Haiti Quake

[Juliet]

Hello:

I hope the supplies arrive soon...there is looting now as people become desperate...

God speed to all those bringing food, water and medical care...

There will be a special Larry King Live on Monday January 18...Mick Jagger among others will be there...I believe it's a fund raiser..

[LarryD]

Wow!  What a subject for people to be trolling on about!  Despicable! Racism has no place here.

I haven't seen one post here that's racist.  You're the first one to bring that up.  I've seen a post or two about a population that breeds like there's no tomorrow and objections to that.  I happened to have touched on their "Voodoo" practices which is contrary to Christian belief and damned to hell by those who practice it.Embrace the diversity! I see it throughout the streets!

[Pb Derigable]

A television reporter ask a man walking down the street what he thought about the Haiti quake. He said,

FUCK HAITI.

I kinda have to go with that answer and not go hog wild with my new found ability to post videos of random shit in Haiti

[ledzepfvr]

It was a lack of compassion for humanity and the terrible plight those people are going through that was posted here that was shocking to me, not that it was racist. But a reader could possibly take it that way considering the ethnicity of people there. Would that lack of compassion still hold if it were in your back yard? Those people need help as in a disaster such as this people of the world cannot just turn their back regardless of what was going on before.

[bigstickbonzo]

If anything, an event like this just shows how morally corrupt we humans really are. It takes an act of biblical proportions for people of all different creeds to come together and work for a noble cause.

[DRUNK08]

I don't understand why anyone is posting news about this. It's already everywhere. How about we keep it to a discussion?

I saw a documentary on Haiti, where these compassionate white doctors decided to open up clinics there in order to help the people etc.

The Haitians were so ignorant and lazy, that they clinics would have to send nurses to the patient's homes, to remind them to take their medications. Otherwise, these people would just not take them. And we are talking about chronic diseases like HIV, that need to be treated.

What does that tell you? If these people won't even take care of themselves, then what is the point of helping them?

[eternal light]

^Because in some cases the news is more relevant than the discussion. Facts are at least as important as opinions.

The point in helping them is that next time you could be in their place instead, desperately needing the help of a stranger. You must treat them the way that you would want them to treat you if that were you. Or if that were to happen to one of your most cherished loved ones, treat them the way you would want them to treat those most important to you if they suddenly were to find themselves in desperate need with only a stranger to turn to for help.

You would not want people to abandon you if you were in that situation. Neither should you abandon them. And this is more than a mere matter of people taking medication or a nurse visiting from a clinic, it is a severe emergency.

Your physical body is temporary, only your soul is permanent, if well-maintained. When you stand at the gates of heaven someday, do you think that He will first check to see the color of your skin, or will he first look to see what is in your heart?

Daphkalia Brignol, 8, recovers from a head injury on Friday, January 15, 2010, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A door fell on her head and trapped her during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Seattle Times

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A stream of food, water and U.S. troops flowed toward Haiti on Saturday as donors squabbled over how to reach hungry, haggard earthquake survivors still trying to claw others from ruined buildings before the dying became the dead.

Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies — not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press. He said a final toll of 100,000 dead would "seem to be the minimum."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was expected in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, to confer with President Rene Preval and U.S. and international officials.

She said officials are in a "race against time" before anxiety and anger plunge Port-au-Prince into lawlessness.

The U.S. military operating Haiti's damaged, clogged main airport said it can now handle 90 flights a day, but that wasn't enough to cope with all the planes sent by foreign donors and governments, prompting some to send help by land or by sea.

France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet told The Associated Press that he had filed an official complaint to the U.S. government after two French planes, one carrying a field hospital, were denied permission to land.

A plane carrying the prime ministers of two Caribbean nations also was forced to turn back late Friday due to a lack of space at the airport, the Caricom trade bloc announced.

Haitian President Rene Preval urged donors to avoid arguments.

"This is an extremely difficult situation. We must keep our cool to do coordination and not to throw accusations at each other," Preval said after emerging from a meeting with donor groups and nations at a dilapidated police station that serves as his temporary headquarters due to the destruction of the National Palace and many ministries.

In Washington, President Barack Obama on Saturday enlisted the help of his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, to lead a national drive to raise money for earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The two former presidents have set up the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to accept donations to help the Haitian people rebuild their lives.

msnbc.msn.com/id/34829978/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/?gt1=43001#storyContinued

PORT-AU-PRINCE—Against increasingly high odds, search teams and rescue workers around the capital of devastated Haiti have found more survivors under the rubble.On Friday, the fourth day of recovery efforts after a magnitude-7.0 quake that toppled countless homes and buildings, British firefighters pulled a 2-year-old girl from a fallen building.

