Posted on 02/04/2010 12:21:56 AM PST by jerry557
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – The death toll in the Haiti quake has swelled to 200,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said as angry protests over the slow arrival of aid flared on the rubble-strewn streets.
More than three weeks after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, Bellerive said his tiny Caribbean nation had been ravaged by "a disaster on a planetary scale" and detailed the tragic toll suffered by his people.
"There are more than 200,000 people who have been clearly identified as people who are dead," he said in an interview with AFP, adding that another 300,000 injured had been treated, 250,000 homes had been destroyed and 30,000 businesses lost.
At least 4,000 amputations have also been carried out due to horrific crush injuries -- a shocking figure which is likely to strain the impoverished nation's already meager resources for years to come.
Bellerive said he has proposed the formation of an "emergency government" in Haiti to focus on the crisis, but insisted that the authorities, devastated as their ranks have been by the disaster, remained "in control of the situation."
Despite a massive aid operation, a lack of coordination and the sheer extent of the damage have hampered the distribution of food and water leading to mounting tensions among a million people left homeless.
"The Haitian government has done nothing for us, it has not given us any work. It has not given us the food we need," Sandrac Baptiste said bitterly as she left her makeshift tent to join angry demonstrations Wednesday.
With tensions running high in the ruined capital Port-au-Prince, some 300 people gathered outside the mayor's office in the once upscale Petionville neighborhood.
"If the police fire on us, we are going to set things ablaze," one of the protesters shouted, raising a cement block above his head.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
They should be more concerned of the outbreak of disease.
Im sure they’ve been concerned about that for awhile.
Haiti = Hell on earth. We should take a lesson from their plight. It could happen to us just as easily. Be prepared.
Title should read, “Fear of unrest grows a bit more than before the earthquake.”
“We should take a lesson from their plight. It could happen to us just as easily. Be prepared.”
To a degree, yes. However, I think that within 10 to 14 days things would be survivable in most places in the U.S. where the transportation is better, prosperous and well-stocked cities within a few hours drive, etc. But the old “3-days, 3-ways” preparations at a minimum should be 7 days I think before you can expect to have reliable outside help.
My 15-year old son was bemoaning how much money the charities are spending on trying to raise money. I used to have issues with that as well, but “it takes money to make money”. Plus, I think he was getting tired of the commericals. Perhaps thinking “that is such old news”.
I told him that folks down there are probably still waiting in line to get one meal to last two days. Dying in the lawn outside of the hospitals due to lack of supplies, or poor post-op treatment. And still sleeping under a blue tarp in the park. It will be a LONG time before they can bring themselves back up to Third World status.
It would depend on the “nature” of the disaster I think as well as the location of course. I just think it’s important to consider our own vulnerability as we evaluate this Haiti situation because, eventually, mother nature will visit us again. It’s inevitable. What’s more, there are man made disasters waiting to happen that could be just as bad if not worse. Look at Chernobyl for example.
“It would depend on the “nature” of the disaster I think...”
Very true. I’m in the Seattle area so I tend to focus on the effects of a huge quake. But I think you are correct in that a nuclear disaster (plant malfunction in a populated area, or a terrorist dirty bomb) could in some ways be worse. Or a biological weapon even worse.
I think I have my hands full with thinking about the next 9.0 EQ though!
I had the opportunity to tour the plant site nearly 20 years ago. Strangely enough, now that the numbers are in, they indicate a handful of people who've died from radiation-related causes. A few hundred, at most. And thousands who've died from stress-related causes -- heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, depression, suicide, etc. The reaction to the "katastrofi" harmed more people than the event itself.
I have seen/heard widely disagreeing evaluations on the Chernobyl aftermath. I wouldn’t trust the Russians to report the pravda on anything let alone a national humiliation like this though and I wouldn’t trust our nuclear power loving government to be any more honest about it.
Your nuclear-loving government? You must be French. The American government is left-wing, and hates nukes.
The left wildly claim to this day that millions died because of Chernobyl. The truth is that a few 10’s of people died early on, and a few hundreds later.
B.) the left wing of our government just proposed a revolution in nuclear energy.
C.)Nobody has claimed that millions have died in Chernobyl
E.) The truth is, nobody (including you) knows how many people died during Chernobyl or after because the Soviet government covered the whole thing up from the very beginning.
F.)there was not one factual statement in your entire post
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