# 7.3 Earthquake: Haiti



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

As if Haiti needed anything more to happen.... terrible news...





> A major earthquake hit Haiti Tuesday and collapsed buildings, including at least one hospital and government offices.
> 
> The magnitude 7.3 quake hit close to the capital Port-au-Prince, home to 2 million people, at 4:53 p.m.
> 
> ...


(NY Daily News)



> It was the largest earthquake to hit the impoverished country, since 1984. The vibrations lasted for more than a minute and were felt in Cuba. A hospital was reported to have collapsed in Petionville, near Port-au-Prince, and houses were said to have fallen into a ravine. Petionville is home to many foreign diplomats and members of a major United Nations mission to the country.
> 
> Don Blakeman, an analyst at the United States Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, said: "I think we are going to see substantial damage and casualties."
> 
> ...


(Telegraph UK)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

So sad. They have so little and this is what happens to make matters worse.


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## KC4 (Feb 2, 2009)

Agreed very sad. The have nots have even less now and few resources to draw from to help.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

There's a Twitter photo stream... looks devastating, as expected... 

Twitter Pic Search for "haiti" sorted by date -- Twicsy is Real Time Twitter Picture Search


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## RicktheChemist (Jul 18, 2001)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

At least they're on the ball with this disaster...



> *Canadian government ready to assist Haiti
> *
> OTTAWA — The Canadian government says it's ready to assist Haiti after a powerful earthquake struck today near the capital of Port-au-Prince where many are feared dead.
> 
> ...


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Unreal - the photos of the collapsed palace in particular show the power of the quake,

I did not know Haiti was even in an earthquake zone.

Earthquake 'catastrophe' hits Haiti - The Globe and Mail


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MacGuiver (Sep 6, 2002)

MazterCBlazter said:


> What is the best charities to donate to disaster relief that accepts paypal?


I would think the Red Cross but maybe others have better suggestions.

Cheers
MacGuiver


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> U.N. peacekeepers, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
> 
> ``It would appear that everyone who was in the building, including my friend Hedi Annabi, the United Nations' Secretary General's special envoy, and everyone with him and around him, are dead,'' French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Wednesday, speaking on RTL radio.
> 
> ...


(Halifax Chronicle Herald)


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

MacDoc said:


> Unreal - the photos of the collapsed palace in particular show the power of the quake,
> 
> I did not know Haiti was even in an earthquake zone.


They're pretty much right on top where the N. American and Caribbean plates touch.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

(Globe & Mail)

Here is the Canadian government page on the Haiti earthquake.

..and a list of recommended Humanitarian Aid Agencies (from link above)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Just heard on CNN - live interview with Haitian PM René Preval - possibly "hundreds of thousands" of deaths...

:-(

There isn't an emoticon sufficient for this thread....


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

CubaMark said:


> Just heard on CNN - live interview with Haitian PM René Preval - possibly "hundreds of thousands" of deaths...
> 
> :-(
> 
> There isn't an emoticon sufficient for this thread....


Agreed on the emoticon!

Death toll guesses seem to fluctuate wildly immediately after a major disaster, I do hope this one proves to be overly pessimistic.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

There's a webpage with (apparently no longer) live Twitter updates on the work of the Cuban medical personnel (403 of 'em) operating in Haiti. So far, two have been identified to have been injured, the others in Port-au-Prince are attending to injured Haitians. No word on the other Cubans working throughout the country. (CubaDebate)

(more on Cuban doctors in Haiti - english)


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

CubaMark said:


> Just heard on CNN - live interview with Haitian PM René Preval - possibly "hundreds of thousands" of deaths...
> 
> :-(
> 
> There isn't an emoticon sufficient for this thread....


This is absolutely horrendous, devastating beyond words. :-(

*PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!!!!!!*


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

This is a great link, Mr. Mayor. I have split my donations between UNICEF, Care Canada, Oxfam and Canadian Save the Children.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Here is another interesting organization, Hands across the Sea, which is run by a woman from western Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hands Across the Sea, Deschappelles, Haiti

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - Scared but OK in Haiti: N.L. woman


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Updates...*

*Canadian dead in Haiti*
_A nurse from Elmira, Ont., has been confirmed dead in the earthquake that devastated Haiti. Other missing Canadians include two RCMP officers and former Quebec Liberal MP Serge Marcil._​
(CBC News email alert)




> The wife of a New Brunswick RCMP officer working in Haiti says she has not heard from her husband since a devastating earthquake struck Tuesday. Lisa Gallagher says officials have told her that her husband, Sgt. Mark Gallagher, is one of two Canadian police officers still unaccounted for in Port-au-Prince. Before Sgt. Gallagher left for Haiti, he was provincial RCMP spokesman in Nova Scotia. She says she last spoke to her husband about 30 minutes before the earthquake struck and he was heading to bed.


Former N.S. Mountie among missing in Haiti - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca



> frigate and a destroyer are being loaded with emergency supplies in Halifax Harbour for an emergency mission to quake-stricken Haiti. HMCS Halifax was recalled to port last night after word of the tragedy, and it is being loaded with food, bottled water, medical equipment and humanitarian supplies for a relief mission to Port-au-Prince. The navy plans to send a second vessel — HMCS Athabaskan. The two ships are expected to leave Thursday morning and will take about five days to reach Haiti, arriving Jan. 18 or 19.


HMCS Halifax, Athabaskan headed to Haiti - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca



> Reporter Brian Medel spoke with his brother-in-law Gerry Rhyno via Facebook on Wednesday. Mr. Rhyno is leading a Christian mission team of mostly Nova Scotians in Deschapelles, in Haiti's Artibonite Valley. The mission operates a school and an orphanage. The Canadian team members are there to plan and carry out construction projects.


In his own words: Nova Scotia missionary tells earthquake story - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

There are few people on this planet who can make my blood boil and turn my stomach simultaneously.

Pat Robertson is one of those select few. This hateful old bastard should be "called home" by God immediately. The fact that he continues to breathe, that he does not succumb to some horrifically painful disease, is proof positive that there are no deities.

Thousands Dying Because Haitian Slaves 'Swore a Pact with the Devil' for Their Freedom 





+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.






Originally reported at Politico.


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## KC4 (Feb 2, 2009)

Another option to consider when donating: 
The Partners In Health Care in Haiti...

Partners In Health (PIH), Health Care for the Poor

I first learned about this organization when I read Tracy Kidder's Book "Mountains Beyond Mountains" the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and how he would come to build a hospital (which still stands because it is outside of Port au Prince in a plateau area) in Haiti. 

Quote from the PIH website



> We have already begun to implement a two-part strategy to address the immediate need for emergency medical care in Port-au-Prince. First, we are organizing the logistics to get the medical staff and supplies needed for setting up field hospital sites in Port-au-Prince where we can triage patients, provide emergency care, and send those who need surgery or more complex treatment to our functioning hospitals and surgical facilities. *To do this, we are creating a supply chain through the Dominican Republic. Second, we are ensuring that our facilities in the Central Plateau are ready to serve the flow of patients from Port-au-Prince. *Operating and procedure rooms are staffed, supplied, and equipped for surgeries and we have converted a church in Cange into a large triage area. Already our sites in Cange and Hinche are reporting a steady flow of people coming with medical needs from the capital city. In the days that come we will need to make sure our pharmacies and supplies stay stocked and our staff continue to be able to respond.
> 
> Currently, our greatest need is financial support. Haiti is facing a crisis worse than it has seen in years, and it is a country that has faced years of crisis, both natural disaster and otherwise. The country is in need of millions of dollars right now to meet the needs of the communities hardest hit by the earthquake.* Our facilities are strategically placed just two hours outside of Port-au-Prince and will inevitably absorb the flow of patients out of the city.* In addition, we need cash on-hand to quickly procure emergency medical supplies, basic living necessities, as well as transportation and logistics support for the tens of thousands of people that will be seeking care at mobile field hospitals in the capital city. Any and all support that will help us respond to the immediate needs and continue our mission of strengthening the public health system in Haiti is greatly appreciated. Help us stand up for Haiti now.


Emphasis mine


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> A*n Ontario nurse is dead, and two Canadian police officers and a former MP are missing in the wake of Tuesday's devastating quake in Haiti.*
> 
> The dead woman was identified as Yvonne Martin of Elmira by the Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church. She was part of a contingent of six other nurses from the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
> 
> ...


(CBC News Montreal)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Governor-General Michaëlle Jean's very moving remarks on the disaster.*

The 1st part is in French, repeated in English at 4:30 into the video.

CBC.ca Video

Jean has family still living in Haiti...


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Terrible catastrophe for Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere didn't need this. Good on Canada for sending in the DART teams.

Reat Robertson, I agree a 100% and his broadcasts should be taken off all Canadian stations.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

You know, kps, if the 700 Club is indeed carried on a Canadian network / cable, we could probably use remarks like these in a CRTC complaint... hmmm....


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

CubaMark said:


> You know, kps, if the 700 Club is indeed carried on a Canadian network / cable, we could probably use remarks like these in a CRTC complaint... hmmm....


I'm writing a letter to complain about his comments. His remarks make me feel violent it makes me that angry.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

MazterCBlazter said:


> Thank You.


Thanks go to CubaMark, he posted the link first... I just re-posted.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon's press conference / update on Haiti...*

It could have been worse - The Globe and Mail


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

I heard about this group on the radio this morning: The Humanitarian Coalition



> *Who we are*
> 
> The HUMANITARIAN COALITION is a network of Canadian NGOs dedicated to a united response in cases of humanitarian crises. The members of the Coalition unite because they recognise the need for strong, decisive action. At present, the Coalition has FOUR members: CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec and Save the Children Canada. These members share the same goal to help the most vulnerable and together they are even better equipped to do so. The Humanitarian Coalition is a fundraising and coordination body that directly supports the humanitarian activities of its members. It does not operate humanitarian programs of its own.
> 
> ...