Seven people were freed from the Montana Hotel Thursday night and Friday, including four Americans who were up and walking soon after being hauled from the wreckage.

Even an Australian television crew got in on the rescue effort, digging out a healthy 16-month-old girl from beneath her destroyed hillside home about 68 hours after Tuesday’s earthquake.

The crew was about to film an interview when neighbors and reporters heard the toddler’s cries.

“We had to break some walls,” said David Celestino of the Dominican Republic, who was working with the TV crew. “We had a big hammer, we made a hole, and she came out to the light. She basically walked out to me.”

Also on Friday, rescuers found 19-year-old Josyanne Petidelle.

She had already been three days under the rubble, and when rescuers pulled her from under a collapsed concrete house, they told her weeping relatives to dump her broken body with the other corpses on the sidewalk.

‘She’s alive!’

The family protested, saying she deserved better.

So a Mexican rescue worker leaned over and felt Petidelle’s throat. Then he looked up at her relatives and shouted: “She’s alive! She’s alive!”

Petidelle’s rescue sent shudders of excitement and hope running down the street, where crowds flocked to congratulate themselves on what they viewed as something short of a miracle.

newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100116-247761/Theyre-alive--More-miracles-in-the-ruins

Elliane Garcon, below, cries as she watches the body of her husband, Rene Morancy, being dumped from a front loader into a truck as crews remove bodies from the streets in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Seattle Times

The Associated Press

BELLEVUE, Wash. — People gathered in a Bellevue church on Friday night to remember a local woman killed in the Haiti earthquake.

They walked into St. Louise Catholic Church carrying candles and photos of volunteers working in Haiti, including Molly Hightower of Port Orchard.

The recent college graduate volunteering at a Haiti orphanage was killed when the Port-au-Prince earthquake struck. Her family found out she had died on Friday.

Her grandfather told those gathered at the Bellevue church about Molly's love for family and softball and her dedication to her work with Haitian orphans.

When the earthquake struck, Molly was more than halfway through a year of service working with orphans and disabled Haitian children.

---

Information from: KING-TV, http://www.king5.com/

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010811515_apwahaitimissing.html

I'll remember her for her smile, her work in the service of others, and the life that she unselfishly gave. She was a light in the world.

Excerpts from Molly Hightower's Blog

Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - The woman wailed outside the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, the iconic Roman Catholic church that symbolized Haiti's religious fervor.

"This is what God did!" she cried Friday morning. "See what God can do!"

Tuesday's earthquake brought down the roof of the enormous pink-and-cream church, filling the apse and nave with tons of rubble. The quake punched out its vivid stained glass windows, twisted its wrought-iron fencing and sliced brick walls like cake. The western steeple, which had soared more than 100 feet, toppled onto parishioners praying at an outdoor shrine to St. Emmanuel. Flies buzzed around the pile of copper, plaster and felled columns.

The senior Catholic figure in the country, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, was killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. As many as 100 priests were still missing, sacristan Jean Claude Augustin said.

By the cathedral's ruins lay a small blue copy of the New Testament. Sheet music for Christian hymns was scattered through the street.

latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-haiti-church16-2010jan16,0,1031432.story

It is as if He spoke himself.

[BUCK'EYE' DOC]

I don't understand why anyone is posting news about this. It's already everywhere. How about we keep it to a discussion?

I saw a documentary on Haiti, where these compassionate white doctors decided to open up clinics there in order to help the people etc.

The Haitians were so ignorant and lazy, that they clinics would have to send nurses to the patient's homes, to remind them to take their medications. Otherwise, these people would just not take them. And we are talking about chronic diseases like HIV, that need to be treated.

What does that tell you? If these people won't even take care of themselves, then what is the point of helping them?

This is true of people in the United States, too, and I would presume in other countries, as well. Social workers, nursing students, nurses and others go to people's homes, even in Columbus, to make sure that the poor patients are complying with their meds, that new mothers are taking proper care of their babies, and that others are getting their bandages changed, etc. It is not unique to Haitians to have follow up care at home. It is because the people are un-educated about such matters, because they are poor and do not have adequate resourses. That is why the "compassionate white doctors" are in Haiti. To help them. It has nothing to do with the people being "lazy". And I believe that comment has underlying racial tones to it, lurking just below the surface, as I mentioned earlier.

