed on foot into the countryside, where shacks showed little sign of damage. Ambulances and UN trucks raced in the opposite direction, toward Port-au-Prince.
Tens of thousands of people were feared dead and many were believed to be still trapped alive in the rubble of the quake that hit on Tuesday.
Planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain flew into the Port-au-Prince airport with rescuers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies - with far more promised soon from around the globe.
It took six hours to unload the Chinese plane because the airport lacked the needed equipment - a hint of possible bottlenecks ahead as a global response brings a stream of relief flights to the airport, itself damaged by Tuesday's magnitude-7 earthquake.
Search and rescue squads from Iceland and Fairfax County, Virginia, had arrived the day before and some groups - from Cuba's government and Doctors Without Borders - used staff already in the country to offer aid immediately after the quake.
American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday "tens of thousands, we fear, are dead" and added that the United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its "cycle of hope and despair."
The International Red Cross estimated 3 million people in Haiti - a third of the population - may need emergency relief. It believes up to 50,000 may have perished.
In the streets, 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 makeshift triage center set up in a hotel parking lot. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."
Doctors Without Borders treated wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said 91 injured French nationals were evacuated from Haiti to the Caribbean island of Martinique in three planes that had delivered aid and personnel.
There was no firm estimate on how many people were killed in Tuesday's quake.
Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands. Senator Youri Latortue told The Associated Press the number could be 500,000, but conceded that nobody really knew.
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 United Nations 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 32.2-degree Celsius heat.
Wisnel Occilus, a 24-year-old student, was in a truck bed headed to a police station. He was in an English class when the quake struck at 4:53pm and the building collapsed.
"The professor is dead ... some of the students are dead, too," said Occilus.
Bodies lay everywhere: tiny children next to schools, women in rubble-strewn streets with stunned expressions frozen on their faces, fly-blown men hidden beneath tarps and cotton sheets.
Balancing suitcases and belongings on their heads, people streamed on foot into the countryside, where shacks showed little sign of damage. Ambulances and UN trucks raced in the opposite direction, toward Port-au-Prince.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
