Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Ongoing Difficulty Getting Aid Everywhere in Haiti

From Denny: This is one of the few news clips I've found on how the people are faring on the other side of Haiti away from the capitol of Port-au-Prince. The capitol has the largest concentration of the population, about 3 million of the 9 million total for the country.

What relief workers are finding is that the roads are so screwed up they cannot travel far without requiring earth moving equipment to pick up the rubble, clearing the roads. Then they run into the issue of roads erupted from the fault line, creating sliced parts of the road up in the air about 10 feet, with no way to get around it. The main port in Port-au-Prince is so damaged only half of it is available and safe for use. Makes me wonder if Jacmel's port is destroyed beyond use. Still no word about their port's availability.

Jacmel is the cultural town of 40,000 where the festivals are held. It also draws artists, budding film makers and musicians like my music teacher and classical trumpeter cousin, Jeanne Pocius, who was donating her time there when the earthquake struck. Only word we have about her is hearsay from other musicians who claim she survived the quake. She has yet to contact her family or a U.S. agency since she lost her cell phone.

My question is: Is the government or any agency assessing who survived in various areas in Haiti? What is the U. S. State Department doing to locate American citizens? Calling the official number news networks keep flashing is useless as they drop your call from excessive call volume. There is no hope of getting through to someone as they don't allow you to stay on the line.

This is one of only two news clips about the state of Jacmel, Haiti, and the level of destruction there. Fortunately, it is not as large a city, smaller population and the buildings look to be only up to two stories high, making it a better chance of surviving a collapsing building:



What's with the holdup on getting relief to people outside of the airport in Port-au-Prince?


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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy






Day to day life after the earthquake trying to survive:




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