The lack of compassion here for fellow human beings is uncomprehensible.

The only way that I can understand it is that you are trolling for an argument, as I said earlier.

Peace to you, DRUNK08. I hope that you can open your heart to the plight of these poor people. Haiti is probably one of the worst places on earth that this earthquake could happen.

[~tangerine~]

My employer (a University Hospital) is collecting clothing to send to Haiti. I am happy to be able to give a couple bags of mostly children's clothes. I know they will be very much appreciated. This is a great way to allow people to donate generously and make a difference. Especially for those who have financial restraints. Reminds me of sharing my daughter's old clothes with my friend Marie when her youngest daughter was born two years ago.

My friend has not been able to make contact with her family members (an Uncle and many cousins). What an empty feeling that must leave her (Marie).

I want to again applaud Anderson Cooper for all his heart and soul... and of course Dr. Sanjay Gupta, what an amazing man. I was also touched by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/story/2010/01/16/sp-basketball-dalembert.html

The people of this country don't deserve this misery any more than any other innocent human being.

[eternal light]

It was one of those flukes of history that the current situation developed. Aid is slowly getting to the people, but I am hoping that they can get through this period without additional turmoil.

January 17, 2010 -- Updated 0206 GMT (1006 HKT)

Video - U.S. troops hand out meals as Haiti relief effort takes shape

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- U.S. helicopters carrying food hovered above the ground in one area of the battered Haitian capital on Saturday, flinging out boxes to the anxious crowd.

It was a chaotic scene as hundreds of Haitians without food and water for four days swarmed toward the boxes, ignoring the wind and dust kicked up from the helicopters' blades.

A similar scene erupted Friday when a food convoy with the World Food Programme was forced to leave an area after men in the crowd starting pushing and shoving their way to the trucks.

Elsewhere, people stood in long, orderly lines for food, according to a CNN crew, although anxiety about whether there was enough to go around permeated the wait.

In Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, U.S. troops handed out about 2,500 meals Saturday, before they ran out. Seventy soldiers arrived with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Petionville to set up a distribution base and a landing zone for helicopters. They began handing out meals about 2 p.m.

"Our goal is to get supplies out to the people who need it the most," Col. Mike Foster said. "We got a good start."

Authorities set up more than a dozen aid distribution points across battered Port-au-Prince, as aid workers toted medical supplies into the battered island nation.

Still, although some progress could be observed four days after Tuesday's devastating earthquake, problems persisted.

A CNN crew observed U.N. World Food Programme personnel who were trying to move food from a warehouse damaged from the earthquake. The building has large cracks up its side, weakening the walls. Its doors could not be forced fully open to allow a forklift through, so workers were painstakingly hand-carrying the supplies out.

Despite the difficulties, the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, said he did not believe that violence will increase, as long as distribution of food continues.

"I think it won't get any more violent than it is now," he said.

Also Saturday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush kicked off a fundraising drive -- a donation push called the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, similar to the appeal led by Clinton and Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, for the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami. The drive was announced at the White House, with President Obama flanked by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.

"We're moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts in our history to save lives and to deliver relief that averts an even larger catastrophe," Obama said.

Obama said his predecessors will tap into "the incredible generosity, the ingenuity, the can-do spirit" of Americans.

The leaders said the best way for Americans to help Haiti is to donate money.

"I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water," Bush said. "Just send your cash."

Aid delivery has been slowed by damaged roads, the destroyed port and bottlenecks at the airport.

As TV images showed people jostling for aid, U.S. officials reiterated what they said has been a continuation of relief efforts: Ongoing search and rescue operations; the establishment of 14 aid distribution points; finding alternatives to the damaged port, distributing water containers, water purification units, medical supplies, and establishing medical clinics and field hospitals.

Israel was establishing a field hospital to treat thousands of victims from the earthquake, expected to absorb 500 casualties a day.

The U.N. World Food Programme said it plans to reach 2 million people "with one-week rations of ready-to-eat food," and UNICEF said it is distributing water purification tablets, dehydration salts and other supplies, specifically to halt diarrhea infections and diseases.

The U.S. Southern Command said the military is supplying many resources. About 4,200 U.S. military personnel are currently supporting task force operations, and 6,300 military personnel are scheduled to arrive by Monday, the command said.

Aid efforts from the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier off the coast of Haiti, were in full gear Saturday, with flights transporting concrete-breaking equipment, medical supplies and water. Some of those flights are ferrying aid from the airport to the surrounding region and choppers have rescued two American citizens.