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

CubaMark said:


> There are few people on this planet who can make my blood boil and turn my stomach simultaneously.
> 
> Pat Robertson is one of those select few. This hateful old bastard should be "called home" by God immediately. The fact that he continues to breathe, that he does not succumb to some horrifically painful disease, is proof positive that there are no deities.
> 
> Thousands Dying Because Haitian Slaves 'Swore a Pact with the Devil' for Their Freedom


To quote Frank Zappa ... "Jesus thinks you're a jerk!"


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> Summary: Haiti was forced to pay France for its freedom. When they couldn't afford the ransom, France (and other countries, including the United States) helpfully offered high-interest loans. By 1900, 80% of Haiti's annual budget went to paying off its "reparation" debt. They didn't make the last payment until 1947. Just 10 years later, dictator François Duvalier took over the country and promptly bankrupted it, taking out more high-interest loans to pay for his corrupt lifestyle. The Duvalier family, with the blind-eye financial assistance of Western countries, killed 10s of thousands of Haitians, until the Haitian people overthrew them in 1986. Today, Haiti is still paying off the debt of an oppressive dictator no one would help them get rid of for 30 years.
> 
> The rest of the world refuses to forgive this debt.


(BoingBoing)


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

CubaMark said:


> (BoingBoing)


That loan was the real "deal with the devil". Thanks for posting that, I had no idea of that history.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

One of my favourite daily visits is Crooks & Liars, which has a good summary of the reasons for Haiti's continuing (pre-quake) state of despair:



> SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And also, Kim Ives, the issue of food. We saw last year a food crisis around the world in early 2009. Haiti was one of the worst hit by that food crisis. There were reports of people eating mud for—because of starvation. Explain the issue of food and also how the United States affected the food supply in Haiti.
> 
> KIM IVES: Well, yeah. Essentially, Haiti was self-sufficient thirty years ago in its production of food, particularly rice. And since the fall of the Duvalier regime, it has really been opened up. The neoliberal regime, one of its principal demands is the lowering of tariff barriers, so that rice grown in Arkansas and Texas and Louisiana can be dumped on the country, which has effectively destroyed the rice farmers of the Artibonite Valley, leaving Haiti now required to import almost 80 percent of its food. So foreign aid has essentially destroyed Haitian food self-sufficiency.


(Crooks & Liars)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is contributing $1 million to relief efforts in Haiti, which was hit by a devastating earthquake Tuesday. Our Premier Danny Williams made the announcement this afternoon. With the Red Cross estimates of the death toll in this quake zone currently being 50,000, that is 10% of our current population here in NL. 

I feel that this is an expenditure of provincial tax dollars well spent. Paix, mes amis.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

MazterCBlazter said:


> +1
> 
> It's nice to see people and nations from all over the world of all races, political stripes, and religious beliefs putting forth much needed help to the people of Haiti.
> 
> +1 Human Race.


Yes, it is good when people rally to support other people.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

A Newfoundlander relates his experiences in the Haiti quake...

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - Haiti quake 'like hell on Earth': N.L. survivor



> A Glovertown, N.L., man who was in Haiti when a massive earthquake struck Tuesday has returned to Canada, and describes the devastation in the country as unbelievable.
> 
> "Everything is devastated," Emerson Oram told CBC News on Friday morning. "It's unbelievable to be there and to see the devastation — it's almost too much to believe."
> 
> ...


(Full story via CBC-Newfoundland & Labrador)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Mark, here is another amazing story.

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - Scared but OK in Haiti: N.L. woman


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

As with any change in the status quo, there are possibilities to make positive change...

Dominican Republic aid to Haiti eases historic tensions - CNN.com



> On the face of it, the quick reaction from Haiti's neighbor may not seem surprising given their proximity. But historically, a much wider gap in relations has existed between Haiti and the Dominican Republic since colonial times. The Dominican Republic's outpouring of support to Haiti is a reminder of how the less-than-friendly legacy between the two nations has been buried even deeper.
> Some tensions still exist between citizens of both countries. Dominicans recall how they were under Haitian rule for a period in the mid-1800s, and how they repeatedly fought Haitian aggressions. Today, Haitians provide cheap labor in the Dominican Republic, a trend that has caused resentment on both sides, not unlike the illegal immigration debate in the United States.





> The current tragedy appears to push those tensions further into the past.
> "This is the worst disaster in Haiti's recorded history," Sagas said. "The best role the DR can play is to open its border for other nations to funnel all the aid to Haiti."


(CNN)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

iTunes now has a Haiti Disaster Relief page, with donations (from $5 to $200) going to the American Red Cross.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Fidel Castro on Cuban medical assistance to Haiti (excerpted from his Reflection column of 15 January 2010)*



> In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba – despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland.
> 
> They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.
> 
> ...


(Granma International)

*NOTE:* _as of 2007, nearly 300 Haitian medical students were studying at ELAM under full scholarship from Cuba as part of its international medical solidarity programme. Now in it's 9th year of offering medical degrees, ELAM has provided free education to over 10,000 students from developing countries._


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> Cuba has agreed to let the United States military use restricted air space for the purposes of medical evacuations out of Haiti, Reuters reported Friday.
> 
> The deal shaves 90 minutes off the flight time it normally takes from Port-au-Prince to Miami.
> 
> Disaster relief teams from the U.S. military have been taken injured quake survivors to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay. Some victims have then been taken to south Florida from Guantanamo.


(CBS News)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

We knew it could only get worse....

New estimate: *140,000 dead*. Over *1,400 Canadians* unaccounted for. (Toronto Star)

...and worse... security fears (rioting) have led the United Nations to *order medical teams to pack up and move to a more secure location* (just caught that live on CNN) (CNN article on security situation)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> *Cuban Medical Help Amidst Destruction and Death*
> _A testimony from the devastated Haitian capital. Corpses on the streets, desperation, chaos and pain._
> _Raymundo Gomez (ACN Special Correspondent)_
> 
> ...


(Cuba News Agency)


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

Some amazing images of the devastation.

Haiti 48 hours later - The Big Picture - Boston.com


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## adagio (Aug 23, 2002)

kps said:


> Some amazing images of the devastation.
> 
> Haiti 48 hours later - The Big Picture - Boston.com


words fail me


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Redeem 200 airmiles for $25 earthquake donation

FYI:

A Tax Receipt for your donation will be mailed to you in the next 60 days by the Canadian Red Cross.

Privacy
The AIR MILES® Reward Program will forward your name and contact information to the Canadian Red Cross for the sole purpose of issuing a tax receipt


https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/ProductTicketingDetails?productId=prod1283903


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Canadians Hefty Donations Crash Websites*



> Canada’s major charities are reporting $29 million in donations for post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, most of it coming in online. So much, in fact, that overwhelmed websites are having a hard time keeping up.
> 
> The Red Cross has collected the most, $15.8 million by the end of Friday, just three days after the horrific 7.0 quake. Over 80 per cent of the money came in online, said communications director Tanya Elliott.
> 
> ...


** * * *

*'Huge' Red Cross aid convoy heading to Haiti from Dominican Republic*



> Up to 10 trucks carrying a ``huge amount'' of aid headed Saturday from the Dominican Republic to quake-struck Haiti, bringing a 50-bed field hospital, surgical teams and an emergency telecommunications unit, the Red Cross said.
> 
> The convoy, including contingents from the Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Danish and Japanese Red Cross, hopes to arrive in Port-au-Prince in the afternoon, barring any problems, spokesman Paul Conneally said.
> 
> The shipments were put on trucks for the overland trip because ``it's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now,'' he told The Associated Press by phone from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. ``The airport is completely congested.''


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Naomi Klein: Don't Let The Disaster Capitalists Get Their Hands On Haiti*

Haiti was a nation of farmers, but thanks to the strings attached to U.S. aid, government policies made profitable farming unprofitable. So _the farmers were pushed to the cities to provide a cheap manufacturing labor force_. All those people you see on the TV in their shattered shantytowns? We helped put them there. With exploitative loans and yes, even a classic CIA-backed coup, we helped create this mess.

Here's Naomi Klein, the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," speaking Wednesday night at the Ethical Culture Society to warn us against it happening again:

Naomi Klein - 8 meg QT MOV


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> Not to say things won't boil over, but if you watch NBC's correspondent Kerry Sanders talking to Rachel Maddow tonight, Sanders says there's been virtually no incidents of violence he's seen or heard of so far (though he is fearful about the coming days).
> 
> In the faces of these Haitian rescue workers having just saved a baby on Thursday, all I can see -- besides tremendous sadness and obvious exhaustion under excruciating and increasingly desperate circumstances -- is exceptional character.


(BAGnewsnotes)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

My wife just sent this to me -- "Marc, did you know that the Govt will allow all donations to Haiti Relief made before Feb 12th to be claimed on this year'sincome tax?? As well, The Co-operators Insurance Company will match whatever we donate dollar for dollar. So, I just sent in $250 for us."

Co-operators is a sponsor of The Stella Burry Community Services, so I don't know if they will match everyone's donation other than those from non-profit organizations that they sponsor.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Navy ships arrive off Haiti*










> The Canadian ships HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax — and their cargo of relief supplies — are off Haiti's north coast.
> 
> The ships were preparing Monday morning to meet with a U.S. navy supply ship to replenish their fuel, said CBC reporter Rob Gordon, who is aboard Athabaskan.
> 
> ...


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## MacGuiver (Sep 6, 2002)

CubaMark said:


> *Navy ships arrive off Haiti*


Our countries quick and generous response makes me proud to be Canadian. 

