Posted on 01/23/2010 10:59:39 AM PST by topfile
The parents of Britney Gengel, the college student from Rutland still missing after the Jan. 12 eathquake in Haiti, returned home yesterday from a nine-day vigil at her Florida campus after hearing from the US State Department that the mission has shifted from rescue to recovery, leaving slim chances of finding any survivors.
“They will start pulling the building apart layer by layer,’’ Leonard Gengel read from a statement yesterday at Logan International Airport, referring to the hotel where his 20-year-old daughter had been staying when the 7.0 earthquake hit.
His voice breaking, he said, “We are asking our government to guarantee that every American dead or alive [in the hotel rubble] be accounted for and brought home in a dignified way.’’
The State Department did not immediately return a call yesterday.
-snip-
Leonard Gengel made an emotional appeal to President Obama last week, urging him to do more to aid the rescue effort.
Gengel told reporters yesterday that he never imagined he would be begging the federal government to bring his daughter home, dead or alive.
“It’s just unimaginable and unthinkable,’’ he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I guess I agree, everybody handles things in his own way and I do, of course, have the deepest sympathy for him and his wife.
If you are going to lay blame on any gov. than you need to blame the Haiti gov. not those working so very hard to help..the port was ruined..only four routes into the city, buildings blocking every effort. And zero infrastructure which millions had been sent ther efor for years and years..the gov. stole.
All nations are doing the best they can and it breaks my heart that people who are not there to really see the issues continue to sound like Chavaz...
Better we all should be thankful and grateful for the lives that have been saved and continue to.
I think they are fairly certain that the missing were in fact in the building as the one’s who got out stated they were.
I also understand they had the location of their rooms prior to the buildings fall. Let’s remember there were FOUR stories flattened to basically a roof showing and the debrie surrounding... Four levels on top of one another. The fact they got anyone out is quite amazing.
God help them all, and their loved ones.
It must be excruciatingly painful to think of your child dying a little bit each day, buried alive.
My prayers are with them.
I hope this disgusting inaction on the part of Obama comes back to bite him in the butt during the 2012 campaign.
I am very sorry for your wife and her family.
This tragedy has hit many American families.
Whilst Obama went on with his travels and his parties.
No, it’s the rodents and other animals that come in to eat them that spread diseases.
It is urgent to bury the dead, and if it can be done no other way, it has to be done with bulldozers and mass graves.
I question the priority of the Obama led US Government efforts in Haiti and assert that the known locations of large concentration of American Citizens in Haiti should have been explored first.
Respectfully, I'll let John Gianacaci, of Hopewell, N.J. answer you. His 22-year-old daughter, Christine, is one of the missing Lynn students.
"This is the United States of America. They perform miracles all across the world ... Where's our miracle?"
We are paying for some of the wife's family to relocate to the DR.
Everyday US Citizens and taxpayers who serve here and abroad are considered second class when American human life and politics collide.
I was wondering about that—couldn’t remember whether Haiti got the early or the late part of hurricane season. Actually, they probably get both.
There is definitely an urgency to relocate the hundreds of thousands who are homeless.
I hope your wife’s family can get to a safe place. How about here in the U.S.? Any chance of that?
The Un and the Haitai gov. are the ones in control...the Us military at the airport.
It is my understanding the Us did search for our citizens first. Important... where they could get thru. Many lives were saved for that...
There were many complaints that the Us was saving only there own, but that did not deter those engaged to save american lives..again.. where they could get thru to them.
Initially they didn’t even have simple tools as shovels, and picks.etc. to get thru the debrie...many stories of Haitians and others digging with their hands for hours only to have debrie fall and cave in.
...(”This is the United States of America. They perform miracles all across the world ... Where’s our miracle?”)...
Of course this is a grieving family and their question is understandable....many others have also asked this difficult question when a loved one is lost, without being in a earthquake zone..the if onlys are just as real and questions and or blame can abound.
Truly it is a heartwretching time and some may not have the answer or the miracle in the way they’ve hoped...others will. Somethings are beyond our knowing or understanding in this life...they just are.
In spite of what some neanderthals here want to believe, there was a growing middle class in Haiti that was raised and educated here, in Canada or in Europe. They were in Haiti trying to make something good happen for the country where their parents were born.
Which is almost worse than nothing in that country.
Have you ever been to the Caribbean, or the northern coastal countries of South America?
You think a couple of "chaperones" can protect them?!
That's hilarious.
I have to run large projects with teams of men (as in, guys who really don't have a problem defending themselves, most of them are from the garden spots of America such as East Oakland, San Leandro, West Hayward...Raiders fans, which anyone from the Bay Area will understand) and we don't even THINK about going to Haiti.
It's, um, a matter of knowing the territory.
Y'all just go right on thinking that it's just some sort of peaceful little place full of Virtuous Poor People, waiting for the day when The Beneficent White People will arrive to minister to them.
The reality is that they consider people like that to be food, and not much more.
It's really fun to read all the idiotic comments on this thread back to me. Everyone is so earnest! How nice.
Once again, twinkies....no one in their right mind sends a bunch of young girls to Port-Au-Prince on their own, and 2 clowns from some university is very much "on their own", maybe worse since they might have felt protected.
The only way you're protected in Haiti is if you happen to have a large caliber, high fire rate weapon and the willingness to use it if necessary.
It is obvious the French knew there were a number of foreigners (diplomats, military, business people, etc) at the Hotel Montana and sent a team there to rescue those that could be saved, probably for the sake of its own but fortuitously rescuing others whose governments spent no time trying
If you get in a tough situation in a foreign country these days, best to be French or Israeli- they feel an obligation to the safety and welfare of their own citizens abroad
unlike Hillary Rodham and the US ambassador to Haiti (anyone seen or heard from this person) who would not want to offend black Haitians by using the US embassy's resources to look for white and brown Americans
Foxnews said 3 days ago that there are approximately 7000 Americans unaccounted for in Haiti right now. They did show a stroy about this hotel his daughter is missing in. It was a 5 story concrete structure that is now about a 25’ high pile of rubble. There have been rescue crewds there since the night after it happened but so far they have only found one survivor and many bodies.
You get the prize. I saw those parents too, and I'm sorry but...clueless is the only thing that came to mind.
Here's what the U.S. Department of State has to say about that Garden Spot of the Universe:
CRIME: There are no "safe” areas in Haiti. There is a persistent danger of violent crime, which can be subject to periodic surges sometimes not obviously explained by other events or conditions. Haiti is among the four most important countries for drug transit to the United States. Law and order in Haiti has steadily deteriorated as a result. Kidnapping, death threats, murders, drug-related shootouts, armed robberies, home break-ins and car-jacking are common in Haiti.
And:
The U.S. mission in Haiti issues security related messages warning U.S. citizens of violent or unstable conditions and has been forced to suspend service to the public or close the Embassy because of security concerns. These concerns have also prevented Embassy personnel from traveling to or through some areas. Since October 2004 Embassy personnel have been prohibited from entering central Port-au-Prince after dark due to security concerns. The Embassy has also imposed a curfew on its officers. As a result, the ability of Embassy officers to come to the aid of U.S. citizens in distress may be limited. If situations occur where the Embassy must suspend operations or when officers are unable to travel freely, the Embassy will continue to be available by telephone to offer emergency services to U.S. citizens.
For those still unconvinced, read the whole thing here: US DoS Travel Advisory on Haiti.
I’m sorry for your loss. When they showed the pile of rubble that that hotel is now I can certainly understand how few if any could survive. It is literally a 25’ pile of concrete rubble.
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