Massive Eathquake hits Haiti: 7.0
(Tequila Minsky for The New York Times)
What a nightmare for Haiti. There has been some good news for them lately (Despite Years of Crushing Poverty, Hope Grows in Haiti)but not after this.
A powerful earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing the presidential palace and numerous other critical government buildings and raising fears of substantial casualties in what a witness called “a major, major disaster.” The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by at least eight powerful aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater, the USGS reported. "People are out in the streets, crying, screaming, shouting," Karel Zelenka, director of the Catholic Relief Services office in Haiti told The Washington Post. "They see the extent of the damage," he said, but can do little to rescue people.
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Numerous public buildings were destroyed along with the palace, including the parliament building, the Finance Ministry, the Public Works Ministry, the Palace of Justice and Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Port-au-Prince, the national cathedral, Haiti TV reported. The headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission sustained serious damage and a number of personnel were unaccounted for, said U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy. He said other U.N. installations also were seriously damaged. The U.N. has a 9,000-member peacekeeping force in Haiti, following a 2004 rebellion. A local employee for the U.S. charity Food for the Poor said more buildings were destroyed than were left standing along Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare in the city.
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I've been through two massive earthquakes and I know the feeling of dread. A 7.0 feels like the end of the world. It's a horrifying experience, but the buildings in California are built better than the structures in Haiti. After you go through an earthquake the after shocks are actually more terrifying.
?
Not since the latter half of the 18th century. This quake was also shallow (6 miles down) so the damage will be worse.
The people of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage." J.K. Galbraith
No question about it. As someone who became interested in Haiti during the 2004 US-supported ousting of (democratically-elected) Aristide, I'm amazed at our disregard for the welfare of Haitians. Sadly, we've been treating Haiti this way for many, many years. It's not hard to find MANY examples of our contempt for democracy and human rights in that country, with both Democrats and Republicans in power.
Here's what Noam Chomsky says about it:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/US_Ha...
Interesting article.
Haiti is already the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, how will they recover/survive?
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
How tragic, how catastrophic. Instead of fighting climate change and natural disasters, to say nothing of crushing poverty, we spend a 1/3 of our Treasury to kill people
Radix Omnium Malorum Avaritia
then by installing a "model democracy", kinda like ours and the one we're gonna cram down Iraq's throat.
And more Jeebus. Gotta have more Jeebus...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
They will survive because they are tough people and they know how to survive. They have been pretty much on there own since their revolution in 1804.
We have good friends in Haiti and have been trying to find out if they are okay. We gave them a barometer as a house warming present so they would know in advance if a Hurricane is coming, but there is currently no home appliance that can warn of an impending earthquake.
I hope that the people of City Soleil were not terribly harmed. Flat, sandy, and areas of residual material can become liquified like quikesand if shaken hard enough and that is pretty much what City Soleil is.....with horrible sanitation to make matters worse.
Haiti is the second oldest democracy in the Western Hemisphere and the world have turned its back on these people.
'We, the People'............rimshot................hahahahahaha!
I'm not sure the world turned it's back- for example, the US and France especially have taken a great interest in Haiti... albeit for selfish, money-driven interests
Bullshit!
'We, the People'............rimshot................hahahahahaha!
I'm saying that the US and France have made Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere through active meddling. Sure, the world has turned its back on the interests of the people of Haiti. Of course. But it is the US and France (primarily) that have fucked Haiti for years.
Haiti did not become so poor because we turned our backs, but because we are (and were) actively interested in exploiting them.
I take your point that Haiti was exploited by first world nations, but since being stripped clean of resources the country and its people have been largely left to its own suffering.
BTW Our friends in Haiti are okay much to our relief but there really has been no information on City Soleil, perhaps the absence of bad news is good news.
I found some of the comments on this thread yesterday frighteningly ignorant and not worthy of this site.
'We, the People'............rimshot................hahahahahaha!
for what is being exploited currently. or the article I posted on this thread. Overthrowing Aristide isn't enough evidence?
Close enough.
Mother Nature is very cruel.
This is very horrible. I hope we send a bunch of help.