The U.S. Agency for International Development said Saturday that the USS Carl Vinson has delivered more than 30 pallets of relief supplies for transport by helicopters.

The U.S. Naval Ship Comfort pushed out of the Port of Baltimore for Haiti on Saturday and is expected to arrive late next week. A full-scale medical hospital, the craft is equipped with one of the largest trauma facilities in the United States. It was in Port-au -Prince in 2007, and again in 2009, on humanitarian missions, and its medical workers tended to many Haitians during those visits.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Haiti on Saturday, with top relief officials and aid. She returned to the States later Saturday with Americans who had been evacuated, State Department officials said.

USAID chief, Rajiv Shah, who was traveling with Clinton, said some roads have been cleared in Haiti and that water purifications systems have been sent.

A major shipment of medical aid was being trucked to Haiti through the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a Red Cross spokesman said.

Six truckloads of "urgently needed medical equipment," including a field hospital, and 50 people specializing in health, water, and sanitation, were en route, he said. A Finnish Red Cross plane also landed in Port-au-Prince with a "badly needed mobile medical clinic, he said.

edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.international.aid/

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

This is true of people in the United States, too, and I would presume in other countries, as well. Social workers, nursing students, nurses and others go to people's homes, even in Columbus, to make sure that the poor patients are complying with their meds, that new mothers are taking proper care of their babies, and that others are getting their bandages changed, etc. It is not unique to Haitians to have follow up care at home. It is because the people are un-educated about such matters, because they are poor and do not have adequate resourses. That is why the "compassionate white doctors" are in Haiti. To help them. It has nothing to do with the people being "lazy". And I believe that comment has underlying racial tones to it, lurking just below the surface, as I mentioned earlier.

The lack of compassion here for fellow human beings is uncomprehensible.

The only way that I can understand it is that you are trolling for an argument, as I said earlier.

Peace to you, DRUNK08. I hope that you can open your heart to the plight of these poor people. Haiti is probably one of the worst places on earth that this earthquake could happen.

Yeah OK, I see your point but, there is the idea that a group of poor people that have little to live for may not see some thing like taking care of there bodies a first priority.

Desperate men do desperate thing's but, if you've known nothing but poverty all your life then you just do with out!

Sad but true?

[eternal light]

Food in Daily Life. Nutritional deficits are caused not by inadequate knowledge but by poverty. Most residents have a sophisticated understanding of dietary needs, and there is a widely known system of indigenous food categories that closely approximates modern, scientifically informed nutritional categorization. Rural Haitians are not subsistence farmers. Peasant women typically sell much of the family harvest in regional open-air market places and use the money to buy household foods. Rice and beans are considered the national dish and are the most commonly eaten meal in urban areas. Traditional rural staples are sweet potatoes, manioc, yams, corn, rice, pigeon peas, cowpeas, bread, and coffee. More recently, a wheat-soy blend from the United States has been incorporated into the diet.

Important treats include sugarcane, mangoes, sweetbread, peanut and sesame seed clusters made from melted brown sugar, and candies made from bittermanioc flour. People make a crude but highly nutritious sugar paste called rapadou .

Haitians generally eat two meals a day: a small breakfast of coffee and bread, juice, or an egg and a large afternoon meal dominated by a carbohydrate source such as manioc, sweet potatoes, or rice. The afternoon meal always includes beans or a bean sauce, and there is usually a small amount of poultry, fish, goat, or, less commonly, beef or mutton, typically prepared as a sauce with a tomato paste base. Fruits are prized as between-meal snacks. Non-elite people do not necessarily have community or family meals, and individuals eat wherever they are comfortable. A snack customarily is eaten at night before one goes to sleep.

everyculture.com/Ge-It/Haiti.html

Let's take a call from Albert in Orlando, Florida. Albert, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. ALBERT (Caller): Hi, yes. I just want to let you - I'm happy to be on. I'm glad that you guys are taking out the time to actually learn about the country prior to the disaster that's happened now.

I just want to let people know about, like, the contributions that Haiti has made. You know, it was stated before, you know, after our war for independence, Haiti was involved in the war of independence in Latin America with Simon Bolivar in Venezuela and Colombia and Bolivia, and also, Haiti prior to even our own revolution, Haiti contributed troops to the American Revolution. About 6,000 soldiers were sent from Haiti to fight in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. These were soldiers who were told that they'd be granted freedom if they went and assisted the French effort for the American Revolution.

