7.0 earthquake hits Haiti, death toll may reach 200,000

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I've been following this throughout the day and it just seems to keep getting worse. What a horrible disaster brought on by natural causes but exasperated by poor infrastructure, high population density, and a lack of funds to help modernize the region.

Lets hope 500,000 is a very high estimate. It's clear that there are already way too many deaths there.
 
Holy shit!

Last I heard they were expecting a death toll in the tens of thousands not in the hundreds of thousands.

That's... there's no word that can describe that kind of death. Nothing holds enough weight.

I'm sorry my Haitian brothers and sister.
 
This is what makes me feel so helpess about Haiti's general situation. Regardless of this quake. It's severely overpopulated, extremely impoversished, lacking any significant resources, food poor, and highly corrupt to boot. Without Mother Nature taking a dump on them how on Earth is Haiti supposed to stabilize themselves? :^/
 
Of course the president himself is perfectly fine because "hey he's important,he is immune to natural disaster".
 
I really don't know what to say, I knew the situation would be bad but hundreds of thousands of deaths is just gut wrenching.

And Pat Robertson is a horrible human being, I hope I never come in direct contact with the man because I'd be hard pressed not to punch him in the face.
 
Daheza said:
Wow this sucks. What is the population of Haiti?
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You mean what is it now.

I think it was around 10 million before the quake.

I guess the country is pretty much completely fucked now. Not that it was in any great state before but now? It's crazy.

I do see a LOT of foreign companies making a killing on the rebuilding of Haiti though.
Which of course is always nice. For those companies. Not for the people who had to die first.
 
Klyka said:
Of course the president himself is perfectly fine because "hey he's important,he is immune to natural disaster".
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Did you see the interview with him on CNN? Not very inspiring -- looked like he was about to get on a plane and leave
 
Wow, saw this thread yesterday and didn't think it was that bad. In fact, I assumed it was a tsunami that was the potential issue.

Hundreds of thousands though, thats horrible.
 
Smiles and Cries said:
I would not be shocked it he does bail out
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Really? I got the impression that he was the best leader the Haitians had gotten in.... forever.

But I suppose that's not saying much.
 
I remember reading how a prison was destroyed, allowing inmates to get out. I wonder how many of them are going to be checking on their own families...
 
Ding said:
Really? I got the impression that he was the best leader the Haitians had gotten in.... forever.

But I suppose that's not saying much.
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that is very true, he has been the longest lasting in like forever but it can't be an easy job
 
The high death numbers right now are based on politician's estimates who are seeing the damage, but no numerical count as far as I know yet. It kind of reminds me of Naigan's comments in New Orleans when he incorrectly said 10's of thousands died.

So far, most official reports are thousands still which could mean anything up to a million.

500,000 (or 100,000) is a lot (about half of Port Au Prince's population) and the videoes I've seen don't seem anywhere near those numbers. Not saying it's not true, I'm rambling pray that it isn't and my brain is trying to comprehend that big of a number in such a small place.

I now see why Conan's thread is bigger.

One post here & I need some levity. Of course, I'm watching CNN and updating Google too so maybe it's overkill.
 
Talas said:
The one in the Indian Ocean back in 2004 was a 9.3, the second most powerful ever recorded.

Most powerful in the caribbean maybe?
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It was the most powerful quake in Haiti in about 200 years per the news.

I'm not sure what the most powerful quake ever on land was. That 9.3 would have been massive as the number isn't linear. If I remember things right, the ocean floor rose 30 feet in the air on that quake; hence the tsunami.
 
Klyka said:
I do see a LOT of foreign companies making a killing on the rebuilding of Haiti though.
Which of course is always nice. For those companies. Not for the people who had to die first.
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What about the people of Haiti that didn't die? Wouldn't it be good for them too?
 
JGS said:
The high death numbers right now are based on politician's estimates who are seeing the damage, but no numerical count as far as I know yet. It kind of reminds me of Naigan's comments in New Orleans when he incorrectly said 10's of thousands died.

So far, most official reports are thousands still which could mean anything up to a million.

500,000 (or 100,000) is a lot (about half of Port Au Prince's population) and the videoes I've seen don't seem anywhere near those numbers. Not saying it's not true, I'm rambling pray that it isn't and my brain is trying to comprehend that big of a number in such a small place.

I now see why Conan's thread is bigger.

One post here & I need some levity. Of course, I'm watching CNN and updating Google too so maybe it's overkill.
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the area is densely populated with over 2 million people in a small area the only thing keeping the death toll low would be that most of those people really live in shacks so roofs that fall would not be that bad at the slums but still if you do have over 600,000 harded cement brick buildings - if you imagine one death per building (sheesh)


one thing I know about Port-Au-Prince is that most people who have homes also have live in servants who does the cooking and cleaning, mostly poor people who come down from the mountain towns to work for those in the City area. These servants would be the ones at home at that 5pm hour when the quake hit - so it makes the possibility of someone being in a building higher
 
Ugh, this tragedy is going to be like Christmas to the Pat Robeterson's out there and their respective "teams." All but guaranteed such sentiments as he's already offered up won't be the last of it or even then most hateful and wrong.

