President Obama spoke today about the devastation the earthquake in Haiti caused and pledged full support to help them as much as possible.
President Obama extended "the deep condolences and unwavering support" of the American people to Haiti today, and pledged "full support" for rescue and humanitarian assistance.
"For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible," Obama said at the White House following a National Security Council meeting.
The scenes of collapsed buildings and bodies in the rubble are "heart wrenching," Obama said. "Our thoughts and prayers are also with the many Haitian Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home."
For Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti, Obama provided a State Department telephone assistance line: 888/407-4747.
If you want to help the people of Haiti, our Kindness blog is providing a handy guide.
Thousands of people appear to be dead and that number could grow significantly.
Thousands are feared to have been killed in a massive earthquake in Haiti, President Rene Preval told a US daily Wednesday as he issued a plea for international help. In his first interview since Tuesday's 7.0 quake, Preval told the Miami Herald that his Caribbean nation was destroyed and he believed thousands were dead, but he was unable to provide an exact number.
"We have to do an evaluation," Preval said, saying the scene was "unimaginable."
"Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," he said."There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them," he said adding that among those trapped inside the parliament building is the president of the Haiti's Senate Kely Bastie
We have a new "widget" on the top right column of C&L underneath our "sister sites" widget which is a "Live Updates from Haiti" via Twitter feed.
I hope the president didn't act too swiftly on Haiti's behalf for the conservative movement. How long before we hear that he cares more about Haitians than the American people?