And also, the city of Chicago was founded by a Haitian. I forgot his first name, but the last name was Du Sable. He settled there. He set up a trade post there, which formed the colony around it. And as a French colony, Haiti also produced over 60 percent of the world's sugar and coffee, and for me, that just goes to show the potential that the country could have had economically speaking if efforts are taken to reverse the deforestation that was done in the mountains. The climate and the setting there could really - I mean, that's what they should be working towards. You know, agriculturally, there's a lot of potential in the country.

npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122573600

Haitian food is similar to the rest of the Latin-Caribbean (the French and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Antilles) however it differs in several ways from its regional counterparts. Its primary influence derive from French, and African cuisine, with notable derivatives from native Taíno and Spanish culinary technique. Though similar to other cooking styles in the region, it carries a uniqueness native only to the country and an appeal to many visitors to the island. Haitians use vegetables and meats extensively and peppers and similar herbs are often used for strengthening flavor. Dishes tend to be seasoned liberally and consequently Haitian cuisine tends to be moderately spicy, not mild and not too hot. In the country, however, many businesses of foreign origin have been established introducing several foreign cuisines into the mainstream culture. Years of adaptation have led to these cuisines (ie: Levantine from Arab migration to Haiti) to merge into Haitian cuisine.

Rice and beans in several differing ways are eaten throughout the country regardless of location, becoming a sort of national dish. They form the staple diet, which consists of a lot of starch and is high in carbohydrates. In the more rural areas, however, at great distances from the major cities, other foods are eaten to a larger degree such as mais moulu (mayi moulen), a dish comparable to cornmeal that can be eaten with sauce pois (sos pwa) [a bean sauce made from one of many types of beans such as kidney, pinto, or garbanzo beans, or pigeon peas]. Mais moulu can be eaten with fish (often red snapper), or alone, depending on personal preference. Tomato, oregano, cabbage, avocado, and red and green peppers are several of the many types of vegetables and fruits that are used in Haitian dishes. Banane Pésée (Bannan Pézé), flattened plantain slices that are fried in oil (known as tostones in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), are eaten frequently in Haiti as both a snack food and as part of a meal. They are frequently eaten with tassot and/or griot, deep-fried goat and pork respectively.

Haiti's History Created Bond With Many US Blacks

Country Was First Black Republic Of West

JESSE WASHINGTON, AP National Writer

A terrible earthquake anywhere in the Caribbean would have hit a sympathetic nerve in most Americans. But as the first black republic of the West, born when slaves overthrew white rulers, Haiti holds a unique place in the hearts of many American blacks.

That's why Toussaint Tabb, a college student named after the Haitian slave-turned-general who led the revolution more than 200 years ago, was jolted when he saw televised images of the devastation in Haiti.

"They looked just like any other black people over here in America," said Tabb, a history major at North Carolina Central University. "They're the same people."

"I would say it hit home harder because it was a predominantly black country, and my name is Toussaint and it's Haiti."

Joel Dreyfuss, a native Haitian and editor of the black-oriented Web site TheRoot.com, said American blacks easily "could have ended up in Haiti instead of the U.S., depending on where the slave ship stopped."

"I think there is a connection," Dreyfuss continued. "It's not unreasonable or racist, it's human nature, just as Jews identify with Israel. ... There's a natural sense of identification with people who look like yourself."

Much of that connection revolves around racial issues, said Jean-Max Hogarth, a physician born in the United States to Haitian immigrants.

Haiti's status as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere "has a lot to do with the fact it has been independent since 1804, it had a long period of discrimination, it had to pay reparations" and had corrupt dictators, said Hogarth, whose medical practice donated a five-figure sum to send him and other doctors to Haiti to treat earthquake victims.

"That has created further solidarity with African-Americans," he said. "We think about Haiti being a nation that gained its own independence through struggle. It gives a sense of pride not only for Haitians, but for African-Americans as well."

Under French rule, Haiti's abundant sugar plantations made it perhaps the richest colony of the Caribbean. The slave rebellion began about 1790 and a leader soon emerged: Toussaint L'Overture. After years of fierce fighting, L'Overture was captured by Napoleon's forces and died in France.

The rebellion lived on, and Napoleon's mighty forces were defeated. Haiti declared itself a nation on Jan. 1, 1804. For years to come, however, Haiti would pay reparations to France.

The loss of Haiti's riches and strategic location was part of Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States.

