Haiti Quake

[redrum]

It looks pretty awful and the usual donation scenario goes like this after a major tragedy:

USA: Billions in aid

China: Copies of restricted Google programs

Russia: Cases of vodka

Cuba: Che posters

North Korea: Hijack USA donation ship

Ain't it the truth?

[LarryD]

[~tangerine~]

Whatever the point of this topic, i am counting my blessings. Watching this tragedy on CNN and imagining what it must be like to be there is hard to comprehend. I have a coworker/friend who was born in Haiti and while her immediate family reside in the U.S. many of her cousins live there. I feel so sorry for those people. Watching the footage of them shows how strong they are as a culture. Helping each other in a hopeless time. A country full of poverty, but still just human beings like any of us. Bless them.

I want to add that Anderson Cooper is one of my heroes. He has so much heart and courage.

[eternal light]

^Anderson Cooper is a sweetheart, and the world needs more people like him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlPzO4D0kIM

[eternal light]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=T8EumlS4FsY

[~tangerine~]

^Anderson Cooper is a sweetheart, and the world needs more people like him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlPzO4D0kIM

Absolutely! http://www.yuddy.com/celebrity/anderson-cooper/bio

http://usliberals.about.com/od/peopleinthenews/p/AndersonCooper.htm

[eternal light]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=udgMClm9rVM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXOV-aYEA4

[eternal light]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_ZKd4LfE1fs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRD4khstj6U

[eternal light]

And we have lift-off at 6:48

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=PF1jrWHgKO8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WqgYFcjkNY

[Patrycja]

Whatever the point of this topic, i am counting my blessings. Watching this tragedy on CNN and imagining what it must be like to be there is hard to comprehend. I have a coworker/friend who was born in Haiti and while her immediate family reside in the U.S. many of her cousins live there. I feel so sorry for those people. Watching the footage of them shows how strong they are as a culture. Helping each other in a hopeless time. A country full of poverty, but still just human beings like any of us. Bless them.

I want to add that Anderson Cooper is one of my heroes. He has so much heart and courage.

Well said, ~tangerine~. A devastating disaster for a country already in a dire situation.

If anyone wants to help out, here are some links:

http://www.yele.org/

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=28833&tid=001

http://www.oxfam.org/

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/ Doctors Without Borders lost all three hospitals during the quake

[Juliet]

I pray for those who are waiting for help, those who have gone to help and those who have lost their loved ones..may you find strength and courage to get through this challenge..

Juliet xo

[eternal light]

It starts to shake at 0:14 and then a row of homes collapses. There is a population of about 3 million at risk in Haiti, about a third of Haiti's 9.6 million population.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7XIuZH-PViM

WASHINGTON — President Obama, facing the first large-scale humanitarian crisis of his presidency, moved quickly to send help to Haiti, pledging Wednesday that the Haitians and their devastated island nation would have the “unwavering support” of the United States.

Within hours of Mr. Obama being informed of the quake in Haiti on Tuesday, United States officials were plotting a response that included ships, transport planes, helicopters and thousands of Marines. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton decided Wednesday night to cancel the rest of her Pacific trip and return to Washington.

Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the United States Southern Command, said that one of the Navy’s large amphibious ships would probably be sent to Haiti, with a Marine expeditionary unit aboard, and that other American military forces were on alert, including a brigade of 3,500 troops. He said the Pentagon was “seriously looking” at sending thousands of Marines to help the disaster effort.

The Navy aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was deployed from Norfolk, Va.; military commanders said it should arrive in two days. In addition, White House officials said the military was looking into sending the Southern Command’s hospital ship, the Comfort, in light of reports that most of Haiti’s medical facilities were severely damaged if not destroyed. The Coast Guard also sent four cutters.

nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/americas/14prexy.html

roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/the-help-that-haiti-needs/

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8458690.stm

I have seen reports that some help has already arrived from Canada.

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Thu. Jan. 14 2010 12:41 PM ET

A massive military transport aircraft, loaded with members of the country's disaster response unit and humanitarian supplies, has landed in the disaster-struck capital of Haiti.

The Canadian Forces squad called DART, or Disaster Assistance Response Team, worked through the night at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., to load the C-17 cargo plane. It then took off at 5 a.m. ET for Port-au-Prince, and arrived around noon.

The DART team includes search-and-rescue technicians who will rush in with equipment and excavation tools to try to pluck out survivors who might still be caught under the rubble.

