7.0 in Haiti!!!

[Gustywind]

Earthquake
By Martin Bush <mb.haiti at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:43:13 -0500
http://www.stormcarib.com/reports/current/haiti.shtml

Almost two days after the earthquake hit at 4.50 pm on Tuesday. I was lucky. I was miles away in Montrouis sitting in a car in a traffic jam. My wife and chidren were at home in Petionville, but the house withstood the quake with no obvious damage. The scene in the capital is horrendous. Bodies are so piled up in some streets they are blocking vehicle access. Estimates are at least 50,000 dead and may go as high as 100,000. The scenes on CNN and the other channels bear testimony to the destruction and misery. The problem now is twofold. There is the immediate need to dig people out of the rubble. Hundreds of buidlings were destroyed and nearly all will have people trapped inside. Many will still be alive -- but not for long. Heavy machinery is needed. The other aspects is the homeless and injured people and families crowding into public spaces and sleeping in the open. Thankfully it hasn't rained and the satellite photos show clear skies across the caribbean.and the atlantic. Just in Petionville in the two small public areas : Place St Pierre and Place Boyer, there must be at least 5,000 people sleeping rough trying to manage with the elderly and young children. The trauma for the small children must be horrible. There is no food, no water, no toilets, no nothing. This situation is repeated all along Delmas and Canapa Vert, and of course it will be worse in Port au Prince. Along Canape Vert, the majority of houses were destroyed. Many areas look exctly like they were hit by a massive bomb

The relief effort is swinging into action. My view is that it gotten underway with speed and determination. Some people expect help to arrive within minutes, but a relief effort of any magnitude takes at least 24 hours just to get organised even before it sets out for Haiti. The Government itself of course is talking. And talking.

The UN system was hard hit. Hotel Montana collapsed when half the hillside slipped several metres. Hotel Cristophe-- the UN's main office centre-- was flattened. This may explain the lack of UN police and MINUSTAH on the streets during the 24 hours after the quake. Security is increasingly a concern. There are already reports of attempted highjacking of cars. MINUSTAH has to get an immediate and high profile grip on security -- working with the PNH. Reports say several prisoners escaped; others undoubtedy perished in the several police stations that collapsed.

This website gives the contact information for three good and reputable relief agencies. This is best way to help Haiti at the present time.

More tomorrow after I return to Petionville from Montrouis.

Martin



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Chris and Leslie Rolling in Haiti working to aid the Haitian people
By barbara jonusaitis <bjonusaitis at yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:27:41 -0800 (PST)


Hi, You may not realize that I have been a volunteer for Clean Water For Haiti for a number of years. I have copied into the note the text of an important letter that Chris wrote after working in Port au Prince for two days before any aid had arrived.


If you want to get a feel for the people who are running Clean Water for Haiti, Chris and Leslie Rolling, check out their blog.
It is simple, open and powerful communication about their experience. Their entries are from their personal experience, out among the people, in this crisis.

http://rollingsinhaiti.wordpress.com

http://rollingsinhaiti.wordpress.com/20 ... au-prince/
Chris's letter after rescue effort in PAP.

"

Earthquake Day in Port au Prince
13 01 2010
Yesterday was absolutely terrible. I’m going to share my whole experience because I’m hoping it will be therapeutic. In any case I think I’m going to have nightmares for a long time.

I spent the day in Port au Prince getting a loaner vehicle from the Toyota dealer and then taking care of some mission business. On my way out of town in the afternoon, I was on Delmas 9 (I think) and the loaner vehicle I had just picked up broke down. I called the dealer to come get it. Shortly after they arrived, the earthquake hit.

I’m ashamed of the first thought that went through my mind, which was “Cool, I’ve never been in a big earthquake before!” As the quake rolled on, though, I remembered the conversations I’ve had with the other missionaries about what an earthquake would mean for Haiti. Of course, it would be devastating. Construction materials and methods aren’t just shoddy, they’re suicidal, but now isn’t the time to rampage, just to tell you about my experiences.

I didn’t actually fall on the ground, but I stumbled around quite a bit. When the tremors ceased, a large dust cloud was rising from the building a few doors down. A 3 story school full of teenage girls had collapsed. I stood around looking stupid for longer than I’d like to admit. I looked at the truck from Toyota, tried to call my wife (the service was out) and looked around me at people’s reactions. Virtually everyone reacted in strange ways. Eventually, I went to the school and started working to pull trapped students from the wreckage.

The work was very hard because I was working by myself. People would come up and shout into the wreckage, “Is so-and-so inside?” at the top of their lungs repeatedly. I would ask for help in moving rubble and they would say they have to find their own people. One guy stayed and helped, on and off. I got one girl out, who was very frantic. I told her to stop shouting and pray for help. She was about 10 feet deep under the collapsed cement roof of the building. At one point I went and borrowed a hammer from someone to break up the large piece of cement that she was trapped behind. The aftershocks scared the crap out of me, and I really didn’t like being under that cement slab. There was an obviously dead woman under the slab with us.

