Obama promises swift US response to Haitian earthquake - Summary

Wed, 13 Jan 2010

Washington - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States will respond swiftly to assist the people of Haiti following the devastating earthquake, calling the destruction that hit the Caribbean nation "truly heart wrenching."The US military and Coast Guard has been conducting overflights to determine the extent of the damage and assistance and rescue teams were preparing to deploy to Haiti, Obama said.

"We must be prepared for difficult hours and days ahead as we learn about the scope of the tragedy," Obama said. "The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States."

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday afternoon, centered 15 kilometers southwest of the capital, knocking down buildings and leaving at least hundreds of people dead, according to UN estimates. Haitian President Rene Preval told the Miami Herald that he believes the death toll could be in the thousands but did not provide a more specific figure.

The Homeland Security Department said a US Coast Guard ship had arrived off Port-au-Prince early Wednesday with a capability to conduct helicopter flights, satellite communications and coordinate a possible military response.

Two Coast Guard C-130 airplanes are flying over the coast of Western Haiti to carry out damage assessments, the department said.

The US government was also trying to account for US personnel at the embassy in Port-au-Prince and other American citizens in the country, Obama said. Cheryl Mills, a senior official for Haiti at the State Department, said there are about 45,000 US citizens in the country. She said eight staffers at the embassy were hurt, four of them seriously.

Aerial surveillance showed that the damage appeared to be largely limited to Port-au-Prince and the immediate surrounding areas, Mills said.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti has been marred by civil conflicts and a series of devastating natural disasters in the last decade, including tropical storms and hurricanes that killed thousands in flooding.

Given Haiti's past, Obama said "this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible."

The director of the US Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, told reporters that 15 disaster assistance officials were expected to arrive in Haiti Wednesday to asses the situation, and 72 individuals specializing in urban search and rescue were soon to arrive.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was heading to the vicinity of Haiti to assist with rescue operations, and an amphibious ship carrying about 2,000 Marines was heading toward Haiti, said General General Douglas Fraser, chief of US Southern Command based in Miami, Florida. A decision about deploying the Marines into Haiti will not be made until the situation on the ground in Haiti has been assessed.

Fraser said there were no indications at this point of violence. "The situation is calm right now," he said.

The Vinson will bring increased helicopter capabilities to the situation and could help move resources around Haiti because the country's airport has a limited capacity for handling massive amounts of traffic, Fraser said.

Other parts of the US military have been put on alert for possible deployment to Haiti, the general said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/303610,obama-promises-swift-us-response-to-haitian-earthquake--summary.html.