A medical platoon and a mobile medical facility will also arrive to help overwhelmed local Haitian hospitals, which have been inundated with injured survivors.

Later, DART electricians will work to help re-establish power and phone service destroyed by Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude quake, and engineers will help to get roadways and bridges operational again.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said search and rescue is the first priority for Canadian teams.

"Obviously, the first priority is to try and get those people who may be still alive and can be saved," he said. "As the days progress, we'll be working on humanitarian and other responses."

Along with the DART team, the C-17 is also loaded with a Griffon helicopter, fuel, clean drinking water and food supplies.

Two navy ships loaded with more helicopters and humanitarian supplies have also been dispatched to the area.

HMCS Halifax, which was ordered back to port Wednesday, is being sent with a Sea King helicopter, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said. Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan is scheduled to depart for Haiti Thursday, laden with additional emergency supplies.

A C-130 Hercules with 20 Canadian Forces personnel on board was the first to head into the region, leaving Wednesday morning.

The troops aboard that aircraft are considered a reconnaissance team and will provide Canadian officials with "an immediate, eyes-on assessment of the needs," MacKay told reporters.

CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife said the helicopters and ships will also be used to evacuate some of the 6,000 Canadians in Haiti.

"The government will begin evacuating Canadians not only to the Dominican Republic but also directly home," Fife told Canada AM Thursday.

"Senior officials tell me that a Hercules aircraft will take more than 100 Canadians to Montreal later this evening," he added, noting that Foreign Affairs Minister MacKay will be greeting them at the airport.

More than 100 Canadians are now in the Canadian embassy compound in Port-au-Prince, where tents, food, water and medical assistance are being provided. Another 48 Canadians could soon be brought in as well.

http://www.ctv.ca/se...ub=TopStoriesV2

January 14, 2010, 12:07 PM EST Bloomberg

Airport Opened

U.S. rescue teams have arrived and have re-opened the country’s main airport, which has a single landing strip, Clinton said on MSNBC.

The “United States is on the ground, we’ve got the 82nd Airborne on the way,” Clinton said in a FOX television network interview.

The New York Police Department said a 38-member search and rescue team was preparing to leave New York by midday.

Rescuers shouldn’t be hampered by the weather in Port-au- Prince, which is forecast to be partly cloudy, with rain possible in the afternoon and a high of 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit), according to AccuWeather.com.

Haiti’s population of 9.6 million has a per capita income of about $560, with 54 percent of Haitians living on less than $1 a day and 78 percent on less than $2 daily, according to the World Bank. The gross domestic product was $7 billion in 2008. The country is still recovering from four tropical storms or hurricanes that killed at least 800 people in 2008.

USAID said in a statement today it is sending 14,550 tons of food aid to Haiti to feed 1.2 million people for two weeks.

Aircraft Carrier

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, Coast Guard cutters and search and rescue teams from across the U.S., Latin America and Europe are arriving or already there. The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake was the “most violent” in Haiti in more than 100 years.

Exact estimates of casualties and damage aren’t yet available said the Red Cross’s Westphal.

A U.S. Coast Guard inspection found significant quake damage to piers at Port-au-Prince port that may limit the flow of relief supplies brought by sea in the next few days, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters in Washington.

Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates called off a trip to Asia to help coordinate relief efforts in Washington.

Field Hospital

Israel said it is sending a 220-person contingent that includes a field hospital and police officers. In Latin America, the governments of Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia were among those sending aid.

“We have a moral and ethical commitment to the people of Haiti,” Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet said in an interview on Radio Cooperativa this morning.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in Paris that three planes with military police and first aid have already arrived in Haiti and a fourth is on its way.

“A city has sunk and the toll is terrible,” Fillon said.

Germany’s Red Cross is airlifting a field hospital with doctors and nurses to Haiti tomorrow, Peter Ossowski, head of Red Cross logistics in Berlin, said in an N24 television interview. The tent facility will have space for 200 patients.

The U.K. has sent 64 fire fighters and eight search and rescue specialists to Haiti. The teams, which landed in Haiti this morning, are equipped with heavy lifting gear and search and rescue dogs, U.K. International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC. The U.K. will give $10 million to relief efforts, the government said in London.

Economic Damage

Economic damage may be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to estimates from Eqecat Inc., an Oakland, California-based company that builds financial risk models to help insurers prepare for catastrophes.

Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank that operates in more than 100 countries, said its three-story office building in Port-au- Prince collapsed. The bank is trying to account for 44 people who worked in the building, said Liliana Mejia, a spokeswoman for the New York-based bank.