Cheers
MacGuiver


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## JerusalemJim (Jun 13, 2008)

Israel teams to stay on in Haiti another month

DEBKAfile Special Report

January 19, 2010, 10:52 AM (GMT+02:00)
IDF field hospital at full stretch in Haiti

After half a dozen survivors were rescued from under ruined Port-au-Prince buildings Monday by American, Russian and other teams, searches will go on for another day, although hope is fading. Israeli paramedics are out and about, treating survivors on the spot before they are carried to the field hospital. There, 90 life-saving operations have been conducted in six days, five births and hundreds treated.

Special equipment and medication are also saving the lives of preemies.

The IDF Homeland and Medical commands have decided to keep the Israeli teams in place for another month. They were originally assigned a two-week stint in quake-stricken Haiti.

As the volume of aid supplies through the neighboring Dominican Republic swells, so too does the exodus of desperate refugees. Aid is still not reaching millions in the devastated capital and the outskirts in time to save lives. Still not in place are the five thousand field officers ordered by the UN and US marines to protect aid supplies and staff and permit orderly distribution of the basics amid dangerous violence and chaotic conditions.

The foreign rescue teams operating in Haiti are streaming the injured and sick to the Israeli IDF field hospital at the Antoine Izmery soccer field, still the only medical facility with a fully-equipped operating theater, intensive care units, child and maternity wards, laboratories and an X-ray facility operated by 250 staff...

Good for them!

I sent a message on facebook to some local Haiti mission folks the first day re rescue use of the car jacks scissor type in local wrecked vehicles as they had no rescue tools- dont know if they picked up on it, 
Miracles are still happening like some Hotel Montana trapped victims getting out.
jj


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## JerusalemJim (Jun 13, 2008)

and more 
Emergency team held back as Haiti suffers 
By JOE WARMINGT
TORONTO -- While the humanitarian crisis rages in Haiti, Toronto’s highly-skilled emergency response team is stuck on Bermondsey Rd. in a mock training session.
Instead of being on the ground in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince — doing what it is they are trained to do and eager to do — the modern-equipped, taxpayer-funded Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) team is on the sidelines while people suffer.
Sadly, this is a search and rescue team searching for someone to let them rescue somebody.
Imagine, with all of the horror in Haiti, we have highly-trained Toronto Police officers, police dogs, firefighters, paramedics, Sunnybrook doctors and public works and water professionals all ready, willing and able to lend a hand but feeling stifled as they stare at their packed bags.
There will be efforts to sweep this under the carpet as the government pats itself on the back. But make no mistake, this mess up is not one of Canada’s finest hours. Since 9/11, the taxpayer has invested more than $20 million into this HUSAR team.
What have Canadians got out of it? Nothing. How many people have they rescued over the years? None.
And it’s not because they don’t want too. They are chomping at the bit. They are not in Haiti because the powers that be don’t seem to realize this is a strategic asset designed to save lives. HUSAR ha
..SNIP

Emergency team held back as Haiti suffers - Canada - Canoe.ca

Oh Canada- Will it never end? Trust the beurocrats to spend 20 million and still screw it up
jj


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

BEEDOCS Blog: BEEDOCS Rewards Donations to Haiti



> Our hearts and minds have been with the people of Haiti since the devastating January 7 earthquake. International outpouring of aid for Haiti has been massive, but the need is still great. We put our heads together to decide how BEEDOCS can take part.
> 
> BEEDOCS would like to encourage disaster relief donations by giving away a free Bee Docs Timeline 3D license ($65 value) to anyone who donates $100 or more to a charitable organization providing aid to the people of Haiti.


(BEEDOCS)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Main foreign lenders forgive Haiti's debt*



> A group of 19 of the world's major lenders has pledged to forgive Haiti's foreign debt obligations, and has urged others to do the same. The Paris Club of creditor nations, including Canada, urged all of Haiti's lenders on Tuesday to cancel the earthquake-stricken nation's debt. An informal group of nations founded in the 1956 Argentine debt crisis, the group said Tuesday that its members will cancel the Caribbean country's debt. Among Paris Club members, Haiti owes a total of $214 million to Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and the U.S.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Support Cuban Doctors in Haiti*

_(I know personally the folks at MEDICC and the excellent work they do (check their website below). This is a great initiative which will have long, long-lasting effects for Haitians once "aid exhaustion" sets in)_

*Emergency Earthquake Appeal: Support Cuban-Trained Haitian Doctors*

*Give your donation staying power... with MEDICC and Global Links*

January 17, 2010--The effects of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti will be long term. That's why MEDICC and Global Links (Pittsburgh, PA) are sending material aid to the Cuban-trained Haitian doctors on the front lines in Haiti's public hospitals and clinics. *Now 400-strong, they were already on the ground when disaster struck, serving in 120 communities throughout the country, including the hard-hit capital of Port-au-Prince.*

Graduates of the Latin American Medical School in Cuba, *these doctors come from some of Haiti's poorest regions, and will stay long after the initial disaster response is over. *Like the 370 Cuban medical personnel who work with them, they are committed for the long-term to improving health and health care in Haiti.

And so are Global Links and MEDICC: together, we are organizing a recovery and long-term medical assistance program relying on decades of experience in regional material aid cooperation, and with Cuba and Haiti in particular. We will be working with representatives of the Haitian graduates of the Latin American Medical School to identify needs for medicines, medical supplies and equipment. And we will get these supplies directly to them.

While US law does not allow Cuban doctors in Haiti to receive these essential medical materials--the US embargo taking its toll post-disaster--the MEDICC and Global Links team will help ensure distribution to the young Haitian physicians working in public hospitals and clinics alongside the Cuban team, seeing hundreds of patients daily.

(More info and online donation link: www.MEDICC.org) 



> "There are so few places where ordinary Haitians can turn to when they are in need of urgent medical care in the center of the city. We came across one: La Paz hospital. It is now being administered by Cuban medical personnel here in Haiti alongside crews from Spain and Latin America. And it is amazing to see.
> 
> They are giving medical attention-quality medial care-to severely injured people, six to seven hundred patients a day, several dozen surgeries a day. They have three theaters going around the clock, 24-7, and it is one of the only places deep in the city where Haitians can go and be treated and have a reasonable expectation of surviving. We saw so many traumatic injuries there. I can't even say how many amputations we saw, compound fractures, traumatic flesh wounds.
> 
> ...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Canada to take charge at quake's core*





> Military will focus historic relief effort around Jacmel, an isolated district that was almost completely destroyed


(Globe & Mail)


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Jacmel is of course the Governor Generals hometown.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Canadian sailors reach Haitian town of Leogane*



> *LEOGANE, Haiti* — An all-but-demolished fishing village on the north shore of Haiti's southern peninsula finally saw signs that help was on the way Tuesday as Canadian sailors landed on a garbage-strewn beach to lay the foundations of a sustained relief effort.
> 
> Disgorged by the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan as it loomed just offshore, sailors began arriving at Leogane in inflatable Zodiac boats, their mission to secure and reconnoitre the area for an influx of soldiers expected in the coming days.





> On the southern side of the peninsula, another Canadian vessel, HMCS Halifax, was anchored off the coast in order to provide personnel and supplies in the town of *Jacmel*, the ancestral hometown of Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.
> 
> Jacmel is where Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team is preparing to set up shop to provide medical treatment, clean water and other resources, supplies and assistance to victims of the quake.


(Halifax Chronicle-Herald)


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Interesting

The airport is a real bottleneck slowing down the delivery of relief supplies but somehow it was deemed appropriate to close it down for three hours for Hilary Clinton's photo-op.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

That's why we send relief instead of politicians... they just get in the way of real work.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Haiti hit by powerful aftershock
*


> Haiti has been hit by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock, shaking buildings and sending people from the nation's capital fleeing into the streets just over a week after a devastating earthquake.
> 
> So far, there have been no reports of injuries or damage in Port-au-Prince or surrounding areas. Haiti has been hit by a series of aftershocks since last week's 7.0-magnitude quake, with most ranging in magnitiude from 4.0 to 5.0, but Wednesday's aftershock has been the strongest.
> 
> "This definitely is considered a strong earthquake with the potential to cause some major damage," CBC meterologist Johanna Wagstaffe said.


(CBC)


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*A dose of economic freedom will help heal Haiti*

*I saw the headline, rolled my eyes, then read the story. Here's the gist of it all:*



> Why was Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, its people surviving on foreign aid, mostly from the United States, and remittances from exiled Haitians, also mostly from the U.S.? (This money accounted for more than 40 per cent of Haiti's GDP.) The most obvious reason is not sufficiently identified amid all the pervasive lamentations for Haiti's forlorn fate. For all practical purposes, throughout its history, Haiti had prohibited commerce. And it's hard to survive without it.
> 
> Haiti lacked the one prerequisite necessary for economic advance - freedom of trade. Yes, many Haitians toiled for subsistence in the informal economy. But their governments had always imposed prohibitive costs on acts of commerce. Haitian governments had always run the country's major businesses (including the banks) themselves. It was precisely Haiti's lack of freedom to do business that led the Index of Economic Freedom (published jointly by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal) last year to rank Haiti as the 147th least-free country in the world (out of 179 countries).


*Absolute. Complete. Total. Drivel.*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Two nations' very different responses to the Haiti disaster...*



> Haiti earthquake: US ships blockade coast to thwart exodus to America
> A US aircraft carrier is spearheading a blockade of Haiti's waters as America prepares for a mass sea exodus of Haitians with thousands fleeing the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince.





> In response to America's closed door, Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal's President, has offered Haitian descendants of African slaves the chance to resettle in "the land of their ancestors" and offered them plots of land.
> "Africa should offer Haitians the chance to return home. It is their right," he said.