In America, where blacks were still seeking freedom, there was pride and wonder that Haitians had seized their destiny. This left an indelible imprint on African-American culture.

"The negro character at that eventful period, burst upon us in all the splendor of native and original greatness," read a 1827 edition of "Freedom's Journal," according to the new book "African Americans and the Haitian Revolution."

In 1893, the black abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass said Haiti's revolution "struck for the freedom of every black man in the world." After a trip to Haiti in the 1930s, the poet Langston Hughes wrote of "people strong, midnight black ... mulatto politicians, warehouses full of champagne, banks full of money."

Artist Jacob Lawrence painted a 1934 series based on the Haitian revolution. Duke Ellington's jazz symphony "Black, Brown and Beige," which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1943, paid homage to the Haitian soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War against the British.

Charles Mingus' 1954 jazz classic "Haitian Fight Song" appeared years later in a car commercial. In her landmark 1975 play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf," Ntozake Shange named a main character Toussaint.

A Hollywood film about the life of the Haitian general is in the works, directed by Danny Glover and tentatively starring Don Cheadle.

"Throughout history, you have all these remembrances," said Maurice Jackson, a Georgetown University professor and co-editor of "African Americans and the Haitian Revolution."

Jackson also cited the challenges Haiti faced as a black nation existing just south of a slaveholding giant such as America refusing for decades to recognize or trade with the new republic.

"There's no doubt Haiti was treated differently because they were a black nation," Jackson said.

America occupied Haiti from 1915 until 1934, then supported a series of dictators until 1990. Today, Haitian refugees are treated differently than those from other nations, which many believe is partially due to race.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, a child of Jamaican immigrants whose Brooklyn, N.Y., district includes many Haitians, has visited the island three times. She said many African-Americans are deeply touched by the Haitian earthquake because it's reminiscent of the destruction Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans.

Many blacks in her district have offered their assistance and expertise to the relief effort, and "many find it perplexing that there's a nation with this much poverty so close to America."

That includes Toussaint Tabb: "Had not that quake happened, I wonder if anybody would be talking about Haiti."

The 20-year-old was named Jerrell Toussaint Tabb by his parents. As a youngster he was embarrassed by his middle name, until he learned its origins.

A few years ago, he started using Toussaint as his first name.

wsbtv.com/news/22258976/detail.html

As expected, there was a collection for relief to Haiti at church today.

crs.org/

[eternal light]

My employer (a University Hospital) is collecting clothing to send to Haiti. I am happy to be able to give a couple bags of mostly children's clothes. I know they will be very much appreciated. This is a great way to allow people to donate generously and make a difference. Especially for those who have financial restraints. Reminds me of sharing my daughter's old clothes with my friend Marie when her youngest daughter was born two years ago.

My friend has not been able to make contact with her family members (an Uncle and many cousins). What an empty feeling that must leave her (Marie).

I want to again applaud Anderson Cooper for all his heart and soul... and of course Dr. Sanjay Gupta, what an amazing man. I was also touched by this story: http://www.cbc.ca/sp...-dalembert.html

The people of this country don't deserve this misery any more than any other innocent human being.

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

[Atlas]

I had not been following this disaster. I finally saw something about it with Anderson Cooper last night. I look at this situation and wonder why the US can bomb Iraq back to the stone age, but we can't do much to help the people of Haiti.

Perhaps FEMA is too busy building detention camps and planning false flag actions.

I would give money, but that really won't make a short term difference. We should have resources ready to address such a disaster. Haiti is right on our doorstep. PR is almost swimming distance.

What they were saying last night is that the UN pulled their doctors you because they sense a security problem.

[Juliet]

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

Hello:

I saw the report where Dr. Gupta was helping that little baby...

Juliet

PS There is a concert on Jan 22 to be broadcast on MTV hopefully other networks will carry it

PSS More Canadians are going to help ...BON CHANCE

[Atlas]

Hello:

I saw the report where Dr. Gupta was helping that little baby...

Juliet

PS There is a concert on Jan 22 to be broadcast on MTV hopefully other networks will carry it

PSS More Canadians are going to help ...BON CHANCE

Raising money is all good and well, but what is needed right now is hardware and qualified personnel on the fucking ground, RIGHT FUCKING NOW! The richest, most powerful nation in world history has that and is just sitting on the sideline watching. All at the same time we are occupying foreign lands half way around the world.

Now if Haiti had lots of oil....

[LarryD]

Now if Haiti had lots of oil....