Montreal-based Gildan Activewear Inc., the largest T-shirt maker in North America, said in a statement distributed by Marketwire that one of its three contract facilities in Haiti suffered “substantial damage.”

Search and rescue squads from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles have been sent to Haiti aboard U.S. military flights, Crowley said. Crowley said the U.S. Embassy is checking on the status of the estimated 45,000 U.S. citizens on the island, while it works to help direct relief efforts.

At least one U.S. citizen has died, Crowley said today.

The headquarters of the UN’s 9,000-person security mission in Haiti collapsed, hampering efforts to coordinate international aid. The UN said 22 staff were confirmed dead and at 56 were injured.

http://www.businessw...s-update1-.html

[The Rover]

Daily Mail UK Story & Pictures of the Devastation following the Quake

DALLAS ― One way North Texas is helping Haiti earthquake victims is by sending water filters because so many people will need clean water just to survive.

Texas Baptist Men are loading 5,000 water filters to send to Haiti. Their challenges are getting clearance from Port-au-Prince to bring in an airplane and to get security in place to ensure proper distribution.

"The infrastructure there has been virtually destroyed,” said Dick Talley, Texas Baptist Men disaster director. “We don't have the police and fire there we would normally work with, and so it’s imperative we are working with local people who have a system in place that can protect the filters and the people doing the distribution."

They are providing filters that will be highly sought after, since they make dirty water clean and can save more lives.

"You can live a month without food, but you can live three days without water," Talley said.

Texas Baptist Men don't know yet how many volunteers they will send.

The American Red Cross is trying to send mostly money. They say for each dollar you spend, 90 percent of it will go to Haiti.

If you want to help the people of Haiti, be careful which charity you choose.

The Better Business Bureau has warned fraudulent charities will likely emerge as they did after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. You can go to the Better Business Bureau's Web site to research a charity.

Samaritan's Purse is a VERY reputable relief organization. They were some of the first people on the ground with relief after the 2004 tsunami hit.

[eternal light]

Daily Mail UK Story & Pictures of the Devastation following the Quake

Wow! I just read through the Daily Mail's report.

I think it is good that the Canadians arrived quickly, as some of them are probably bilingual. French is a language often spoken in Haiti, maybe not so much English.

OTTAWA, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A specialized Canadian military team arrived in earthquake-ravaged Haiti Thursday aboard a C-17 aircraft containing a portable hospital.

The 20-member Disaster Assistance Response Team took off from Canadian Forces Base Trenton (Ontario) in the morning and a second C-17 took off in the afternoon.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, two Canadian warships with 500 sailors and tons of relief supplies also got under way for Haiti in what Defense Minister Peter MacKay told reporters was "record time," the Globe and Mail reported.

The mobile hospital can treat 250 walk-in patients per day and house 10 in-patients. The team also took water purification equipment, communications gear and rescue equipment such as concrete cutters and chain saws, the military said.

upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/01/14/Canadian-military-relief-arrives-in-Haiti/UPI-23441263478407/

First U.S. vessel arrives at Port-au-Prince

The Los Angeles County Fire Department's Gary Durian and rescue dog Baxter wait as other team members load supplies in Pacoima, Calif., to be flown to Haiti. The 72-member team is taking 55,000 pounds of search-and-rescue tools and medical equipment.

msnbc.com news servicesupdated 5:25 p.m. PT, Wed., Jan. 13, 2010

WASHINGTON - As the U.S. advanced its massive military response to aid survivors of Haiti’s earthquake, devastation greeted the first Coast Guard cutter crew to pull into Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

There were collapsed piers, toppled cranes and submerged shipping containers, Cmdr. Diane Durham, commander of the cutter Forward, told NBC News. Flames flickered in the distance on land.

“Catastrophic destruction,” she said when asked to describe the landscape.

Grim scenes didn't end there.

A helicopter sliced overhead. Inside the aircraft, critically injured personnel from the U.S. embassy were being rushed to Guantanamo for medical care, she told NBC News.

“It is hard to look out in this harbor and see a building that has not been affected,” she told The New York Times, “from the waterfront up the hills to the larger buildings.”

“Everybody in this city has been hit,” she added.

As the cutter crew was brief by their Haitian counterparts, the difficulty of the mission became clearer. An estimated 2,000 survivors had turned out for medical help at the Haitian Coast Guard facility.