I have been through a few quakes - it is very scary.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
why most natural disasters almost always involve those who are the most needy?
I figure it's because they got the shittiest real estate.
me-oww!
Its God's will, didn't you know that? He only has disdain for those dirty, brown/black poor people. The rich are doing His work, so he doesn't do much to them. / end snark
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.phoenixjustice.com
They didn't have the money to prepare, even though they sit on/near a fault line. That or they just ignored it.
As a native Californian, I can attest there is very little one can do to prepare for an earthquake.
To suggest it's the Haitians fault by ignoring the problem is callous, cold, and cruel. Not to mention idiotic.
He really does seem to have it out for those poor countries. If it ain't droughts or tsunamis, it's earthquakes.
God is an asshole. It's either that or he/she/it doesn't exist and this planet is swinging around its sun at just the right distance to produce such effects.
Republicans are silent as usual because they wouldn't have anything kind to say about "those people"
Maybe except that they should "pull themselves up by their bootstraps"
will donate as much money to Haiti as they did to bail out Warren's OC real estate mess.
My guess is no...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
The people of Haiti have the Mark of Cain and probably, like New Orleans flood victims, ignored evacuation warnings until it was too late.
Explain how one evacuates for an earthquake.
80% of Haitians are Roman Catholic...
MSNBC is displaying telephone numbers for donations: 800REDCROSS and 8004UNICEF. CNN was covering the quake when I last looked but Fox News had Ann Coulter on talking about Harry Reid.
anniversary from the divorce of his better half, Alan Colmes...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Our earths core is growing heavier with the minerals and metals moving outwardly to the surface as it spins. This according to the HOPI indians of Arizona is the reason we are experiencing more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and is the real cause of the so-called global warming and weird weather changes we are experiencing. The say eventually the core will be ejected as part of our planetary evolution at the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. We will pass from this earth and(die)from this current corrupt fourth world and be reborn perfected in the fifth world as the new Morning Star taking the place in planetary orbit where Venus once was. The HOPI say that both Venus and Mercury will be absorbed into our sun...read about it people...understand the HOPI Prophesies....Peace to you my brothers and sisters...
Text "Haiti" to 90999 & a $10 donation will be made to Red Cross relief efforts. The charge will appear on your phone bill. How cool is that?
These people will be starving by the end of the week.
I want to reach through the Internet and strangle someone are few and far between. The last time was when someone back in 2004 said - and repeated, with conviction - that the 240,000 victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami brought it on themselves because they a) weren't Christian and b) weren't white.
I wanted to kill the fool, just to prevent him from sullying the gene pool.
I may not be able to restrain myself if some dingbat pulls the same crap here.
MSNBC's website carried some video. Horrific. The AP is reporting that the capital is largely devastated, and the death toll will likely be high.
Give what you can, to the Red Cross and to Unicef. The people of Haiti were struggling before this quake; this will only compound their problems.
Some lunatic on Morning Joe was wondering what God was thinking, trashing such a poor country as Haiti.
If there is a God, he's got a sick sense of humor, I can tell you.
I felt a minor tremor in south central Mexico this morning at 9:05 am. I lived through a 6.4 quake in Italy last April so I am always on alert. Earthquakes seem to happen around full moons and eclipses. The solar eclipse happening on Friday, January 15 will be the strongest and longest lasting until the year 3045. Keep your shoes by the door.
It makes me wonder about the States. It's been said that the San Andreas is overdue slipping again. Tremors in the Midwest (Madrid fault line) have been more prominent than usual as of late. I live right next to that sucker...the last one, a year or so ago, was like 3 or something, unusually strong for us. That one is supposed to be overdue for a major slip also. Then we got Yellowstone and Mt. Ranier. Too scary even to think about. It seems to me this stuff always happens in swarms.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
Saw where the Fairfax COunty, Virginia Search and Rescue folks were gearing up to head down. They've been there before. Some other people from this country, too. People love to hate us but we always seem to step up in situations like this. But, alas, we seem to lose interest when the dust settles. Wonder why that is?
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