They might've had enough resources to take care of themselves.

[Atlas]

Quite honestly, I view this situation as a measure of how well the USG could respond to a disaster in the US. Like I said, PR is right next door.

What would happen if PR was hit by a quake?

For those who are not willing to help out of compassion, this could be considered a learning experience. As we used to say in the Army: "good training".

[eternal light]

I had not been following this disaster. I finally saw something about it with Anderson Cooper last night. I look at this situation and wonder why the US can bomb Iraq back to the stone age, but we can't do much to help the people of Haiti.

Perhaps FEMA is too busy building detention camps and planning false flag actions.

I would give money, but that really won't make a short term difference. We should have resources ready to address such a disaster. Haiti is right on our doorstep. PR is almost swimming distance.

What they were saying last night is that the UN pulled their doctors you because they sense a security problem.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta had reported one occasion when a clinic that was helping earthquake victims had to move to a new location to escape the increasing risk of violence from an overwhelmingly large crowd that was reportedly getting too close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzDyezOer6E

[SteveAJones]

I had not been following this disaster. I finally saw something about it with Anderson Cooper last night. I look at this situation and wonder why the US can bomb Iraq back to the stone age, but we can't do much to help the people of Haiti. We should have resources ready to address such a disaster. Haiti is right on our doorstep. What they were saying last night is that the UN pulled their doctors you because they sense a security problem.

...the very same United Nations accusing the United States of attempting to "occupy" the country.

If you support American earthquake relief efforts so strongly then put your money in the pot, otherwise STFU.

The U.S. Agency for International Development responded to the following disasters in Haiti with disaster aid since 2000:

- Floods in May 2002, which killed 31. The U.S. government spent $350,000 in aid to Haiti.

- Floods in February 2003. U.S. spent $50,000 in aid to Haiti.

- Floods in September 2003, that killed 31. U.S. spent $25,000 in aid.

— Political demonstrations turned into health and food disaster in February 2004, killing 150. U.S. spent $4.29 million in aid.

— Floods in May 2004 killed 1,059 dead. U.S. spent $569,000 in aid.

— Hurricane Jeanne hit in September 2004, killing 3,000 people. U.S. spent $1.56 million in aid.

— Hurricane Dennis hit in July 2005, killing 56. U.S. spent $50,000 in aid

— Floods in December 2006 killed 7. U.S. spent $50,000 in aid

— Floods in November 2007 killed 103. U.S. spent $650,000 in aid

— Starvation in April 2008 affected 2.5 million people. U.S. spent $150,000 in aid

— Four tropical storms or hurricanes hit in 2008 (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike), killing 793 people. U.S. sent $8.46 million in aid.

— Earthquake hit in January 2010. In progress, no final figures available.

[Atlas]

The point is that money is not what is needed immediately. They need hardware and personnel on the ground, NOW. What part of that didn't you understand?

[ledzepfvr]

Where does the beleif come from that the US is not doing what it can to aid in this awful situation? The logistics of getting "personnel and hardware" must be monumental in a country that has no infrastructure to handle this kind of disaster. In CA, the large cities run disaster drills once a year to hopefully be prepared when the "BIG ONE' comes, but no matter how much they drill there will still be breakdowns in getting the service to the people. The news is full of search crews, military personnel and equipment being sent over there to help. All that costs money and contributing helps fund the Red Cross and other organizations that are there giving immediate help. It's a horrible situation and not everyone is going to get the help they need right away especially in the outer areas, which is sad but an unfortunate reality.

While the US govenment and it's citiziens are contributing to this situation, why is it suppose to be the US' sole responsibility to fix it? FEMA would have no business being there as they administer disasters within the US, not outside the country. There are many other countries involved in getting help to the people of Haiti.

[eternal light]

The point is that money is not what is needed immediately. They need hardware and personnel on the ground, NOW. What part of that didn't you understand?

They have hardware and personnel on the ground. When Special Ops first arrived and attempted to maintain control at the airport, they found themselves literally swamped with no tarmac space for landings. At one point approximately eleven aircraft from various countries were circling to land but no tarmac space was ready for them.

Since then, I have seen film of food and water being distributed in a calm and organized manner among the populace. Most recently this evening, Las Vegas News 5 reported about how the Los Angeles County Fire Department search and rescue team freed a woman who had been trapped for six days beneath the rubble of, I believe it was a bank, where she was employed. Her husband was on the scene calling to her to see if she would answer and she did. She was alright, except for some broken fingers, which the team splinted. She was able to ride away seated in a car when she was transported from the scene.