(Telegraph UK)


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## Glipt (Aug 7, 2003)

Hello fellow ehmacers. Two days ago I moved to Cabral, Dominican Republic.
It has been encouraging to see evidence of and participtedin the relief work on the DR side.
Cabral lies less than 100k from the Hatian border and just north of the town of Barahona.
DR has opened it's borders to injured Hatians and thier families. I have had the privelege to meet and serve some of these people.
Reports from Jimani are horrific. Amputations are being performed without anesthetic or proper medicine.
Tons of supplies are arriving from Santo Domingo. My brother just cleared a planeload of supplies in less time than it took to unload the plane into a truck. This many supplies would normally take days to clear customs so it's good to see even some governments relaxing red tape to help out.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> Canada's Minister of National Defense Peter Mackay said troops would have the *Jacmel airfield* ``fully functional'' within 24 hours. *The new runway is crucial* to getting aid into the nation as the principal airport at Port-au--Prince has been choked with round-the-clock humanitarian response traffic.


(Miami Herald)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Two rather disturbing notes from a the Wall Street Journal on Haiti relief efforts:



> U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon conceded that international search-and-rescue teams needed to be "more balanced" in looking for victims of all nationalities and not just their own.


and



> It has been unclear at times who is in charge—the U.S. military, which controls the main airport, or the U.N., which ostensibly oversees the relief operation. Benoit Leduc, operations manager for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, on Monday said *"hundreds of lives" were lost because five of its planes carrying surgical teams and equipment weren't allowed to land* and were diverted to Santo Domingo.
> 
> "I don't really know who is in charge," he said. *Several countries and other aid groups also have complained that the U.S. military has refused to let some of their supply planes land at Haiti's crippled airport. *
> 
> ...


(WSJ.com)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*HAITI*





> On the surface, this doesn't seem to have much to do with Haiti. Nothing is collapsed or broken, and there is no blood, no open wounds or stumps instead of hands or feet. The photo itself is banal: crowded, cropped, with the only identifiable person slumped in some kind of torpor, all in some vaguely institutional hallway--the image is too familiar in one sense and yet still not adequately informative. No wonder that it was tucked away in a slide show on the New York region.
> 
> But then you read the caption: "Alex Alexis collapsed when he learned that his wife and three children had died in the earthquake in Haiti." His wife and three children. Dead.
> 
> Now it is a different photograph, and informative: We are reminded that Haiti is not only a place but also the epicenter of a diasporic community. The catastrophe is being measured not only in the damage done at the original scene but also by the long strands of anxiety, pain, and desolation defining the losses felt by loved ones around the globe. And the coverage of the island's troubles is revealed to contain a provisional quality, as if everything is somehow already tending back towards recovery. But there is no way this loss can ever be restored.


(Read More)


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## Glipt (Aug 7, 2003)

Google Earth Barahona, Dominican Republic and you will notice a full size runway and international airport.
Far closer to Haiti than Santo Domingo. This seems like a great alternative but is not being used.

The human suffring is immense. What looks like one victim affects far more people. One young boy 11 years old I have met has a cracked pelvis and injured knee. His brother was killed instantly when the families house collapsed a concrete beam fell on his mothers head and could not be removed by rescuers. It took her six hours to die. His father was in the open when the earthquake his and is at the hospital with his son. When his son recovers they have nowhere to go and no one knows when the Dominican government may send them back.

Beside him lies a young girl whose head was split open. Another young girl has both legs broken in two places. X-rays show her bones snapped and lying parallel beside eachother for a few inches. She will probably never walk again.

As of now many Hatians have been treated and released from the Barahona hospital.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> “Two hours into the flight we have a problem,” Lees said. “One of the passengers is convulsing … We get her hooked up to and IV and her vitals aren’t looking good.”
> 
> The aircraft diverts to Charleston, South Carolina.
> 
> ...


(Amherst Daily News)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

AFP: Children going missing from Haiti hospitals: UNICEF



> Children are going missing from hospitals in Haiti, raising fears that the youngsters are being trafficked for adoption abroad in the wake of the January 12 earthquake, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
> 
> "We have documented let's say around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time," said UNICEF adviser Jean Luc Legrand.
> 
> "UNICEF has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti which existed before, and unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption 'market'," Legrand said.


(AFP / Google News)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Nfld. & Labrador man's body found in Haiti*





> The body of a 37-year-old western Newfoundland man killed in Haiti's earthquake has been recovered. James Coates, originally from Deer Lake was working at the UN building in Port-au-Prince when the quake hit on Jan. 12. The five-storey building was destroyed.


(CBC)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Just heard this on the local news, Mark. Gracia.


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## MacGuiver (Sep 6, 2002)

If you ever had any doubt leftist dictator Hugo Chavez wasn't a nutbar...
Hugo Chavez accuses U.S. of using weapon to cause Haiti quake

Those poor people in Venezuela living under this despots thumb.

Cheers
MacGuiver


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Hugo's not the only one... from the same article:



> _*US Secretary of Defense William Cohe*n also expressed concern over such eco-terrorism “whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves." However, the U.S. government claims HAARP’s primary objective is to analyze and investigate the Earth’s ionosphere and the possibility of developing technology for communications and surveillance purposes._


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Look at that smile ............

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

A report from Cuban doctors working in Jacmel, the Governor-General's hometown (in English).





> Jacmel, a city situated 75 kilometers from the Haitian capital, where the Cuban doctors arrived some years ago and where they continue to save lives after the devastating earthquake. But Elizabeth is not the only miracle in this place. The establishment of a field hospital is a further addition to the labors of our doctors there, with sweat, intensive work, hours without sleeping and many other risks.
> 
> *IN JACMEL’S HOSPITAL*
> 
> ...


(read more from Granma)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

I heard on CBC News that the latest effort is to try and create a tent city on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince to provide some way of clearing away the damage within the city.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

> U.S. Navy Hospital Ships
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hospital ship

USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

*General characteristics*

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20).
Patient Capacity:
Intensive care wards: 80 beds
Recovery wards: 20 beds
Intermediate care wards: 280 beds
Light care wards: 120 beds
Limited care wards: 500 beds
Total Patient Capacity: 1000 beds
Operating Rooms: 12
Departments and Facilities:
Casualty reception
Intensive care unit
Radiological services
Main laboratory plus satellite lab
Central sterile receiving
Medical supply/pharmacy
Physical therapy and burn care
Dental services
Optometry/lens lab
Morgue
Laundry
Oxygen producing plants (two)
Medical Photography
Four distilling plants to make drinking water from sea water (300,000 gallons per day)
Flight deck can handle world's largest military helicopters (CH-53D, CH-53E, MH-53E, Mi-17)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Apple has a new section for Haiti on iTunes...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Two articles useful to clear up certain misconceptions held by people who think Haiti's pre-earthquake destitution was their own doing...

*The betrayal of Haiti - The Globe and Mail*

*NOW Magazine- A harsh history of Canada in Haiti*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

From TIME Magazine:


> *America's Backyard: *_Citing the Monroe Doctrine, President Woodrow Wilson orders U.S. Marines to occupy Haiti in 1915. They favor the biracial élite over black Haitians, deepening long-standing tensions. The U.S. withdraws in 1934_.


(BAGnewsnotes)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

MacGuiver said:


> If you ever had any doubt leftist dictator Hugo Chavez wasn't a nutbar...
> Hugo Chavez accuses U.S. of using weapon to cause Haiti quake
> 
> Those poor people in Venezuela living under this despots thumb.


And now, the truth comes out:



> *Hugo Chavez never made comments that the U.S. military caused the Haiti earthquake*, instead the comments come from a Russian website "which clearly gives conspiracy fabrications."
> 
> Suspicions should have been immediate because the first ABC article from Spain on the 19th sourced their information to an internet article that was immediately taken down. Other reports should have led readers to the original story that was posted in Spanish on the 16th of January on some blog which suspiciously sources to an agency called "Panorama Alternativo." (This Spanish article eventually made it to a Venezuelan socialist website.) It was on the 16th that the original fabricated Russian report was posted on the internet. That Russian website I found thanks to the links on the Cuban Colada post, but Perez Pizarro for some strange reason came to another conclusion.


(MambiWatch)

*Remember kiddies, don't believe everything you read on the internet!*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Americans arrested taking children out of Haiti*





> PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian police have arrested 10 U.S. citizens caught trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-stricken country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme, authorities said on Saturday.





> Authorities said the Americans had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption of the 33 children -- aged 2 months to 12 years -- through any embassy and no papers showing they were made orphans by the quake in the impoverished Caribbean country.





> "I was going to come back here to do the paperwork," Sillsby said.


(Reuters)


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

*City homeless donate $14.64 for quake victims*

Relief workers moved by sacrifice at downtown shelter



> Donations for Haiti have poured in to the American Red Cross of Central Maryland from a range of sources. Nothing, though, has stood out like the coins and crumpled dollar bills that spilled from one envelope.
> 
> That gift - $14.64 - came from the pockets of homeless people at a downtown Baltimore shelter.
> 
> ...


City homeless donate $14.64 for quake victims - baltimoresun.com


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

A very moving story, Sinc, especially the concluding part -- "Public relations director Linnea Anderson got teary, too. "Just the thought of those people huddled together in a shelter and seeing a need beyond themselves is enough to give anybody chills," she said. "What a remarkable example of the human spirit.""


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I was just about to post the quote below, from the New York Times, but realized I had received it without a URL/source. So - popped over to the NYT site and found an updated story that says the flights are back on (see below). Still - five days of suspension because the Governor of Florida was concerned with the medical bill. Health Care and the USA - still an alternate reality...



> The United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled, military officials said Friday.
> 
> The military flights, usually C-130s carrying Haitians with spinal cord injuries, burns and other serious wounds, ended on Wednesday after Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida formally asked the federal government to shoulder some of the cost of the care.
> 
> ...