When the girl was out, I took my hammer and moved over to find the next trapped girl. All I could see was her face and left arm, and she frantically called out to me. I asked her to calm down because it would help me to work and asked her to pray for both of us. She calmed down and became very brave. I was having trouble seeing her where she was jammed under the slab. I pulled out a very large piece of rubble that didn’t really help Jacqueline at all (her name was Jacqueline). There was some sort of object behind that rubble and when I went to move it it turned out to be another girl’s bottom. The girl cried out but I could barely hear her – her whole head was underneath rubble.

At this point I began to realize that I was in over my head. All I had was a hammer, and it was quickly becoming pitch dark with twilight fading and no electricity anywhere. I tried to borrow a flashlight, but it was impossible. I had a moment of feeling intense helplessness. After thinking and praying for a minute, I told Jacqueline that I had to leave her and find more help. I couldn’t do anything without a flashlight, and she needed to keep praying and remember that her parents were coming to look for her.

I walked 4 or 5 miles to a place where I could get a bus, then got on one eventually made it home just after 9pm. On my way home, I resolved to return to Port au Prince the next day with 2 trucks full of tools and workers to do whatever we could. I met a guy on the bus who was holding a sandwich. He had left his house to go buy a sandwich when the earthquake hit. He returned to his home to find it flattened, then went to the school that he teaches at to find it flattened. With nothing left but a sandwich in his hand, and $7 in his sock, he set out for Cap Haitien to be with the rest of his family.

I slept a little bit last night even though I kept thinking of Jacqueline and her classmate stuck in the rubble, in the dark. This morning all of the workers enthusiastically loaded all the tools we could use into the trucks along with food and water and set off for Port au Prince. I took them to the school and quickly made my way to the place Jacqueline and the other student were but both of them were dead.

Some of the local people had been working through the night to rescue their loved ones. They had found lighting and hack saws and had already pulled some people out, including a lot of bodies. We joined their efforts with our power tools. Quickly, we pulled out two more living girls and then a third. The fourth and fifth were a lot more work and each had a severely crushed foot. After that, there were no more cries for help, even when everybody went quiet in order to listen. Lots of dead bodies were still stuck, but getting at them would require large machines.

At that point, I decided to tackle the problem of the growing pile of bodies, which were starting to smell. A volunteer from the community collected all the identifying information he could, and the various family members all signed off. It turned out to be a mistake. The General Hospital, which houses Port au Prince’s only government run morgue, has been destroyed. After we had already loaded the bodies (10 or so) the problem was explained to me. I saw some nuns driving by and asked them where I could find a morgue and they told me that they buried their dead directly, and they heard talk of a big hole being dug out by Ti Tanyen for the others. So we unloaded the bodies back into the lane, where I’m sure they still remain.

We spent an hour boring a hole through a floor into a collapsed chamber to try to rescue a 2 year old child but the cries had stopped before we even began.

We’re not going to go back tomorrow because I strongly suspect that most people that can be rescued have already been rescued, and buildings that still have survivors will have plenty of volunteers from now on. Today was by far the most important day for rescues.

This has been a very emotional experience for me. The bodies stopped bothering me after a while, but I think what I will always carry with me is the conversation I had with Jacqueline before I left her. How could I leave someone who was dying, trapped in a building! That’s so wrong! At the very least, she needed someone to sit and comfort her in her last hours. But if I hadn’t found my way home last night, then today I wouldn’t have been able to bring the CWH crew in. Still, leaving her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. She seemed so brave when I left! I told her I was going to get help, but I didn’t tell her I would be gone until morning. I think this is going to trouble me for a long time."

Chris Rolling


Clean Water For Haiti

Please pray for the people of Haiti
forwarded by Your friend
Barb Jonusaitis

http://www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org

Please consider a donation to help support our work to aid the people of Haiti

[msbee]

and now we hear of an earthquake today in Venezuela.

Friday, Jan 15, 2010 @12:59pm CST

(Caracas) -- There were no immediate reports of damage after an earthquake struck coastal Venezuela.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a magnitude of five-point-six and was centered near the coastal town of Carupano.

The quake had a relatively shallow depth of just over seven miles.

The tremor was reportedly felt across a wide area stretching to the Caribbean island of Margarita, a popular tourist destination for European travelers.

[Stephanie]

Cuba is allowing US aircraft to pass through its airspace.


Live update scroll from BBC:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8460771.stm

That's good.

Our "little ring of fire" seems to be pretty active lately with Venezuela now getting an earthquake.

[mpic]

I can't tell you how many jet fighters were landing at Ellington AFB today in Houston. It was unbelievable. I know that there was a group with heavy equipment and trained rescue workers waiting there for a cargo plane to take them to Haiti, but don't know if they ever got one. I wonder if the jets were coming in to give them a military escort.

[HURAKAN]

Aftershock

MAP 4.6 2010/01/15 20:04:11 18.439 -72.856 10.0 HAITI REGION

[HURAKAN]

Another aftershock:

MAP 4.5 2010/01/15 21:04:50 18.071 -72.288 33.8 HAITI REGION

[HURAKAN]

Today local radio stations in English and Spanish, and I would imagine also in Creole, have been receiving a lot of the items that are needed in Haiti and from what I have heard in the radio the outpouring of the people has been tremendous. Great to see.

