Earthquake

[jinx]

Global News says Canada is going to concentrate on that area.

The plan emerged Monday when Rivard and Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, commander of Canadian Forces in Haiti, spoke to reporters — and later when Gen. Walt Natynczyk, chief of the defence staff, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay made a flying visit to CFB Valcartier to personally thank the 1,000 soldiers heading to Haiti this week.


"We understand about 90 per cent of the destruction was in the town of Leogane, extending to the southern coast to Jacmel," Natynczyk said. "These two towns form the north-south orientation of the area that the UN has asked us to focus on."

Read it on Global News: Canadian aid to Haiti to focus on reconstruction

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by tw

The epicenter was some 20 miles SW of Port-Au-Prince. One would never know from local posting and graphic reports of urban victims. Little has been reported on where the earthquake was possibly most severe.

I've seen several reports on that area, but there aren't many people there and not much to report. The action is in the capitol, where the people are, so no reason for the reporters to go to the hinterlands, even if they could.

[TheMercenary]

I would guess the majority of those in the hinterlands would have had a better time surviving.

[SamIam]

I have read that some Haitian officials simply want to evacuate Port Au Prince and build tent cities on the outskirts.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That might cut down some of the violence.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I've seen several reports on that area, but there aren't many people there and not much to report.

That is not what I had heard. But again, facts (due to so many human interest stories) is so difficult to obtain.

Even the western side of Port-Au-Prince appeared (in satellite photos) to be mostly intact. A highway out of Port-Au-Prince looked intact. But again, I cannot find any confirmation on any of this. Relevant facts do not exist (or are buried by tear-jerk stories).

Apparently the military has successfully solved distribution problems by opening more airstrips (including one only for C-130s) and establishing small food and water distribution points.

Interesting was a video clip from a home overlooking the city during the quake. Each rising cloud was a collapsing building. They were numerous - almost interconnecting.

Best I can tell, the violence was mostly overblown by isolated press reports - similar to New Orleans. We need more anchormen like Jennings who would have quashed so many overblown accusations.

No more aftershocks in Haiti yesterday (19 Jan). Almost none over many days. Then today had two. One was almost a 6.0 shock. As if buildings are not yet unstable. Try probing inside collapsed buildings when ...

[SamIam]

But the desperation may be deeper outside the capital, closer to last week's quake epicenter.
Things don't sound so good outside Port Au Prince:

"We're waiting for food, for water, for anything," Emmanuel Doris-Cherie, 32, said in Leogane, 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince. Homeless in Leogane lived under sheets draped across tree branches, and the damaged hospital "lacks everything," Red Cross surgeon Hassan Nasreddine said.

Hundreds of Canadian soldiers and sailors were deploying to that town and to Jacmel on the south coast to support relief efforts, and the Haitian government sent a plane and an overland team to assess needs in Petit-Goave, a seaside town 10 miles (15 kilometers) farther west from Leogane that was the epicenter of Wednesday's aftershock.

[richlevy]

I was finally able to make a Red Cross donation tonight. On Friday I will also be donating $5 to Haiti relief in exchange for being able to wear jeans to work.

By far the oddest donation was through the Facebook game Mafia Wars. Either by buying them or gaining them through achievements, the player collects 'Godfather points', game currency to buy objects. Earlier this week the game offered 'voodoo drums' for sale with proceeds going to Haiti relief. I used all the points I could to buy two.

Now I'm used to click-a-day sites like thehungersite translating clicks into food, pet supplies, etc, but I still found it odd turning game currency into real world relief supplies. I believe the voodoo drums were 25 points each. I wonder what donation amount that converted to?

On a related note, check out this testimonial from Woot.

My name is Bryan Meyers. I have just been evacuated from the Haiti earthquake. One of the things I had with me when the quake started was my cell phone; stuck to its back was the Lumpod LED flashlight that I had received some time ago in a Woot Bag of Crap. I had to walk through the dark streets of Port-au-Prince six miles to get to a secure place. I walked over rubble, bodies (dead and injured), downed wires, back alleys. The flashlight lit my way very reliably. As I said in my journal, THANK YOU, BAG OF CRAP!

If you’re interested, you can read my journal and view some pictures at www.bmeyers.net/haiti or at haiti.bmeyers.net.

I'm a bit of a flashlight nut. I have more than 1 keychain light and two in my car. It looks like it saved this guy some trouble. Hmmm. Amazon carries them for $1.50 http://www.amazon.com/LumPod-Stick-p.../dp/B000T6L1LW

[Griff]

We're starting a permanent relationship with SOS Children's Villages after Pete looked into it.

[skysidhe]

I thought some people might like to see this.


Haiti 360

Use your mouse to click and drag around the video to change the view. You can also zoom in and out. Pause and explore at any time by pressing the play/pause button under the video to stop and look around. The video below was shot on Monday, January 18, at 9:52 a.m. EST in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.


http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/...ex.html?hpt=C1

[Dr. Zaius]

Well, if you weren't feeling bad enough about the quake, it's now our doing in some of the world's loopier media circles. Get out your tinfoil hats.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id...onid=351020104

An unconfirmed report by the Russian Northern Fleets says the Haiti earthquake was caused by a flawed US Navy 'earthquake weapons' test before the weapons could be utilized against Iran.

United States Navy test of one of its 'earthquake weapons' which was to be used against Iran, went 'horribly wrong' and caused the catastrophic quake in the Caribbean, the website of Venezuela's ViVe TV recently reported, citing the Russian report.

After the report was released, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also made a similar claim, saying that a US drill, carried out in preparation for a deliberate attempt to cause an earthquake in Iran, had led to the deadly incident in Haiti, claiming more than 110,000 lives.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Aw crap, they let the cat outta the bag.

[richlevy]

That is the most outrageous example of fake news I've ever seen.

I didn't know the Russian Northern Fleets was a Fox News affiliate.

[classicman]

They are affiliated with MSNBC - part of the Brzezinski family.

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

They are affiliated with MSNBC - part of the Brzezinski family.

Nonsense. This is a conspiracy by the Rothchilds, Rockefellers, and Kennedys to manipulate the world. To keep us all busy fighting each another. Everyone knows war creates profits.