(NYT - no URL)

Update:



> The White House said Sunday it will resume a U.S. military airlift of Haitians seriously injured in the earthquake — some with devastating burns, head and spinal chord trauma, amputations and other wounds — to American hospitals. The humanitarian effort was suspended five days ago following complaints from the state of Florida that its hospitals were overwhelmed.
> 
> "Having received assurances that additional capacity exists both here and among our international partners, we determined that we can resume these critical flights," Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, said in a statement.


(NYT)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

You have got to read this photojournal from the Wall Street Journal.

Frustrating. Amazing. Depressing.

*The Convoy to Nowhere*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Remember those evangelical do-gooders from Idaho? They may escape Haitian justice, because there judicial system is in ruins (literally), and may be sent to the U.S. for trial. Looks like they probably won't get what they deserve. These inept meddlers, on a "mission from God", acted with complete disrespect and not a little bit of arrogance. And the kids? Well...



> The children involved with the Baptist group were aged two months to 12 years old. They were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children's Villages, where spokesman George Willeit said they arrived "very hungry, very thirsty."
> 
> A two- to three-month old baby was dehydrated and had to be hospitalized, he said. An orphanage worker held and caressed another, older baby, who was feverish and looked disoriented.
> 
> ...


(CBC News)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

A good quote from the reader responses to the CBC story above:



> I'm certain no one will mind if, the next time there's a quake in California, we were to grab a few dozen undocumented American orphans at random and ship them to either Tijuana or Kelowna. Paperwork? Who needs it? Just more red tape!


(_Reader cb1613_)


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Did you duly pay the CBC for using that link CM?


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Bring 'em on. See if the CBC's copyright lawyers can find me here in México


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> The Haitian lawyer for 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries charged with child kidnapping *tried to bribe their way out of jail *and has been fired,...


and


> Coq said Thursday that the group's leader,* Laura Silsby* of Meridian, Idaho, deceived the others by *telling them she had the proper documents to remove the children from Haiti.*
> 
> Puello raised similar concerns. He said that he warned Silsby on the day the group was detained at the border that she lacked the required papers and risked being arrested for child trafficking.


(CBC)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*This just gets more sordid as the days pass...*



> The man who falsely portrayed himself as a lawyer to become an adviser to the 10 jailed Americans in Haiti is himself seeking a lawyer to fight charges of sex trafficking in El Salvador.
> 
> The man, Jorge Puello, who now acknowledges that the sex trafficking charges are pending against him, remained at large Monday, and Dominican, Salvadoran and American law enforcement officials are working with Interpol to interview his relatives and search border and immigration records in hopes of finding him.
> 
> Mr. Puello is wanted by the police in at least four countries in connection with charges ranging from sex trafficking of children to making of counterfeit documents and violating parole.





> On Friday, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said that while the cases of Mr. Puello and the 10 Americans needed to be investigated separately, he would not release the prisoners until he understood fully how Mr. Puello was involved.


(NYTimes)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

The Globe & Mail has established a section of their website to collate articles on Canada's efforts in rebuilding the town of Jacmel in Haiti: Project Jacmel

And... some coverage...

*One month later, Haiti's despair deepens*





> he last 30 days have been the longest of little Emma-Joseph Cherbin's short life.
> 
> Since Jan. 12, the three-year-old has been trapped inside a half-body cast that has immobilized her from bellybutton on down, to heal a broken femur. While her brother and sister explore the terrain at their new tent-city home, Emma-Joseph can only follow them with her eyes. At night, outside her tent, you can hear her cry out. She's itchy under that oppressive cast.
> 
> “These are difficult days,” said Jacqueline Cherbin, Emma-Joseph's mother, propping her daughter up on her lap as they sweated out the noon heat.


(read more)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Haiti to free eight U.S. missionaries, hold two*



> PORT-AU-PRINCE -- A Haitian judge said he would order the release on Wednesday of eight of 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping children but would detain the other two for further questioning.
> 
> Laura Silsby, the group's leader, and Charisa Coulter were being kept for further investigation, investigating judge Bernard Sainvil said.


(National Post)


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*puello and cuban doctors*

from the globe a few days ago:

"Mr. Fleurant, meanwhile, said he had only received a small part of the fee he was promised by the Americans for defending them against child kidnapping charges filed on Feb. 4.

Neither he nor Mr. Lankford would name his promised fee, and Mr. Fleurant refused to directly accuse Mr. Puello of absconding with the bulk of it."

i am almost beginning to feel sorry for these people. except... no one has mentioned that the hotel they rented is in cabarete, about a 12 hour drive from port au prince, and a very hot tourist spot, favoured by quebec bike gangs and known for the best windsurfing in the caribbean. er, isn't that a bit far? not to mention where did they get the money to rent a 45 room hotel into the foreseeable future? the location can only be to attract clients, er, sympathetic people to buy, er, adopt children... even if the whole thing is legit, the money would be much much better off spent in haiti itself...

nice to read about the cuban medical teams in haiti. they essentially work for free. i believe the cuban government is supposed to pay them about $50/month (yes, there are no zeros missing in that number) while the haitian government puts them up and feeds them. usually this means people in the community where they work find them a place and bring them chickens and eggs and rice and such.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

The $50/month figure is the approximate standard salary for Cuban doctors within Cuba. Those serving overseas receive various bonuses  But that $50/mo figure is used by the right-wingnuts when the criticize Cuba, counting on people to not understand the context. They are converting the Cuban peso income into US-dollar equivalent, which is a rather odd methodology. 

What counts is what they can buy, in Cuba, with that income. The answer is: quite a bit. More than a livable wage (not luxurious by any standard, though). One has to remember that Cubans pay little, if any, rent on their homes, have no general costs for medical care, no education tuition fees, state-mandated caps on the costs of electricity, water, etc., plus they have access to a guaranteed monthly minimum food basket (the "libreta" which is often translated - and misunderstood - as the "ration book"). There are also neighbourhood farmers' markets for produce, meat, etc.

Most of the time the criticism that Cuban doctors are paid such "a pittance" comes from an unquestioning acceptance of the highly-paid professionalized income of doctors in North America. Different context, not directly comparable. But for those who "think shallowly", it slips into the general populace as fact, when it is in fact a gross misunderstanding.

And... back to the thread topic - today I received news that an additional brigade of Cuban-trained physicians from Mali has arrived in Haiti:



> An international team of some *50 doctors* trained at Havana's Latin American Medical School (ELAM) has arrived in Port-au-Prince to join Cuba's medical relief contingent in post-quake Haiti. Coming from a dozen countries, they are* the first wave of ELAM graduates expected to number over 200 from 24 countries in the next week*.
> 
> They will join the *1,147-strong Cuban-led International Henry Reeve Emergency Medical Contingent,* already comprised of *736 Cubans plus 402 ELAM graduates from Haiti, 7 from the USA and 2 from Nicaragua—together the largest medical relief effort in Haiti.*





> In preparation for departure, the ELAM graduates attended a week-long disaster course organized by the Latin American Center for Disaster Medicine (CLAMED), including modules on epidemiology, disease prevention, and vector control. They also had sessions in Haitian geography, culture, and history. In addition to a battery of vaccinations and basic materials every Henry Reeve volunteer receives before departure, each doctor also packed MEDICC’s trilingual Spanish-Creole-French Health for All Glossary of 4000+ essential health care terms.
> 
> To date, the Cuban-led Henry Reeve Contingent in Haiti has treated over 65,000 victims and performed more than 3,600 surgical interventions in field hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and other health installations throughout Haiti.


(Source: MEDICC.org)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*cuban salary*

didn't mean to cause confusion over the salary figure. i understand the a/b comparison doesn't hold water. just meant that these people aren't saving up for another mercedes and are doing really useful work for not much more than subsistence. and more credit to them. (and not to question anybody else working for doctors without borders or other groups either!) 
apparently the US is attempting to spoil the cuban medical aid by offering asylum to any of them even if they don't set foot on US soil...


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*henry reeve*

got curious why the medical group has such a yankee name:
(wikipedia)

Henry Reeve (1850—1876) was a Brigadier General in Cuba's 'Ejercito Libertador' - more commonly known as the 'Ejercito Mambi' - during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878).
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA on April 4, 1850 and died in Matanzas, Cuba on August 4, 1876. Reeve was 27 years old at the time of his death, and had served in the Cuban Army for 7 years having participated in over 400 battles against the Spanish Army.
Upon becoming aware of the Cuban uprising initiated at 'La Demajagua' by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1868, he promptly volunteered. He arrived in Cuba in 1869 aboard the ship Perrit as part of an Expeditionary Force.
The expedition was ambushed by the Spanish Army while unloading and Reeve was taken prisoner along with many others. A Spanish firing squad shot the group, and left them unburied and presumed dead. Reeve was wounded but had enough strength to creep away, and was found by units of the Cuban Army.
He was known as 'Enrique - El Americano' and nicknamed "El Inglesito" by Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz, and he quickly rose under his command. Reeve in turn gave Agramonte his nickname: "El Mayor". He served with distinction initially under Agramonte and subsequently under Máximo Gómez y Báez.
Under Agramonte he participated in many actions, including the rescue of Julio Sanguily in 1871 where Agramonte, Reeve, and 34 others overcame a superior Spanish force of 120.
In one critical action he jumped over an artillery battery, lifting the morale of the Cuban fighters but was seriously wounded on a leg. For his actions he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
Exposed to the harsh jungle conditions, he was told he would never walk or ride a horse again. Reeve persevered and with metallic braces he was able to walk, but had to be strapped to his mount in order to be able to ride his horse. He kept leading the famed Camagüey Cavalry Corps throughout the balance of his life.
After Agramonte's death at Jimaguayú in May 1873, Reeve presented Máximo Gómez to the legendary Camagüey Cavalry Corps. Under Gómez' command Reeve participated in the failed invasion of Western Cuba. Stranded in the province of Matanzas in 1876, the Spanish annihilated his small escort at Las Yagrumas; unable to ride, Reeve shot himself with his handgun before being captured.
Henry Reeve was honored by the Cuban government in 1976 on the centenary of his death with a postal stamp.
In response to Hurricane Katrina, Cuba assembled 1,586 humanitarian doctors to offer to assist the United States. The offer was declined, and on September 19, 2005 Fidel Castro created the Henry Reeves International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Serious Epidemics in honor of him.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

boukman2, thanks for posting that historical tidbit. Cuba continues to fascinate


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*haiti cuba*

getting well off the track here, but wondering if you were aware that there is a large community of haitian (descended) cubans, and that they still speak haitian creol in some communities in the eastern part, around santiago?


