| "Hope they pull out the Navy Hospital ship asap." I sent an email to the Southern Command asking if they are going to Haiti. I know the marines have been there in the past to help out. I below is a web post I just found. Go to the sit they have some good pix one of their posters put up [at bottom of article (leatherneck.com).] Haiti earthquake: thousands feared dead Thousands of people are feared dead after a massive earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit the impoverished Caribbean island of Haiti. Published: 12:54AM GMT 13 Jan 2010 Haiti's presidential palace and numerous other government buildings in the country's capital Port-au-Prince collapsed after the tremor. A hospital was also flattened, with reports that patients were buried under the rubble. Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in the capital of Port-au-Prince, told US colleagues before phone service failed that "there must be thousands of people dead," according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Sara Fajardo. "He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince," Fajardo said from the group's offices in Maryland. A journalist with Haitian television station Haitipal, interviewed by telephone from Port-au-Prince, told the station that public buildings across the capital had been destroyed. "The presidential palace, the finance ministry, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture," were all affected by the quake, the reporter said, adding that the parliament building and a cathedral in the capital were also crumbling. Don Blakeman, an analyst at the USGS in Golden, Colorado, said such a strong quake carried the potential for widespread damage. "I think we are going to see substantial damage and casualties," he said. The earthquake's size and proximity to populated Port-Au-Prince likely caused widespread casualties and structural damage, added quake expert Tom Jordan at the University of Southern California. "It's going to be a real killer," he said. President Barack Obama said his thoughts and prayers were with the people of Haiti and that the United States stands ready to help the island nation. The earthquake is the strongest ever to hit Haiti. Minor earthquakes are common in the Caribbean, but there has not been a major one in Haiti in 16 years. The country of about 9 million people, most of them desperately poor, has struggled with political instability and has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of the buildings were shoddily built and unsafe in normal circumstances. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ared-dead.html http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92559 |