Apocalyptic quake crushes Haiti: 'The end of the world' - Feature

Wed, 13 Jan 2010

Sao Paulo/Port-au-Prince - Haiti collapsed into chaos at 4:53 pm (2153 GMT) Tuesday. The worst Haitian earthquake in at least a century devastated Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished Caribbean country. Hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, are believed to have died. More than 20 strong aftershocks were felt in the city of 1.9-million people.

Blood-stained residents wandered in panic and shock through the streets of Port-au-Prince as the earth shook time and again.

"This is the end of the world," said a young woman who saw out the quake on a hill.

Another eyewitness estimated that 40 per cent of the homes and buildings in Port-au-Prince were destroyed or damaged.

"It's an apocalypse ... People are in the streets, sitting around and waiting. Many are aggressive. There are many dead. The few hospitals still functioning have no medicine," she said.

The Haitian telephone network broke down. For hours there was almost no contact with the Caribbean country. Information became available very slowly.

Many Haitians eventually managed to ask for help through the internet, sending photos, on-the-scene videos and comments via Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

When darkness fell over Port-au-Prince, people stayed outside and slept under the stars, wary of the danger from shaky buildings.

As the earth shook, taller buildings collapsed and buried people under them. The ground swallowed up cars. Streets buckled. Power and telephone lines were pulled loose.

In the dark night, people dug through debris with bare hands to rescue those who were trapped, following the cries for help. Television footage showed one man screaming in pain as others tried to free his left leg from the debris. The only light came from houses caught on fire.

"A nightmare," one Haitian said via Skype.

Some people received emergency treatment on the dusty streets.

The Red Cross estimated that 3 million people - about one-third of Haiti's population - were affected by the quake.

The dazzling white presidential palace collapsed, as did the Roman Catholic cathedral. The quake took down several high-rise buildings used by the United Nations, which has a stabilization mission of 9,000 troops in Haiti since 2004. UN peacekeepers from Jordan, China and Brazil died in the temblor.

Haitian President Rene Preval said that thousands may have died. The rush was on to rescue as many as possible within the first 48 hours, as the international community sent help.

"Walls everywhere have collapsed. I ran for my life. People were screaming, 'Jesus, Jesus!' It was completely unreal, totally upside down. I ran out of my hotel room, and the wall collapsed immediately next to me," photographer Ivanoh Demers told Canadian online magazine cyberpresse.ca.

Around 200 people went missing amid the rubble of the popular luxury tourist spot, Hotel Montana.

The Haitian Ambassador in the United States, Raymond Joseph, spoke of a disaster, but noted that the troubled Caribbean country is used to crises.

"The only thing I can say is that the Haitian people are a really courageous people, and in the past, when we have been hit hard, we come back fighting," Joseph said in a telephone interview with the Boston Globe. "With the help of everyone, we'll live through this."

A hospital-ship was urgently needed.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, buffeted by political strife and fierce weather. In the summer of 2008, four back-to-back hurricanes and tropical storms battered the country. Even in normal circumstances, there is little infrastructure.

New York's police commissioner Raymond Kelly, who visited Haiti recently to evaluate emergency infrastructure, told US television there was "no fire department, no rescue teams" in operation even before the quake.

The United Nations, European Union, United States, Brazil, Taiwan and other countries were organizing rescue teams, equipment and food for the shaken country amid severe transport difficulties. One aid worker told CNN that motorbikes were the only motorized transport that could get through.

Port-au-Prince airport was closed. An American Airlines airplane was the last to take off, shortly after the quake. When it arrived in Miami, Haitians on board were not rejoicing over the safe flight out of chaos, but rather worrying about the uncertain fate of their families and friends back in Haiti.

They feared the worst.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/303614,apocalyptic-quake-crushes-haiti-the-end-of-the-world--feature.html.