- Title: HAITI: Thousands of Haitians await emergency crews as scale of disaster grows
- Date: 14th January 2010
- Summary: VARIOUS OF CHILDREN ON BLANKETS
- Embargoed: 29th January 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Haiti
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVA7VFFEVGA27D4JMB5UP3BDDLEH
- Story Text: Thousands were feared dead in a major earthquake that destroyed the presidential palace, schools, hospitals and hillside shanties in Haiti.
Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude quake was the most powerful earthquake in Haiti in more than a century.
A Reuters Television crew witnessed thousands of dazed, wounded and dead people crowding the streets of Port-au-Prince. There were no signs of organized rescue efforts, and people clawed at concrete chunks with their bare hands to try to free trapped loved ones.
Haitian President Rene Preval said he had heard that between 30-50,000 people had been killed in the quake.
Destruction in the capital was massive and tens -- if not hundreds -- of thousands of homes were destroyed.
Sobbing and dazed people wandered the streets of Port-au-Prince, and voices cried out from the rubble.
The quake's epicenter was only 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince. About 4 million people live in the city and surrounding area. Many people slept outside on the ground, away from weakened walls, as aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into Wednesday.
The devastation crippled the government and the U.N. security mission that had kept order.
Normal communications were cut off, roads were blocked by rubble and trees, electric power was interrupted and water was in short supply.
The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster, lacking heavy equipment to move debris and sufficient emergency personnel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.