Also, the USS Carl Vinson airpcraft carrier has a clinic where it has been treating victims of the quake. It also delivered a healthy baby boy, whose mother named him after the floating hospital. There have been some happy endings even in the midst of so much tragedy and turmoil.

And there was also this video about people who were rescued from the rubble of a grocery store, where they had survived on the food available on the shelves.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue task force in Haiti rescued at least five women over the weekend in Haiti. The the saves, which upped the team's total rescues in the earthquake-devastated nation to nine, have put the unit "in high spirits," according to Inspector Matt Levesque and a department statement.It was a bittersweet weekend: On Saturday a division of the task force, along with CNN's Anderson Cooper, were flagged down by a woman who said her 10-year-old daughter, Laika, had been trapped beneath the rubble of a daycare center. As CNN cameras broadcasted the rescue attempt live, L.A. county rescuers used three dogs and a sensitive listening device in attempts to locate and free the girl. Tapping was reportedly heard, but it stopped, and after eight hours of trying the crews pulled out.

The latest rescue in Port-au-Prince was reported 7 a.m. eastern time as a "31-year-old victim was found pinned to her mattress, beneath her apartment complex, with minimal initial apparent injuries" following an overnight marathon operations to save her, the department <A href="http://www.fire.lacounty.gov/haiti.asp" target=_blank>reported.

Two sisters, 19 and 20, were rescued there Sunday. On Saturday a 30-year-old trapped from the waist down in rubble was freed by county crews. And, the same day, a 50-year-old was pulled relatively unharmed from a collapsed bank.

The 72-member county task force is also known as USA-2 and is being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Arriving on Thursday, it was one of the first American urban search and rescue squads in Haiti following Tuesday's disasterous 7.0 earthquake.

blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/la-county-fire-haiti/

Even news reporter Anderson Cooper got involved in a rescue operation, assisting an injured boy and taking him to the hospital.

In two segments airing on "The Situation Room" today, more newsers found themselves stepping beyond their roles as journalists to assist during emergency situations in Haiti.While reporting on a chaotic scene in the Port-au-Prince streets, Anderson Cooper pulled a young boy with a bloody head injury away a storefront where looters were throwing rocks from above. Cooper aired a more detailed report at the top of "AC360."

In another incident, correspondent Chris Lawrence was returning to the network's base when he and his crew were flagged down by a paramedic who asked to use their truck to transport a 23-year-old university student who had just been rescued from the rubble.

Videos after the jump.

Also, early this morning, CNN's Sanjay Gupta, who is one of the TV doctor's whose been pulling double duty as a journalist and medical professional in Haiti, was helicoptered to the USS Carl Vinson to perform brain surgery on a 12-year-old girl.

mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/cooper_carries_injured_child_away_from_looting_149245.asp

Release Date: 1/17/2010 9:27:00 AM

From USS Carl Vinson Public Affairs

USS CARL VINSON, At sea (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) received seven injured Haitian civilians at approximately 7:30 p.m. EST Jan. 16 when a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60J Jayhawk helicopter on a medical evacuation mission was forced to divert due to weather.

The helicopter was taking the earthquake victims from Port-Au-Prince to a hospital near Cape Haitien on the island's northern coast. The ship's medical personnel are currently treating the seven Haitians, including a two-hour old infant.

The aircraft carrier, which arrived on scene within 72 hours of tasking, is supporting the unified U.S. military response to the disaster by providing its 19 helicopters to airlift humanitarian supplies to the Haitian people.

navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=50591

Moments after the earthquake's initial strike...

"Caught on Tape": A Brazilian soldier reveals amazing footage he captured on his cell phone moments after Haiti's main cathedral collapsed during a devastating earthquake.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks about the emergency brain surgery that he performed to remove shrapnel from a 12 year old's wound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1lrb3yjoA

[SteveAJones]

The point is that money is not what is needed immediately. They need hardware and personnel on the ground, NOW. What part of that didn't you understand?

Frankly, you remind me of all those critics clamoring for the same in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while failing to understand most roads were underwater. One thing is certain following a disaster and that is money is always needed.

[Juliet]

Hello:

I am concerned that if I give money the supplies it will buy may not get to the people in need..there's alot of press about the fact that supplies are not arriving to people in need...

I will have to do more research before I make a donation to the organization/orphanage I have chosen to help

Juliet