Haiti earthquake

[Boomer.....]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.

President Rene Preval said he believes thousands of people were dead from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake.

"Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," Preval told the Miami Herald. "There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was among the dead, and the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing.

The international Red Cross said a third of Haiti's 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.

Amazing that nothing has been said here about this.

Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be dead. Horribly sad situation. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those people.

[soonerbrat]

it's very sad

[soonerhubs]

I was just reading about this.

[C&CDean]

I've got a cousin there doing missionary work. I'm gonna have to check on him.

[fadada1]

was watching it early this morning on the CNN. place is in ruins... LITERALLY. as if they don't have it tough enough (economically).

[Denton_Sooner]

Terrible news.

[Boomer.....]

American Red Cross Haiti outreach has begun and the organization is posting updates on how you can help on its Twitter account, Facebook page, and Disaster Online Newsroom.

The Red Cross has been posting frequent updates to Twitter. Recently, it announced that it is upping its pledge to assist in Haiti relief efforts from $200,000 to $1 million. It also tweeted an excerpt from its Skype conversation with the head of its Haiti delegation.

For those who want to help, the Red Cross is accepting donations through its International Response Fund. You can donate to this fund here.

You can also text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief efforts for Haiti. The amount will be added to your cell phone credit card bill.

For more information and breaking news updates, see the American Red Cross Disaster Online Newsroom.

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[SoonerJack]

I fully expect that Haiti's neighbors to the west (Cuba) will be sending much aid and assistance.

Why couldn't this have happened to Cuba? What did Haiti ever do to anybody except be really poor. Such a sad situation.

[yermom]

they made a pact with the devil. it's all their fault, really.

true story.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130024

[OklahomaTuba]

Has Jeremiah Wright posited an explanation yet?

[Okla-homey]

Sad deal. The country was already a disfunctional hell-hole, failed stated and garbage dump of epic proportions. Now its even worse. Yikes.

I just hope we don't blow a brazilian dollars of US aid money we can't afford trying to fix the place. And if the Dominicans thought they had an illegal migration of Haitians problem before...I bet they ain't seen nothing yet.

[SunnySooner]

Really hard to watch the coverage, just complete devastation, so many deaths. Hopefully the aid and rebuilding will end up helping them in the long run, but, wow, it's gonna be a long road.

[lexsooner]

It looks like the situation is really bad. It could not have happened to a more vulnerable country, poorest country in this hemisphere. The people there are certainly in my prayers. I hope this and othe countries are generous in their financial aid and other assistance.

[Half a Hundred]

Has Jeremiah Wright posited an explanation yet?

STFU. This ain't political, this is basic compassion for your fellow man. FFS.

[TUSooner]

Clever-funny comment about Rev. Pat's theory that Haiti is being punished by God for making a pact with the devil in the 1700s:

"By blaming Haitians instead of tectonic plates, Pat is generous to a fault."~~ Jerry Elea

I think they are being punished for poor building practices.

[lexsooner]

I think Americans are being punished by Pat Robertson having a tv show. Maybe we are paying for our excesses by having to endure him.

[TUSooner]

***
"By blaming Haitians instead of tectonic plates, Pat is generous to a fault."~~ Jerry Elea
****

Generous to a FAULT, get it ? It's brilliant!

<crickets chirping.......>

[jkjsooner]

And if the Dominicans thought they had an illegal migration of Haitians problem before...I bet they ain't seen nothing yet.

I went to Dominican Republic a year ago. I was amazed that Haiti could be so bad that the Dominicans appear rich to them. It's crazy.

Why couldn't this have happened to Cuba? What did Haiti ever do to anybody except be really poor. Such a sad situation.

It's sad that you would say that. I'm sure there are a lot of very nice Cubans out there whose only fault is that they were born under a dictator. Actually, it's really pathetic that you would say that.

[OklahomaTuba]

STFU. This ain't political, this is basic compassion for your fellow man. FFS.

While I agree completely, I wasn't the one that posted a link to a political website.

In anycase, everyone might consider a prayer to those folks, the marines getting ready to help them out and also consider throwing a couple of quid at the Red Cross or Salvation Army. Sounds like the Church's are gearing up for the long haul on this one.

[Okla-homey]

I've got a cousin there doing missionary work. I'm gonna have to check on him.

Apparently the 82d ABN DIV CRB is enroute. Proving once again, when a ginormous mess needs rapid sorting out on the ground, paratroopers are the go-to-guys. Especially since once folks recover from the initial shock, things are sure to get violently ugly.

ATW,
Homey