What an insane start to 2010. Utterly insane.
 
oh my goodness! I have not heard any news channel report a number that high. I hope that just comes from someone WAY overestimating. 500k would be a great percentage of the population just to die at once like that.

Hopefully people evacuated buildings as best they could after the first quake. I think all the aftershocks were just doing additional damage from what is seen in pictures/video. Hopefully the death toll is not as bad as all that. :(
 
Smiles and Cries said:
the area is densely populated with over 2 million people in a small area the only thing keeping the death toll low would be that most of those people really live in shacks so roofs that fall would not be that bad at the slums but still if you do have over 600,000 harded cement brick buildings - if you imagine one death per building (sheesh)


one thing I know about Port-Au-Prince is that most people who have homes also have live in servants who does the cooking and cleaning, mostly poor people who come down from the mountain towns to work for those in the City area. These servants would be the ones at home at that 5pm hour when the quake hit - so it makes the possibility of someone being in a building higher
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After I typed that I was thinking the reason the videos didn't show the casulaties is because the people may be trapped in the buildings.
 
that is fucked up...

i still wonder why so little of this is on tv, i remember that at 911 german tv was all over it - but this here is only on the ticker...
 
TEXT TO DONATE:

U.S.
Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti charity where you can text YELE to 501501 to give $5 to help with earthquake relief efforts.

The US State Department seems to favor the Red Cross, where you can text "HAITI" to "90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

The donations are added to your cellphone bill.

CANADA:
In Canada, people can donate $5 to the Salvation Army by texting "Haiti" to 45678 through a system set up by the Mobile Giving Foundation.
 
sangreal said:
What I don't understand is why buildings put up my major international entities, like the UN, weren't built to modern standards?
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Because an earthquake like this only hits every 200 years, so building code does not call for structures to withstand that.

The eastern US is the same. Nothing is built to withstand an earthquake, but we're due for a big one. If it hits, a lot will fall down.


Same with hurricanes. While Haiti suffers huge damage every year from hurricanes, it's not as bad as it would be if NYC got a direct hit from a strong one.
 
119p9h0.jpg


idhjq9.jpg


ok6b8n.jpg
<-this was a 6 story building

Source:http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html
 
What about the neighboring islands? Are there many deaths in Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico?

I didn't even know that Haiti had a population of almost 10 million, so I would have thought that 500,000 deaths in the country would be almost impossible until this hit.
 
liquid_gears said:
What about the neighboring islands? Are there many deaths in Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico?

I didn't even know that Haiti had a population of almost 10 million, so I would have thought that 500,000 deaths in the country would be almost impossible until this hit.
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Eastern Cuba felt it and Jamaica felt it but no damage, it was a shallow fault-line Earthquake so its very violent but localize to central point. Shallow means that the earth rip was at 6 miles below ground. Only deeper rips of 100 miles below ground would have been felt very far.
 
I work for an NGO called Catholic Relief Services and handle passports and visas for our staff traveling internationally out of our Head Quarters here in Baltimore. Needless to say, this situation has had me busy all day today.

CRS has already pledged $5 million to help in the relief efforts, with most of that going to food and shelter for the survivors who are in need. We've had in office in the Haitian capital for more than 50 years and have a staff of about 30 people based there. Luckily none of the employees at our Port au Prince office were injured.

If anyone would like to donate to relief efforts that are happening on the ground, visit this link and give what ever you can. Our people are there right now and supplies from FL and the Dominican Republic are being moved around the clock. A simple $5 donation can feed a family of four for an entire day.
 
Smiles and Cries said:
Eastern Cuba felt it and Jamaica felt it but no damage, it was a shallow fault-line Earthquake so its very violent but localize to central point. Shallow means that the earth rip was at 6 miles below ground. Only deeper rips of 100 miles below ground would have been felt very far.
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Im curious about the dominican republic, considering theyre the same damn island and all.
 
Remember these pictures when you start complaining about building codes. :-/

I hope our military has several ships steaming there with food, medicine, and engineering equipment like bulldozers.


Unreinforced masonry . . . that is just not a good way to build if you are anywhere near an earthquake zone.
 
Kaeru said:
Death toll now estimated to between 30 000- 50 000.
Not even 10% of what was first estimated.
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It doesn't sound like a lot anymore, but it is.
You do realize that's like 15 times the deaths during 9/11 or about 7 times the amount of american deaths in iraq since the "war" which has lasted 7 years or so? This all happening in one moment to a country that has had plenty of turmoil to go around.

Imagine a completely packed audience at a football game just disappearing in one day. Let's not even mention the injuries, the damage, the nights without shelter, food, water, medical assistance and rebuilding. My heart goes to these people. It REALLY isn't fair at all.
 
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