Tweet
UPDATE #2 (9am Wed, EDT): Putting up a quick “link farm” of stories from various stories; please feel free to add in comments… Louise
CBS-3 million affected, per Red Cross.ABC-The United Nations HQ building has collapsed. About 200-250 people work there and are unaccounted for. The main airport radio control tower has also collapsed.
CNN-Haiti’s First Lady: “Most of Port-au-Prince has been destroyed”. Communications are severely affected.
UPDATE: Rachel Maddow led off with this story. CNN predicting 1/2 pop of Port-au-Prince may perish (half = 1 million) PAP radio station reports Carrefour is gone. http://bit.ly/7bkMdo
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The federal Prop 8 case may be on lots of minds right now, but a disaster like this makes you think about the larger scheme of things, particularly for those who live in earthquake-prone zones. When your lives are reduced to a lack of even bare necessities, and you don’t even know if loved ones are alive, the level of human tragedy is almost unbearable to contemplate. Those who live in Haiti, already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, are going through that pain. (CNN ireport):
A powerful earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing the presidential palace and raising fears of substantial casualties in what the country’s U.S. ambassador called “a major disaster.”
President René Garcia Préval was reported to be safe, but Radio Metropole of Port-au-Prince, the capital, quoted a government official as saying there were “certainly dozens of deaths.”
Dozens of dead and injured people in the street and the streets are blocked in so many parts.
President Barack Obama said the United States stood “ready to assist” Haiti after a powerful 7.0 quake rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by at least eight powerful aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater, the USGS reported. “People are out in the streets, crying, screaming, shouting,” Karel Zelenka, director of the Catholic Relief Services office in Haiti told The Washington Post. “They see the extent of the damage,” he said, but can do little to rescue people. “This will be a major, major disaster,” Zelenka told the Post.
Numerous public buildings were destroyed along with the palace, including the parliament building, the Finance Ministry, the Public Works Ministry, the Palace of Justice and Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Port-au-Prince, the national cathedral, Haiti TV reported.
The State Department has a phone number for Americans seeking info about family in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
UPDATE:The American Red Cross is pledging an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by this earthquake, and is prepared to take further action as local responders assess the situation. As with most earthquakes, we expect to see immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support.
The American Red Cross is accepting donations through our International Response Fund.
12 Comments
The people of Haitijust never seem to catch a break. My heart goes out to them.
Very sad$200,000.00 won’t go far. Pink wigged Televangelist Jan Crouch raised $2.5 million for a hospital but it ended in a “gay” feud and the hospital never got built.
The story from LA Times http://articles.latimes.com/20…
Why has there been no mention of the Dominican Republic?Haiti makes up the western half of the island of Hispaniola; the Dominican Republic is the eastern half. I would assume that such a large earthquake would have affected them as well, but nary a peep in the media. Where there no deaths in the country? No collapsed buildings? No damage at all?
(I have friends from the DR, so yeah, I pay attention.)
Good point, TechBearI’ve just popped this diary back to top and will look for stories/ info; if you find anything yourself, please share links here.
Got thisFrom Gather.com
DR issued this statementlast night
Obama to issue statement shortlyper MSNBC.
This is not the first time they have had an earthquakeIn fact, it happens on a regular basis. This one was worst that most of their past quakes but they had been warned repeatedly their shoddy buildings could not stand up to a major earthquake. They have also refused to control the population and have destroyed nearly all the trees in their country with no eye to the future. This is the mindset of Haiti’s “government”.
Now, having said that, I know they are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere so we should help them out THIS TIME. However, it is stupid on our part to overthrow their government, put in an idiot as dictator and then bail them out when the “leadership” of this country cares so little for their people. The “president” of this country throws cash at conservative causes that Haiti can ill afford, including anti-gay preachers in the US.
So, help them but with a warning this is it.
Thank you much for finding the info n/t
This is the last thing that Haiti needsand…in a disaster like this, no strings should be attached to the money.
Per Andrea Mitchell/ MSNBCUSNS Comfort out of Baltimore will be sent but won’t get there for awhile.
She mentioned another ship (not Mercy; ?Vincent?) but I can’t find any info.
These ships are amazing, btw and having sailed around them years back, I can tell ya they are HUGE from a waterline view…
I had been so insulated with that event, I hadn’t seen more than a mention on the NEWS 2 nights agoHearing the charity agencies on various NEWS channels and people trying to get word of families reminded me of Katrina. The poverty of Haiti also reminded me of New Orleans, that still hasn’t fully recovered five years later.