Bodies pile up after Haiti quake; aid jams airport
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Troops and planeloads of food and medicine streamed into Haiti on Thursday to aid a traumatized nation still rattled by aftershocks from the catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings and buried countless people.
Haiti Earthquake
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more — one third of Haiti’s population — were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts. About 1,500 corpses were piled up outside the main hospital and bodies littered many streets.
Planes full of supplies arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport faster than ground crews could unload them and aviation authorities restricted flights from U.S. airspace for fear planes would run out of fuel while waiting to land.
The influx of aid had yet to reach shell-shocked Haitians who wandered the broken streets of Port-au-Prince, searching desperately for water, food and medical help.
“Money is worth nothing right now, water is the currency,” one foreign aid-worker told Reuters.
Looters swarmed a broken supermarket in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince, carrying out electronics and bags of rice unchallenged. Others siphoned gasoline from a wrecked tanker.
“All the policemen are busy rescuing and burying their own families,” said tile factory owner Manuel Deheusch. “They don’t have the time to patrol the streets.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Haiti had suffered a tragedy beyond imagination and “must become the center of our world’s attention, the world’s compassion and the world’s humanitarian help.”
NOT FORSAKEN
The United States was sending 3,500 soldiers, 300 medical personnel, several ships and a contingent of Marines. Canadian military ships with 500 personnel were on the way and a disaster aid team had already arrived.
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