Armada deployed to help

Officials said Navy ships, helicopters, transport planes and a 2,000-member Marine unit were either on the way to the impoverished nation or likely to begin moving soon.

Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of U.S. Southern Command, said that one of the U.S. Navy's large amphibious ships will likely head to Haiti with a Marine expeditionary unit aboard. Fraser said other U.S. military forces are on alert, including a brigade, which includes about 3,500 troops. Fraser said during a news conference with other U.S. officials that the Pentagon is "seriously looking at" sending thousands of Marines to assist with disaster relief efforts and security in Haiti.

President Barack Obama pledged earlier Wednesday "a swift, coordinated and aggressive" effort to help the people of Haiti overcome a "cruel and incomprehensible" tragedy."

The president said the relief effort is gearing up even as the U.S. government is working to account for Americans who were on the island nation when the disaster struck late Tuesday afternoon.

Dispatching troops

The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days to either help with emergency aid distribution or enforce law in order in conjunction with U.N. peacekeepers already there, Fraser said.

The general said that a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, is also heading from Norfolk, Va., to the area and should arrive Thursday afternoon after a stop off Naval Station Mayport in Florida to pick up helicopters, crews and supplies.

The USS Bataan, carrying Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, USS Fort McHenry and USS Carter Hall were ordered to get under way as soon as possible, and more vessels were ordered to stand ready to assist.

The USS Higgins from Naval Station San Diego was scheduled to arrive off the coast of Haiti on Thursday to provide logistical services for Coast Guard helicopters.

The dispatched troops would aim to keep the peace in the event of post-disaster unrest as part of a larger international effort overseen by the United Nations, whose peacekeeping operation headquarters was destroyed in the quake. About 100 U.N. personnel are believed to be trapped in the ruins of he building.

"It's going to be our assessments that are going to determine, in conjunction with (the U.N. mission) and the other international partners who are there, how best to deal with any security situations that come up," Fraser said.

"We don't know precisely what the situation is on the ground," he added. "So we're leaning forward to provide as much as capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there." More immediately, Fraser's Miami-based Southern Command is also dispatching a team of 30 people to Haiti to support relief efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake and make way for additional military aid.

Officials said two C-130 aircraft were departing Wednesday for Haiti with the team of military engineers, operational planners, communications specialists and a command and control group. The Air Force is sending people to provide air traffic control and operations at the Port-au-Prince airport.

Evacuations, deployments

Coast Guard helicopters early Wednesday evacuated four injured U.S. Embassy personnel to a hospital at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Southcom did not release their names.

Fraser said the military is also sending units to get Port-au-Prince's airport secured and operating again. The airport is considered "operational," he said, but the facility's tower and other operations were damaged.

Fraser appeared with U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah, the official named by Obama to coordinate American efforts in Haiti.

The president called upon all nations to join in helping stricken Haitians.

Obama spoke Wednesday in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room. Later, spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters the president had no plans to go to Haiti.

The president, who has been involved in ensuring a quick response since Tuesday night, said in a statement from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room that one of the government's top priorities is to quickly locate U.S. embassy employees and their families, as well as all other American citizens living and working in Haiti. He urged Americans trying to locate family members to contact the State Department at 1-888-407-4747. Obama sought to show a swift and united disaster response with the United States as an assertive leader, but he said the effort must be an international one. "We are reminded of the common humanity that we all share," he said, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.

The president outlined a series of steps to help the Haitian people and said the U.S. commitment to its hemispheric neighbor will be unwavering.

"We have to be there for them in their hour of need," the president said.

Obama adjusted his Wednesday schedule, canceling a jobs event in Maryland to better monitor the situation in Haiti.

msnbc.msn.com/id/34832613/ns/world_news-americas/

by Beth Reece

Special to American Forces Press Service

1/14/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Defense Logistics Agency staff here is preparing to provide humanitarian relief in response to the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti Jan. 12.

The agency's Joint Logistics Operations Center staff is coordinating support with U.S. Southern Command who are, in turn, working with the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development to assess the need for humanitarian support, said Marine Col. Scott Dalke, division chief at the joint operations center.

While no requests for support have yet been received, each DLA supply center is standing by and ready to meet requests, Colonel Dalke said.

"We have embedded a JLOC liaison officer with U.S. Southcom and will be sending an additional liaison officer for augmentation," the colonel said. The team will assist in coordinating relief items that could include food, fuel, medical supplies and blankets.