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I was indeed aware... 

Santiago is an amazing city... the entire province, in fact. Gorgeous vistas up in the mountains... but I never made it to the Guantanamo Bay fence...


----------



## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*ahead of me*

you are well ahead of me! i only discovered that last month. in mozambique, of all places...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Cuban Program Initiated in Haiti to Address Psychosocial Trauma*





> PORT AU PRINCE, February 20.— More than 4,000 Haitian children and their families so far have joined in a Cuban program aimed at helping Haitians recover from post-earthquake psychosocial trauma.
> 
> Cuban psychologist Alexis Lorenzo, an expert from Havana’s Latin American Center for Disaster Medicine, explained that the program being implemented by the Cuban medical mission in Haiti will serve as the methodological base for a national psychosocial support program for children and young people to be implemented by the Ministry of Education.
> 
> ...


(Juventud Rebelde)


----------



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Solar Brings Light to Haiti*





> ENERSA (Energies Renouvelables S.A.), a three-year-old Port-au-Prince business that has manufactured and sold more than 500 LED solar streetlights with battery storage in 58 towns and villages throughout the island, Georges is one of a group of advocates and entrepreneurs pushing for greater use of solar, renewable, and other small-scale energy in the rebuilding of Haiti.
> 
> With a crucial meeting of representatives of more than a hundred countries taking place at the United Nations today to organize commitments for the rebuilding, renewable energy advocates have been urging relief organizations to direct aid toward more than simply rebuilding Haiti’s old power delivery system.
> 
> ...


(More on this story at National Geographic)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

_1 out of 10 ain't bad... too bad they reduced the charges... and "time served"? - no, not acceptable. If she had been convicted in Canada (and the US?) she'd likely be put on a watch list and have to submit DNA for the national database. Somehow I doubt that will happen..._

*American convicted in Haiti for trying to take children*



> The last of 10 U.S. missionaries arrested in Haiti while trying to take 33 children out of the country following the Jan. 12 earthquake was released Monday after being sentenced to time already served.
> 
> Laura Silsby had been in custody since Jan. 29 and faced a maximum of three years in prison.


(CBC)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*lucky*

you are quite right of course... she is just lucky there aren't any jails left to put her in!


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*U.S. Senate report says Haiti rebuilding has stalled, calls for president and donors to lead
*





> Obtained Monday by The Associated Press, the eight-page report is meant to give Congress a picture of Haiti today as U.S. legislators consider authorizing $2 billion to support the country's reconstruction.
> 
> That picture is grim: Millions displaced from their homes, rubble and collapsed buildings still dominating the landscape. Three weeks into hurricane season, with tropical rains lashing the capital daily, construction is being held up by land disputes and customs delays while plans for moving people out of tent-and-tarp settlements remain in "early draft form," it says.


(MetroNews.ca)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*A few updates on things in Haiti...*

*Aid agencies 'stretched to limit' in Haiti*



> Charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that frustration was growing among Haitians with the "dire reality" of their living conditions.
> 
> "There is a staggering gap between the enthusiasm and promises for aiding the victims of the earthquake in the early weeks, and the dire reality on the ground after half a year," said MSF's head of mission in Haiti.


(BBC News)


*Canada Pulls Top Commander Out of Haiti*



> Canadian military officials say the country's top commander in Haiti has been relieved of duty and is under investigation over allegations of an inappropriate relationship.
> 
> Officials made the announcement Friday, in the case of Colonel Bernard Ouellette, who was also chief of staff to the United Nations mission in Haiti. Ouellette is alleged to have had an inappropriate relationship with a civilian member of the U.N. team. A report on the case is expected in a few weeks.


(VOA News)


*U.N., relief bodies, urge world keep up Haiti aid*



> United Nations and other aid agencies appealed to the world on Monday not to forget earthquake-devastated Haiti and to keep financial support coming in for its long-term reconstruction.
> The call came at a news conference to mark six months since the quake hit the poverty-wracked Caribbean republic and killed about 225,000 people, all but destroyed its capital Port-au-Prince and left 1.5 million people homeless.
> (....)
> The original appeal was for $1.4 billion but that was revised upwards in May to $1.5 billion as the scale of the disaster and the needs of Haiti's nearly 10 million people became more apparent.
> ...


(AlterNet)


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

The United Nations may be all that Haiti has going for it, but it's not much.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*The international community's responsibility to Haiti*
*IMF-mandated economic policies drove rural Haitians to Port-au-Prince's slums, 
where they bore the full force of the earthquake*



> They are the Haitians who, for generations, have fled the poverty of the countryside to its largest city in search of jobs that were not there and where only further struggle awaited them.
> 
> At a time when only 2% of a promised $5.3bn (£3.5bn) in reconstruction aid has materialised and an equally small amount of rubble has been removed, it is worth pausing to remember how economic policy in a very real way helped drive Haitians off their land and into the labyrinthine slums of Port-au-Prince, where so many of them died.
> 
> ...


(The Guardian UK)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> _"I’d love to live under a plastic sheet," she said. "but I can’t afford it."_​


(Disaster's Aftermath - Halifax Chronicle-Herald)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*How Can Technology Change A Nation?*



> Once upon a time, I had a wild idea for a project called “The Learning Village.” In this idea, kids and adults living in Haiti can actually learn using little more than iPods and solar chargers.





> We created 5 videos (ranging in length from 3 minutes all the way up to 20 minutes). Each video is in Haitian-Kreyòl (the language spoken by all Haitians). These videos covered information ranging from shapes and colors, to numbers, characters from the alphabet, found objects, and more.





> The results were *STAGGERING*. There was an average increase in score of 44%! That is without any formal teacher present! In addition to the notable increase in scores, students turned in more than 140 sheets of practice papers (which we did not give them supplies for nor ask them to produce). While chatting with them, several explained that they had even taken it upon themselves to form their own informal discussion groups as they sat around their yards discussing the things they were learning on the iPods. Incredible!


Lots of stuff redacted... worth reading for the full story!

(FireSidePictures)

.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*IMF cancels Haiti's $268m debts and agrees $60m loan*



> The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to cancel Haiti's $268m (£176m) debt and lend the impoverished Caribbean island a further $60m.


BBC News


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*The Political Roadblocks to Haiti's Reconstruction*



> Initially, a majority of seats on the Commission were to represent foreign governments and international financial institutions. That’s been reduced to half of the 26-member committee, but the money is still to be managed by the World Bank and other international institutions. Former US President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive co-chair the reconstruction commission, which met for the first time on June 17.
> 
> The strong-arm tactics by the Western powers to determine the make-up of the Commission signify a continuation of longstanding policy to undermine the Haitian state’s credibility and capacity. For two decades Washington and its allies have deliberately weakened Haiti’s government.
> 
> Citing neo-liberal theories they demanded the privatization of a number of state-owned companies and the reduction of tariffs on agricultural products. This devastated domestic food production and spurred an exodus from the countryside to the cities, which exacerbated the destruction and death toll of the earthquake.


(CounterPunch)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Wyclef Jean considering running for president of Haiti
*




> There are reports that the musician is mulling a run for the top office in Haiti. Reached by phone, Jean told CNN that talk of a campaign is a bit premature as he is still mulling it over.
> 
> “I can’t sing forever,” Jean said.





> He added that he has filled out the necessary paperwork in case he does decide to move forward with a candidacy. Jean has been an outspoken proponent of Haiti through his Yele Haiti Foundation and was one of the first celebrities to offer aid after the devastating earthquake.


(CNN)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*sweet micky*

if a musician is going to be president, i would rather have sweet micky who, with the best compa band in the country, at least plays haitian music...


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Snoop Dogg for prez!


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Macfury said:


> Snoop Dogg for prez!


Washed-up actor and tobacco industry spokesmodel Ronald Reagan for prez!


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Returning to the serious - and tragic - side of all things Haiti...*

*Tropical Storm Tomas soaks Haitian tent camps*





> Strengthening Tropical Storm Tomas drenched Haiti Thursday, threatening fragile, crowded earthquake survivors’ camps in the poor Caribbean country that is also reeling from a deadly cholera epidemic.
> 
> Tomas was expected to pass close to Haiti overnight, endangering the largely deforested land with gusting winds, surging waves and torrential rains of up to 10 or 15 inches in some areas.





> A Jan. 12 quake in Haiti killed more than a quarter of a million people in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. About 1.3 million survivors still live in hundreds of makeshift tent camps crammed into open spaces in the wrecked capital Port-au-Prince.


(Globe & Mail)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*guantanamo*

too bad the haitians aren't all crazed muslim terrorists...



> At the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba, military officials warned the 174 foreign captives detained there that a storm was on the way, and laid in supplies of water and packaged meals.
> 
> “Detainees are secure in sound structures to ensure their safety and well being,” said Navy Commander Tamsen Reese, a spokeswoman for the detention operation.


no cholera there either...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Tomas lashes Haiti leaving 6 dead*



> Hurricane Tomas lashed Haiti with fierce winds and rain Friday, leaving six people dead. But it appeared to have spared the hundreds of thousands of people who rode out the storm in flimsy tent camps.
> 
> Rains continued off and on for hours after the storm moved on to Cuba, and flooding cut off some parts of the country while authorities warned of the heightened risk of mudslides.
> 
> ...