[RL3AO]

I'm always very proud of the US response to these disasters. Our military response combined with the civilian response is so many levels above what any other country does.

[Dionne]

I'm always very proud of the US response to these disasters. Our military response combined with the civilian response is so many levels above what any other country does.

It is because we are capable of launching a full scale rescue. We're the closest major world power. The Dominican Republic got there first. I'm not sure but it would appear from various reports that CNN beat the 82nd in country. I really hope this isn't true.

[Sanibel]

2056 Reuters news agency quotes secretary of state for public safety Aramick Louis as saying the authorities have buried 40,000 bodies and believe another 100,000 probably died.

Word in US has gotten water stations set-up in various parts of the affected area.


While some are giving thanks for no rain a good downpour might be the only hope of survival for those trapped under rubble and dying of thirst hoping to get a trickle through the cracks.


Unfortunately most supplies are still log-jammed at the airport.


If I was in charge I'd be showering airdrops of individual survival biscuits and bread.

[Ptarmigan]

40,000 people buried in mass graves, with another possible 100,000 dead. A total of 140,000. This is the worst since the Indian Ocean Tsunami. This is the worst disaster in the Western Hemisphere.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1552739.htm

[HURAKAN]

A total of 140,000. This is the worst since the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1552739.htm

Actually it's the worst since Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis

[Stephanie]

At least it does seem like the helping is starting to make it to those in need.

[lurkey]

I'm always very proud of the US response to these disasters. Our military response combined with the civilian response is so many levels above what any other country does.

It is because we are capable of launching a full scale rescue. We're the closest major world power. The Dominican Republic got there first. I'm not sure but it would appear from various reports that CNN beat the 82nd in country. I really hope this isn't true.

LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS

you don't just snap your fingers and the 82nd is there . . . there is a ton of people, equipment, supplies and supplies and equipment to support the 82nd to get there. . . then the airport was mess, so that had to be cleaned up. .. . it doesn't take much to get a group of what. . less than 20 people with minimal luggage and small amount of video equipment to get in. . . plus CNN probably has less diplomatic BS and red tape to go though . . the US is trying to respect Haitian sovereignty here .. .so the Army and Marines can't just land. . .I don't want to imagine the international nightmare if the US did that.. .


. . . let me also say for the record I am a military brat. . . there whole units devoted to the logistical support of the Marine battalions (my dad was Navy, btw,, but he assigned to a lot of Marine bases) . .. companies love to hire these people because of their experience of supply chain management (aka logistics)

[Stephanie]

Right lurkey, not to mention that the roads are in poor shape and in many cases impassable. If it was easy, this wouldn't be the catastophe it's shaping up to be.

It's just frustrating to know that the help is there but it's having a hard time getting to those that need it the most. I'm sure that those on the ground ready to act are beside themselves.

[Ptarmigan]

Actually it's the worst since Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis

Forgot about Nargis.

[HURAKAN]

Felt Reports

Severe damage and casualties in the Port-au-Prince area. Felt throughout Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in Turks and Caicos Islands, southeastern Cuba, eastern Jamaica, in parts of Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and as far as Tampa, Florida and Caracas, Venezuela.
Tectonic Summary

The January 12, 2010, Haiti earthquake occurred in the boundary region separating the Caribbean plate and the North America plate. This plate boundary is dominated by left-lateral strike slip motion and compression, and accommodates about 20 mm/y slip, with the Caribbean plate moving eastward with respect to the North America plate.

Haiti occupies the western part of the island of Hispaniola, one of the Greater Antilles islands, situated between Puerto Rico and Cuba. At the longitude of the January 12 earthquake, motion between the Caribbean and North American plates is partitioned between two major east-west trending, strike-slip fault systems -- the Septentrional fault system in northern Haiti and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system in southern Haiti.

The location and focal mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with the event having occurred as left-lateral strike slip faulting on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. This fault system accommodates about 7 mm/y, nearly half the overall motion between the Caribbean plate and North America plate.

The Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system has not produced a major earthquake in recent decades. The EPGFZ is the likely source of historical large earthquakes in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673, and 1618, though none of these has been confirmed in the field as associated with this fault.

[Derek Ortt]

What is wrong with the UN?

CNN has been reporting that the UN evacuated the doctors from a hospital for "security concerns" and left the patients with only Sanjay Gupta left to care for them

CNN has Gen. Honore on and he said we should send the 82nd airborne down to correct this situation. Both him, and Cooper were beyond ticked off

[Sanibel]

MSNBC said the roads are fine. TV crews that are filming the pictures you see are using them fine. I suspect the hold back is a security concern and they are waiting for troops to arrive...

[mpic]

I guess I just don't understand anything about protocol. They need to forget about the government's feelings or whatever, move in security forces and distribute all that water , food, and medical supplies off the tarmac at the airport and get down to business. Can someone please explain this to me? Watched the special last night on tv and you could just feel the frustration that Diane Sawyer was talking about.

We have a highly trained crew with equipment and supplies sitting here in Houston at Ellington AFB that can't go because the airport is full in Haiti. Geez! People are dying!