Navy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson, the DLA director, has pledged full support to SOUTCOM.

"I want to ensure that DLA is a key enabler to the disaster relief response," the admiral said. "This agency will lean forward to support all U.S. Southcom components and government agencies as required while continuing to provide seamless support to the global force."

af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123185385

Officials from the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla., deployed one MC-130P Combat Shadow from the 9th Special Operations Squadron Jan. 13, 2010 in support of humanitarian operations in Haiti. (U.S. Air Force file photo)

http://www.af.mil/ne...sp?id=123185617

This is the video of the Special Ops team taking off from Hurlburt Field yesterday. They have already arrived in Haiti by now.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=PF1jrWHgKO8

1/14/2010 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) – Airmen and C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Air Force Special Operaitons Command here landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the evening of Jan. 13 and are continuing to provide disaster relief to area ravaged by a 7.0 earthquake.MC-130H Combat Talon IIs and a C-130 from the 1st Special Operations Wing transported generators, vehicles, fuel, food and water, and communications packages, as well as specialty teams like special operations medical units and special tactics teams.

The Airmen will continue to support requirements as additional aircraft like the MC-130Ps Combat Shadows are en route carrying people and equipment.

In addition, two MC-130W Combat Spears from the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., are positioned at Hurlburt Field for additional support requirements.

aviationnews.eu/2010/01/14/usaf-special-operations-c-130s-airmen-provide-disaster-relief-in-haiti/

1/14/2010 - BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 12th Reconnaissance Squadron launched a Block 10 RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle from Beale Jan. 13 to assist with the humanitarian aid mission in Haiti after the country suffered a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Jan. 12.

The squadron received the short notice mission from United States Southern Command to provide imagery to assist in the continuing relief efforts.

The Global Hawk, a high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft, is equipped with an integrated sensor suite to include synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical and medium-wave infrared sensors.

"(The imagery) will help to characterize what regions of the country were hit hardest by the earthquake, and we can provide that imagery to our intelligence unit on base," said Lt. Col. Mark Lozier, operations officer with the 12th RS. "They'll exploit the imagery and send it back to the requesting end user."

Not only will the Global Hawk's advanced imagery provide an overall assessment of the damages, it will also help expeditiously direct aircrew flying into Haiti to deliver crucial supplies to those affected by the earthquake.

acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123185596

As initial Salvation Army teams arrive in Haiti to survey the damage, there is still work to be done at home.

The Salvation Army is asking residents to donate to the relief efforts by making a monetary donation at www.salvationarmyusa.org or by calling 1-800-Sal-Army.

A team of eight people from The Salvation Army started arriving in Haiti today (Jan. 14), assisting with damage assessment and evaluating the initial response to the devastating earthquake.

Communication between Salvation Army team members in Haiti has been limited, however, we know they are working diligently to help restore Port-au-Prince.

A preliminary assessment of The Salvation Army’s facilities in Haiti is bleak - the primary and secondary schools have been destroyed as well as the children’s home. The Salvation Army’s hospital outside of Port-au-Prince is sustained damage.

The Salvation Army has been operating in Haiti since 1950 and has 60 churches and community centers throughout the country. For the latest information about The Salvation Army’s activity in Haiti, please visit its Facebook pages at http://bit.ly/6T7KHa and http://bit.ly/6e9aUs.

panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/the_salvation_army_team_arrives_in_haiti/mbb7720837/

[eternal light]

Yesterday...

Los Angeles search and rescue team prepares to deploy to Haiti. CNN's Casey Wian reports.

- January 13, 2010

Search dogs mobilize around globe to help Haiti

At top, members of a 60-member Dutch Search And Rescue Team and their dogs stand at Eindhoven airport shortly before their departure for Haiti today. ED OUDENAARDEN/AFP/Getty Images)

Above, engineer Jason Vasquez and "Maverick," his 8-year-old German Shepherd search dog, trained to find live humans, and other dogs and handlers listen to a briefing as members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Task Force 2 Search and Rescue team prepare leave for Haiti to help in that country's devastating earthquake, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

At top, Gary Durian of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's urban search and rescue team plays with his dog, Baxter, at the department's facility in Pacoima, California, as the team prepares for an emergency mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

Above, members of the Mexican Navy along with sniffer dogs prepares to depart Mexico city for Haiti on Wednesday. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/mutts/blog/2010/01/search_dogs_mobilize_around_gl.html

Today, the Los Angeles Fire Department's search and rescue team has arrived in Haiti, but the airport and the streets are saturated and traffic is slow.