(More on the story at VancouverSun)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Meanwhile...*

*Canada spends $5.6M for new digs in Haiti*



> Canada is spending $5.6 million on property in earthquake-ravaged Haiti to build new diplomatic residences.
> 
> The Department of Foreign Affairs said Ottawa will build new homes for its 24 embassy staff posted to the Caribbean country.
> 
> ...


_So the diplomatic core will have nice digs to stay in, while Haitians apparently will still be waiting for the promised aid money... what the h-e-double-hockeysticks is taking the Conservatives so long? They do know it was a massive earthquake, and not just another one of their "development" projects, right?_



> The Canadian International Development Agency has so far contributed $65 million in aid to Haiti, about 30 per cent of the total it has promised to date.


(CBC)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

although i am quite ready to believe that the canadian govt could blow lots of money this way, it must be said that the article is a bit unfair. without knowing the size of the land and, more particulary, the location, there just isn't any way to know whether it is a good deal or not. i had a look at haitian real estate listings just for fun and you can't really tell anything from them. there aren't many, and unless you know where the property is located, you can't compare. given the number of disasters occurring on a regular scale, having all the employees together in earthquake proof buildings in a secure location probably isn't too bad an idea. 
it is entirely possible that is ridiculously overpriced, but i need to have more info...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I'm not really that concerned with the cost of the diplomats' lodgings... what does bug me is the foot-dragging by the Conservatives (see earlier in this thread) in handing over the aid they promised ten months ago... and claiming to be giving more than they truly are (they simply included already-existing programming funds in the "new" earthquake relief commitment).


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

didn't know about that... should have guessed i suppose... everyone seems to be footdragging. my guess is that they are waiting to see what happens in the elections. 
good article about a canadian who seems to be overseeing a lot of the aid in haiti. may be that rare bird, an effective UN person!
The Canadian in the eye of Haiti's storm - thestar.com


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

CubaMark said:


> I'm not really that concerned with the cost of the diplomats' lodgings... what does bug me is the foot-dragging by the Conservatives (see earlier in this thread) in handing over the aid they promised ten months ago... and claiming to be giving more than they truly are (they simply included already-existing programming funds in the "new" earthquake relief commitment).


How is this different from the announcement of any "new" domestic spending?


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

furious! how nice to see you over here in the haiti thread! and all this time i thought you had a tendency to be heartless... my apologies! no idea you cared for the oppressed...
but it occurs to me... you might like it there! two hundred years (well, a bit more...) of pretty much no government, minimal anyhow... no annoying interference in business and free enterprise! a real model for the Government Lite vein of politics! not only is there no pathetic public health care to suck up those gourdes that could go to private enterprise, there isn't even a public school system! the tea partiers are just drooling right now. i know. but there is more! no nasty controls on the environment! and no building code! build what you like, wherever you like. no one will say a thing. and if they do, well, private enterprise rules, you just give them some money and they go away!
you should move there. they even speak french, so it would be much easier than, say, somalia...


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

boukman2 said:


> furious! how nice to see you over here in the haiti thread! and all this time i thought you had a tendency to be heartless... my apologies! no idea you cared for the oppressed...
> but it occurs to me... you might like it there! two hundred years (well, a bit more...) of pretty much no government, minimal anyhow... no annoying interference in business and free enterprise! a real model for the Government Lite vein of politics! not only is there no pathetic public health care to suck up those gourdes that could go to private enterprise, there isn't even a public school system! the tea partiers are just drooling right now. i know. but there is more! no nasty controls on the environment! and no building code! build what you like, wherever you like. no one will say a thing. and if they do, well, private enterprise rules, you just give them some money and they go away!
> you should move there. they even speak french, so it would be much easier than, say, somalia...


This is pure nonsense. Libertarians don't believe in NO government. And besides, you're talking about a country ruled over by leftist dictators like Papa Doc Duvalier and Jean-Bertrand Aristide.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

ooh! that is really too fabulously good! furious, you have been doing your homework! 
of course, teacher will be upset that you have made a couple of little errors... like bart simpson, it is off to the blackboard with you! first write 500 times 'papa doc was an evil man who stayed in power because the US thought he was a bastion against the lefties'. then, 500 more times, 'aristide was a bit of a psycho nut bar (probably), but he was quite genuinely elected, twice, in the first legit elections ever held in haiti'. 
then back up the rest of the previous two hundred years and look at how the country was run! you are getting there, keep trying!
and you forgot baby doc! he would feel bad to be left out, i'm sure...
there will soon be a very good business of tea partiers studying french in port au prince, of that i am sure!


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

boukman2 said:


> of course, teacher will be upset that you have made a couple of little errors... like bart simpson, it is off to the blackboard with you! first write 500 times 'papa doc was an evil man who stayed in power because the US thought he was a bastion against the lefties'. then, 500 more times, 'aristide was a bit of a psycho nut bar (probably), but he was quite genuinely elected, twice, in the first legit elections ever held in haiti'.


So how is that limited government? It was near totalitarian. Your premise is dreadfully off base.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

er, there wasn't an absence of government. it just didn't bother with all those annoying details that the Government Lite people are always going on about. 
but anyhow, this is a thread about disaster in haiti, so go do your homework and make sure you get some little details right before you comment! you are clearly on a big learning curve here, but keep it up!


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

boukman2 said:


> er, there wasn't an absence of government. it just didn't bother with all those annoying details that the Government Lite people are always going on about.
> but anyhow, this is a thread about disaster in haiti, so go do your homework and make sure you get some little details right before you comment! you are clearly on a big learning curve here, but keep it up!


I think there's a learning curve alright... but it isn't mine. You haven't told me a blessed thing to support whatever it is you're trying to prove. Start a new thread and explain yourself clearly in it.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*How the world can help Haiti*



> Mr. Préval has been extraordinarily ineffective in his response to the earthquake. Yet so have donor nations. Of the $5.3-billion pledged for 2010-2011 at the emergency donor conference, *only $732-million has been allocated.*
> 
> The lack of follow-through from many governments and organizations has left Haitians with few resources during a critical year. It is also creating larger repercussions for long-term recovery. (Globe & Mail Dec. 22nd)





> Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon says the international community "cannot do everything in Haiti" (Globe & Mail, Dec. 20th)


*...I'm still looking for updated figures to confirm that Canada has yet to deliver on its promised aid.... (see previous posts).*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*It's been a year. Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. 230-thousand dead. 300-thousand injured. 1-million homeless.

What's changed since that horrible day? NOT BLOODY MUCH.* 

_Perhaps one of the best round-ups:_

*A year later: Haiti struggles to rebuild*



> Haitian officials stress that their government was weak and underfunded to begin with, then devastated, and never really recovered from the earthquake. Ministries were relocated but could not replace vast numbers of staff killed in the quake or material lost in the destruction.
> 
> Advocacy groups also blame much of the Haitian government's weakness on an international community that is not keeping its pledge of support.
> 
> ...


Also:

UN: Ottawa turned down "strong request" to stay in post-earthquake Haiti

Unprecedented, unwanted: Inside Port-au-Prince's "baby factory"

Haiti Progress Report 2010 | Oxfam International

...and here's an op-ed co-signed by former Gov. General Michaëlle Jean, published today:

*Donors, heed your promises to Haiti*


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*hugely positive story!*

the nytimes ran a story with a very different flavour to the usual disaster and disaster tales. a traditional old market in the center of town, already falling apart before the earthquake, has been restored and is about to reopen.



> But in the main commercial district, a few blocks east of the sea, a huge and beloved 19th-century bazaar called the Marché en Fer, or Iron Market, has risen again, its whimsical exterior, including clock tower and four minarets, gleaming with fresh paint. In the coming days, this wonderland of commerce — once packed with nearly a thousand merchants selling art, pigeons, turtles, dried starfish, herbs, potions, perfumes, produce and cheap Chinese housewares — will bustle back to lif


e.



> Built in the late 19th century in France, the market, also known as Marché Hyppolite, was apparently intended to be a railway station in Cairo. It is not clear why it landed in Haiti instead in 1891, but for the 119 years that followed, it served — as Denis O’Brien, the Irish billionaire who has poured $12 million of his own money into the restoration, put it — as “the economic and cultural fulcrum of the city.”
> 
> The project has become a lone bright spot in Haiti’s stalled reconstruction. Built to international codes, equipped with solar panels and resistant to hurricanes and earthquakes, the renovated Iron Market epitomizes the hope of the international community that Haiti might “build back better,” in the words of former President Bill Clinton, the United Nations special envoy for Haiti.
> 
> Mr. O’Brien’s deep pockets — his company, Digicel, dominates the Haitian cellphone market and he himself is worth an estimated $3.5 billion — allowed him to hire hundreds of workers, import materials and not flinch too much at cost overruns. He flew in every few weeks for site visits, and constantly hounded his project manager, George Howard, for updates and photographs.


the rest of the story is great.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/world/americas/11haiti.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=all


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*baby doc, zombielike, back from the dead...*

most interesting development in haiti!

J


> ean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has returned unexpectedly to Haiti, nearly 25 years after he was driven out by mass protests.
> 
> In blue suit and tie, Duvalier arrived yesterday at Port-au-Prince airport on an Air France flight from Paris, witnesses s


aid.



> The prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said that if Duvalier was involved in any political activities, he was unaware of them. "He is a Haitian and, as such, is free to return home," the prime minister told the Associated Press.
> 
> In 2007, President Rene Preval said that Duvalier could return but would have to face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars.


and then?



> "I was shocked when I heard the news, and I am still wondering what is the next step, what Preval will say and obviously what [exiled former president Jean-Bertrand] Aristide will be doing," said Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born history professor at the University of Virginia.
> 
> "If Jean-Claude is back in the country, I assume Aristide will be trying to get back as quickly as possible."


poor haiti... poverty, earthquake, cholera, palin, and now baby doc...

