Tens of thousands feared dead as Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 on January 12, 2010. Many buildings near the capital have collapsed due to poor construction and the capital is largely destroyed. The earthquake is the country’s worst in over 200 years.
Tuesday's earthquake brought down buildings great and small — from shacks in shantytowns to President Rene Preval's gleaming white National Palace, where a dome tilted ominously above the manicured grounds.
Hospitals, schools and the main prison collapsed. The capital's Roman Catholic archbishop was killed when his office and the main cathedral fell. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing in the ruins of the organization's multistory headquarters.
The situation in Haiti is “truly heart wrenching” in a nation that is “no stranger to hardship and suffering,” President Obama said at a press conference Wednesday. The disaster is the latest to befall the country of about 9 million people, roughly the size of Maryland.
It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and among the poorest in the world.
Hurricane Gordon killed more than 1,000 people in 1994, while Hurricane Georges killed more than 400 and destroyed the majority of the country's crops in 1998. And in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne killed more than 3,000 people as it passed north of Haiti, with most of the deaths in the northwestern city of Gonaives.
Gonaives was hit heavily again in 2008, when four tropical systems passed through.
In addition, a Haitian school collapsed in November 2008, killing more than 90 people and injuring 150 -- a disaster authorities blamed on poor construction.
Eighty percent of Haiti's population lives under the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Despite the badly damaged road of the airport, planes carrying aid from the UN are expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince this morning. American President Obama promised a “swift and aggressive” effort including rescue workers and humanitarian aid as part of a coordinated international response.
Despite the horror, help is coming Haiti. When communities, nations, and members of the human race come together to help those in sufferring and less fortunate, there is hope.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the people and country of Haiti.
For information on how to help:
http://www1.networkforgood.org/help-haiti-quake-relief?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=NEWS