The search and rescue team with the Los Angeles Fire Department arrives at the Toussaint Louverture international airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (Lynne Sladky / AP Photo)

By Frank James

The logistical challenges of ferrying emergency responders and supplies into Haiti was underscored Thursday when the Federal Aviation Administration stopped relief flights from the U.S. because of capacity problems at the Port-au-Prince airport.

The Associated Press reported:

"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a ground stop on all flights from American airspace to Haiti to prevent planes from possibly running out of fuel. At one point, 11 flights were circling the quake-stricken nation with no clearance to land.

Haitian authorities are running air traffic operations into the country where U.S. military and civilian relief flights have been converging since Tuesday's disaster, officials said.

Military flights carrying generators, water purifying equipment and medicine have been given priority to land. The FAA has activated a crisis management center to coordinate U.S. air traffic into Haiti.

U.S. officials said the Port-au-Prince airport was saturated and ground operations could not unload and move supplies into surrounding areas quickly enough to open up more tarmac space."

There are reports that aside many of them being filled with rubble, the streets of Port-au-Prince are filled with people who are afraid to go indoors for fear of having earthquake-weakened structures fall on them. But the people in the streets are blocking the path of vehicles with emergency responders and supplies.

npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/01/faa_halts_us_flights_to_haiti.html

[redrum]

My point of course is that so many people spew hate against the USA, but in tragedys like this we are the first who come to help.

I went through the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and that was bad, but it pales in comparison to this.

[eternal light]

^We must give some credit to the other international groups that may have arrived before the United States, reportedly Belgium and Canada, and perhaps others. I do not know who actually got there first. But it is fair to say that the United States was among the first. Again, it only makes sense because Haiti is our neighbor. Canada is also close geographically, and very importantly, some Canadians are fluently bilingual in French, a language commonly used in Haiti.

[LarryD]

My "Voodoo" post was more in the line of how some religious leaders see it. Retribution for their pact with the Devil.

[granmastaj.zeppelin]

My "Voodoo" post was more in the line of how some religious leaders see it. Retribution for their pact with the Devil.

Are you referring to the great man that is Pat Robertson ?

[danelectro59]

My point of course is that so many people spew hate against the USA, but in tragedys like this we are the first who come to help.

I went through the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and that was bad, but it pales in comparison to this.

In this situation, bickering is the last thing needed. This already devastated nation has been dealt the severest of blows and need help in the worst way. I've heard that several nations, including some of our enemies, are lending a hand. I made a donation to a charity I trust just as i've done before when terrible disasters occur.

[eternal light]

What is good about this situation is the way that people throughout the world come together to assist those who are far less fortunate than them and in dire and immediate need.

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

Bad situation down there for sure I hope that they can clean things up before infection and disease set's in to bad.

I don't really like the way it's being plastered all over everything, I was walking through the living room where mom was watching it on the news and they where saying how they cant get any supplies into the country because of the airfield's being wrecked. I then said out loud ... "Well, they sure managed to get every reporter in the world in to show the aftermath!"

Sorry for the rant, but I just don't get it.

[DRUNK08]

You know what I think? Screw Haiti. It was a disaster zone before the quake anyway. Maybe this is God's plan for population reduction. They certainly needed it.

[eternal light]

Bad situation down there for sure I hope that they can clean things up before infection and disease set's in to bad.

I don't really like the way it's being plastered all over everything, I was walking through the living room where mom was watching it on the news and they where saying how they cant get any supplies into the country because of the airfield's being wrecked. I then said out loud ... "Well, they sure managed to get every reporter in the world in to show the aftermath!"

Sorry for the rant, but I just don't get it.

They had to establish communications though, and like it or not, the media are instrumental in aiding the flow of information to those who can benefit from it.

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

They had to establish communications though, and like it or not, the media are instrumental in aiding the flow of information to those who can benefit from it.

I understand where your coming from light but, the benefit's will be very low in this case. Even if this had happened here in the states or in another well funded country the massive amount of destruction is beyond belief and will take many lives.

I don't hate the people of Haiti but in a way Drunk8 has a point, when so much damage is done in so big a city there is little hope for the one's seriously injured that don't get medical attention in the first day or two.

The word's "Move on to someone you can help" are for sure being uttered all over Haiti!

That's why I don't like the mass press getting more attention than the people in need. I know it's there job but have some taste and dignity...please!