Victim’s anger and despair mount
As Haiti sees little sign of aid:
HAITI: Anger and despair mounted in quake-hit Haiti Thursday
with rotting bodies littering the streets and little sign of desperately
needed international aid for the hundreds of thousands of victims.
The stench of death hung over the capital Port-au-Prince as
residents, still clawing through rubble in the hunt for survivors, faced
another night in the open, traumatized by aftershocks triggered by
Tuesday’s 7.0 earthquake.
Despite the launch of a massive international aid operation, there
was no sign of heavy lifting equipment among the rubble even as tons of
material and badly-needed supplies deluged the international airport.
Haitian officials have warned the overall death toll may top 100,000
and say three million people could have been affected by the powerful
quake that ripped across the poorest nation in the Americas.
The International Red Cross said the quake, the largest in the
Caribbean island nation in more than 150 years, has killed between
40,000 and 50,000 people.
“If international aid doesn’t come, the situation will deteriorate
quickly. We need water and food urgently,” said Haitian survivor
Lucille, still dazed by the scenes of devastation and carnage.
Sporadic gunshots were heard, and witnesses said there had already
been some looting in a city that has endured bloodshed and violence and
natural disasters over the past decades.
“More doctors, fewer journalists,” one man yelled angrily, shaking
his fists at a foreign media crew.
A giant US aircraft carrier was expected to drop anchor off the
stricken Caribbean island nation on Friday and serve as a landing pad
for a fleet of helicopters to bring emergency teams and vital supplies
to quake victims. But harrowing scenes were being repeated across the
city as frustrated Haitians dug with their hands through mountains of
concrete and rubble while the screams and moans of those buried below
rang out. Some people set up temporary shelters with sheets and covers
in a public square, while others were trekking out carrying meagre
belongings, searching for safer places outside the city. PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Friday, AFP |
