Haiti's Devastating Earthquake

This morning, people in Haiti are awaking to the aftermath of a devastating 7.0 earthquake in their small, impoverished nation. Reports about the devastation are still sketchy after the quake hit at approximately 5 PM yesterday. One clinical health director in the capitol was quoted in the NY Times in an e-mail yesterday, “Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS . . . Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us.”

The National Palace has collapsed, the United Nations mission headquarters as well, giving one the impression that if these buildings have gone down, the condition of the average structure in the city must be even worse. A hospital collapsed in Petionville, one of the richest districts in Port-Au-Prince. There are fewer reports from the vast poor districts, where housing is not so well constructed.

The Huffington Post lists several relief organizations working in Haiti. The Sioux Fall, South Dakota Argus Leader reported on two groups, Helping Hands for Haiti and Kids Against Hunger, who were attempting to bring aid and food to Haiti when possible. One Helping Hands staffer, Dave Oswald, who returned last week from Haiti, is quoted as attempting to find his contacts, despite the lack of phone service to Haiti, to regain the ability to get food to people directly via commercial flights. He stressed the role of nonprofits as opposed to the Haitian government, which has a reputation for taking days or weeks to distribute aid and from which a significant portion is siphoned off by black marketeers.

The BBC calls Haiti "The Worst of Places for a Big Tremor," cting not only the nation's poverty, but also the relative lack of preparedness for infrequent quakes in the Caribbean. The last earthquake, in 1946 on the Dominican Republic's side of the island of Hispaniola it shares with Haiti, took almost 2,000 lives.