7.3 Earthquake Devastates Impoverished Haiti

TheCypressTimes.com ^ | 01/12/2010 | John G. Winder

[Patriot1259]

Immediately following the quake a Tsunami alert was issued for the Caribbean region including Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Aftershocks in excess of 5.0 have continued to hit the island.

Seventy per cent of Haiti's population lives on less than two dollars per day and half of its 8.5 million people are unemployed.

[hal ogen]

The situation in Haiti is sad...always has been corrupt and misguided. It has been a black hole for USA aid money. However, can’t the 50% unemployed get jobs cleaning up their broken, crummy, degenerate country?

[PGalt]

WOW! Thanks for posting. I was in Dominican Republic last January on vacation and decided not to go this year.

[screaminsunshine]

It is indescribably awful. A quake there will be devastating.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

The situation is bad in Haiti—but the Earthquake is the least of their problems.

[ohiogrammy]

What is a reputable charity to help these people? I see Food for the Poor is there and I like World Vision, anyone know who might be the best to donate to to help these poor victims?

[hinckley buzzard]

Haiti is the original "failed state"--it was Somalia before Somalia was cool.

Information is slow to develop tonight. CNN is running a loop of some seismologist explaining about earthquakes for the second or third time.

[hinckley buzzard]

The Haiti ambassador just pointed out that the UN has 9000 troops stationed there. Maybe they can get off their asses and do something useful.

[PowderMonkey]

"...can’t the 50% unemployed get jobs cleaning up their broken, crummy, degenerate country?"

LOL! I spent several years working in Haiti. I posed a similar question during a seminar at the Foreign Service Institute some years back. Nearly got run off the campus for it! A guest speaker had cited several billions of dollars poured into that sink trap over the preceeding 10 years. I quickly worked with my pocket calculator and stated that it would have been far less expensive for the U.S. Govt. to cut a cheque for $50K to every man, woman, and child on the island each January, and let them spend it as they wished. The reaction was startling to say the least. It was as if I had drop kicked someone's puppy across the room: "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW FOREIGN AID WORKS!" ...ahem, yes I do. It works very badly.

[cherry]

this info will be used or ignored by the zero administration.....

just like the genocide in Africa during the Toon time......

rats and liberals and that ilk are not the caring,loving,concerned people that want the general public to believe.....

it'll be up to the conservative churchs and their members to help in this crisis..

but then again, the leftists may choose to "use" this crisis...

[irishtenor]

Earthquake devastates Haiti, $97.54 damage.

[wardaddy]

Poor Haiti...die was cast there 200 years ago when they ran off the only folks who could help them

heartbreaking place

[Rushmore Rocks]

I donate frequently to Samaritan’s Purse. It’s Franklin Grahams’s charity. (Billy Graham’s son)

[robomatik]

i've posted this before, but here it is again.

equake 3d is real time global monitoring software (linked to the USGS). it is very customizable, and is less than 1mb in download.

it is available for free here

[i_dont_chat]

Former President Bill Clinton, the U.N.’s special envoy for Haiti, issued a statement saying his office would do whatever he could to help the nation recover and rebuild.

________
It is a crisis of culture ~ a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”.

[MisterArtery]

In an effor to shed himself of Willie Boy Clinton, Zer0bama named him envoy or something to Haiti. Is he down there now looking for destitute nookie?

MrA

[PapaBear3625]

The Haiti ambassador just pointed out that the UN has 9000 troops stationed there.

A lot of them are probably US troops. We've been there since Clinton. The news media doesn't mention our troop presence in Haiti.

[irishtenor]

So Clinton is down there trying to bring them up to our level while Barry is trying to bring us down to their level.

[mom4melody]

We support Samaritan’s Purse as well

[mom4melody]

We support Samaritan’s Purse as well

[PapaBear3625]

Correction to my last post — after looking further, it appears the US military does not have a significant presence there.

[HereInTheHeartland]

CNN says largest earthquake in their history.
This will be real bad; 10’s of thousands of deaths might be on the low side.

[Petronski]

Quote:

I've been on three medical missionary trips to Haiti. I just got off the phone with the Monsignor who I accompanied on two of those trips. Early word is that Port-Au-Prince is a dust bowl, that the non-reinforced brick structures just crumbled and turned to dust. No construction there is earthquake resistant. Monsignor expects death tolls to be in the tens of thousands.

This is very bad, folks. Please drop the jokes and just pray for these poor people.

Source

[ohiogrammy]

Nine thousand? Good grief! I wonder if they too eat mud sandwiches like the children of Haiti.

[Waco]

Good thing we got several trillion laying around gathering dust, which the commicrats can shovel in there, while taking a cut for themselves. Ain’t taxpayer money wunnerful? sarc

[silverleaf]

Check out Catholic Relief Services, usually they do a great job

[Mister Muggles]

Barak Obama doesnt care about black people!

[stbdside]

Not funny at all.

[Publius6961]

It is a crisis of culture ~ a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”.

I really wish many freepers were capable of focusing.

This is not about Chicago; or Philadelphia; or Cleveland; or East LA; or...

Never mind.

[Ax]

I was in my wife’s hospital room this evening in Boynton Beach, FL. She had just emerged from a successful breast cancer surgery procedure. We were watching the TV when the news of the devastating earthquake hit Haiti. There are many of the hospital staff that are from Haiti and still have family there. These poor people have no way of communicating with their families there. This is just catastrophic. They know that they can count on continuous flights of USAF C-130s arriving, carrying relief supplies. Hopefully, the US Navy will have relief ships operating in the area.

[stbdside]

The U.S. Navy could bring in their hospital ships (USNS Mercy/USNS Comfort).

[Petronski]

[Publius6961]

The news media doesn't mention our troop presence in Haiti.

Or any exit strategy whatsoever.

By the way, how are our troops in Bosnia doing? What's it been? 15 years?