'Baby Doc' Duvalier back in Haiti | World news | The Guardian


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Ah, Baby Doc. Another former U.S. puppet brought in to solidify the outside world's desired political path for Haiti. Washington loved him when he was their ally against communism (i.e. Cuba) in the Caribbean, even flew him into exile in France on a USAF aircraft. So now he's back to rally the people around the right-wing, pro-business political class. 

Just f-ing great. I may have to revisit my thinking on that whole 'Haiti is cursed' thing...


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

the scary part is that he will say 'look what a mess this place is, it was much better when i was here', forgetting the little detail that the place is a mess because of how he was running it! (just like the nostalgia for the old commies in russia)
sigh.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

*needs a job*

apparently exile has not been too good to baby. it would appear that the only job the ex-president for life has is being president (which he wasn't too good at...)

Duvalier checked into the Karibe hotel in Pétionville, an upmarket district, and said he had returned to help and show solidarity with Haitians' suffering. "I am well disposed and determined to participate in the rebirth of Haiti," he said.



> It was unclear who would pick up the hotel tab. Duvalier's years of living in a chateau outside Paris and a luxury Riviera villa ended in costly divorce and tax disputes, leaving him near broke.In recent years journalists tracked him down to a small, sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment in a far from chic arrondissement. The modest rent of a few hundred euros a month was paid by supporters, including Haitian taxi-drivers and waiters living in France who propped up Duvalier morally, physically and financially.
> 
> At one point the former president was so desperate he took university classes to improve his "leadership skills" and placed an advertisement seeking work in a local paper in the south of France. However critics said he never seriously sought to earn a living.
> 
> Friends described him as lonely and deluded, dreaming of the day he would reclaim power.


Haitians ponder the return, after 25 years, of Baby Doc | World news | The Guardian


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*"Baby Doc" Duvalier. Former Washington buddy, still liked by (at least this) Republican / Libertarian.*

*Former U.S. lawmaker assisting Duvalier*



> Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr said he is not serving as Duvalier's attorney, but is in Port-au-Prince to consult, assist and be Duvalier's voice to the international community.
> 
> Barr represented Georgia's 7th District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 2008.





> "This is really more of a personal trip helping Duvalier and his family," Barr told CNN affiliate WXIA before leaving for Port-au-Prince.





> Barr "will be representing" Duvalier "in bringing his message of hope to the world," the former Republican congressman's website says.
> 
> "I also am reminded of others who have risen from the ashes," Barr told reporters Friday. "The city of Atlanta is the Phoenix city. The people of Haiti, likewise, will rise from the problems created by last year's earthquake and emerge stronger and better than before. That I know is Mr. Duvalier's deep wish and something that he knows in his heart."


(CNN)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"Barr represented Georgia's 7th District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 2008." I vote in the Georgia 10th district, so I can say that I certainly did NOT vote for him.

Hopefully, enough documentation survived the earthquake to convict Baby Doc. We shall see.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

> Haiti's infamous dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier, returned to his country this week, while the country's first elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is kept out. These two facts really say everything about Washington's policy toward Haiti, and our government's respect for democracy in that country and in the region.
> 
> Asked about the return of Duvalier, who had thousands tortured and murdered under his dictatorship, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "this is a matter for the Government of Haiti and the people of Haiti."
> 
> But when asked about Aristide returning, he said "Haiti does not need, at this point, any more burdens."


(CommonDreams.org)


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## Glipt (Aug 7, 2003)

boukman2 said:


> the scary part is that he will say 'look what a mess this place is, it was much better when i was here', forgetting the little detail that the place is a mess because of how he was running it! (just like the nostalgia for the old commies in russia)
> sigh.


The scarier part is Haitians saying the same thing, which they are saying here in the DR.:yikes:


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Seems like Baby Doc is there to confirm that he is still a Haitian citizen and can travel as he wishes. Seems like new Swiss banking laws come into effect on Feb.1st, and he needs this confirmation of citizenship to be able to reclaim the frozen money that he plundered from Haiti 25 years ago. Hopefully, the Haitian government and justice system has a differnt idea as to where he might spend his retirement. We shall see.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

there are also a lot of rumours that he is in bad health, with perhaps only six months to live. it will be interesting to see which of all these different stories turn out to be true!


----------



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

_Man, Haiti can't catch a break. Not just the indescribably horrible earthquake, not the half-assed international "aid" response, and not just a cholera epidemic... but now Haitians are afraid to farm:_

*Fearing cholera, Haitians refuse to harvest rice*



> The cholera epidemic that sickened more than 150,000 people and killed several thousand more has tapered off inside Haiti’s hospitals. But the effects of it are still playing out in L’Artibonite, the rich agricultural region at the centre of the country known as Haiti’s “rice basket.”
> 
> Farmers and the labourers they rely on to harvest rice are refusing to go into the marsh-like paddies because they fear cholera will infect them.
> 
> This is causing ripples across the country, from markets in Port-au-Prince, where there is less food available for purchase, to families in Haiti’s northern regions who travel south for farm jobs during harvest but are afraid to risk wading into the fields.


(Globe & Mail)


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

i have a thought about the cholera. it's the UN that brought it, so the UN should fix it. building up the infrastructure to make clean water available to everyone, and the sewage system to take away the waste, would not only stop the cholera, but would provide a huge kick to the economy by employing lots and lots of people. the mission costs about 1/2 billion dollars a year. adding a bit extra to fix the cholera problem would be quite inexpensive...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Unfortunately, the U.N. agencies are suffering a cash drought, as the donor nations fail to live up to their promises. Much of the aid has instead been diverted through non-UN and non-Haitian NGOs, like those evangelical idiots from Idaho who tried to kidnap a bunch of Haitian "orphans" (many of whom turned out to not be orphans at all).

"The U.N." is not the monolithic, all-powerful force of good/evil that people think it is. Neither can it just jump in and fix things without new resources being committed, nor is it sending black helicopters swooping over the cornfields of Nebraska preparing to take over the USA.


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## boukman2 (Apr 6, 2009)

bit disappointed to hear the UN isn't the one with the black helicopters...
i admit i am really just being facetious here. i don't expect them to actually do anything, especially not take responsibility for their own f*ckups... but it is still a good idea...


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Cuba Takes Lead Role in Haiti’s Cholera Fight*



> It was the evening of Oct. 15, 2010. Cholera, the doctors with the Cuban medical mission that treat most of the patients here would soon confirm, had arrived in Haiti.





> As the epidemic continues, the Cuban medical mission that played an important role in detecting it presses on in Haiti, winning accolades from donors and diplomats for staying on the front lines and undertaking a broader effort to remake this country’s shattered health care system.





> ...while the death rate peaked last December and the world’s attention has largely moved on, “Half of the NGOs are already gone, and the Cubans are still there,” he said, using the abbreviation for nongovernment organizations.
> 
> Cuban doctors have worked in Haiti since 1998, when 100 arrived after a hurricane as part of Cuba’s five-decade program of establishing international medical missions. Since then, Cuba has worked with Haiti and Venezuela and lately Brazil, Norway and other countries to build and provide staff and equipment for several dozen small community hospitals, clinics and other treatment centers.





> There is no doubt that the Cuban mission has been vital here. It was among the largest international aid contingents to respond after the January 2010 earthquake that tumbled Haiti into crisis. And since the cholera outbreak, the mission has treated more than 76,000 cases of the disease, with just 272 fatalities — a much lower ratio, at 0.36 percent, than the average across Haiti as a whole, in which 1.4 percent of cases ended in death...












(NYTimes)


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Good on you, Cuba.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Without Funding, Haiti Faces “Endemic Cholera"*



> Lack of financing for a 10-year eradication plan means that cholera will likely be endemic to Haiti for years to come.
> 
> Cholera spreads via contaminated food, water and fecal matter. One of the essential parts of the government’s 2.2-billion-dollar National Plan for the Elimination of Cholera in Haiti is financing for sanitation systems nationwide.





> The majority of Haitians – about eight million out of the country’s 10 million people – do not have access to a hygienic sanitation system. They defecate in the open, in fields, in ravines and on riverbanks. The capital region produces over 900 tonnes of human excreta every day, according to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
> 
> “Haiti is the only country in the entire world whose sanitation coverage decreased in the last decade,”





> Cholera, brought to Haiti in October 2010 by soldiers from the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), quickly spread throughout the country. Almost 3,000 are infected each month. To date, over 600,000 people have been infected and at least 8,190 have died.


(IPS)

*No One Knows Exactly Why the Canadian Military Is in Haiti*



> the Canadian government to quietly announce the deployment of an infantry platoon of 34 soldiers to Haiti. The island nation, which is still dealing with the ramifications of the devastating 2010 earthquake, is currently controlled by the Brazilian troops who've led the UN peacekeeping effort in Haiti since 2004. The move to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission is significant: Stephen Harper’s conservative government is voluntarily getting back into the traditional peacekeeping game.
> 
> For a country that basically invented the concept of the peacekeeper, Harper has overseen a nosedive to the point where the Canucks now rank 57 out of 114 troop-contributing nations worldwide.





> The change of heart for Harper certainly raises questions, even if 34 troops is only a minor contribution. So why now—and why Haiti?





> “A platoon isn't [a sign of Canada] getting back into the peacekeeping game,” said one highly skeptical Canadian soldier who remains anonymous (he isn’t authorized to speak to the media). “This mission is preventing the department of national defense from experiencing extreme boredom and keeps them relevant,” he said.
> 
> Besides keeping the department of national defense from falling asleep at their desks, there's the chance that Canadian forces might be being used to advance diplomatic relations with Brazil, enhancing the two countries' trading relationship by lessening Brazil's load in Haiti. In other words, the mission is potentially a military handjob for future business opportunities.


(Vice.com)


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