On January 12^th 2010, Haiti was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. The casualties are expected to be in the thousands with more people injured and millions left homeless. [Y!]

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – A major earthquake rocked Haiti, killing possibly thousands of people as it toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike and left the Caribbean nation appealing for international help.

A five-story U.N. building was also brought down by Tuesday’s 7.0 magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Reuters television footage from the capital, Port-au-Prince, showed scenes of chaos on the streets with people sobbing and appearing dazed amid the rubble.

The quake’s epicenter was only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince. About 4 million people live in the city and surrounding area. Aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into Wednesday.

Haiti is also the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere and in need of all the aid it can muster from other countries, including the US.

Enter USAID and Rajiv Shah, recently appointed head, of the organization which is “the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms“. [Hindu]

USAID said it is dispatching a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and has activated its partners, the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team and the Los Angeles County Search and Rescue Team.

“The USAR teams will be composed of up to 72 personnel, 6 search and rescue canines and up to 48 tons of rescue equipment. The USAR team will be accompanied by USAID disaster experts who will assist with assessments of the situation,” the statement said.

Will this aid be enough? Probably not, given the magnitude of the disaster.
Is there more aid in the works? For the sake of the Haitians, I hope so.
Stay tuned.

Looks like you've just discovered us. Add our RSS feed to keep up with the new posts.