Sad for Haiti...

[Gerry]

I just got a call from a friend who is 4th year medical student in Miami. Rather than continue their clinical rotations in fancy hospitals in and around Miami, he and a large majoritiy of his class have received permission from the dean to go to Haiti to aide and help the injured. These are all well capable med students about to finish up their medical school.

They will be flying out later today with tons of supplies through coordinated relief.

One of their stops on the way may be Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be used as a staging area.

I was watching unedited footage last night of the scene in Port Au Prince. It seemed like everything that was a building is nothing but rubble now. I decided not to post a link to this as the footage also showed many crushed humans under the rubble and in the streets. Not a pretty site.

For those that are of Haitian descent or ties to that nation, I hope you are able to cope with the chaos and get news of your loved ones.

[think]

Very sad. I just got this email and I am just posting as it is on topic:

Good Afternoon,

The reports and images from Haiti of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching. As we learn more about the extent of the devastation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and Haitian Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home.

I have directed my Administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States Government in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief -- the food, water and medicine -- that Haitians will need in the coming days.

This is also a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit. If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, I encourage you to visit our website where you can learn more about how to contribute:

http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

We will continue to stand with the people of Haiti and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

[biggedon]

it's a sad story, but hopefully the people of Haiti will get some aid and relief

[south]

Someone should get some excavators there pronto. Start at the airport and work their way outwards.

Biggie, have to agree. the Haitians have been living in misery for a long time. When this is over, whether in a year or 10, I seriously doubt there will be any lasting support for them. Years ago, I knew someone who tried to start in business over there, but he couldn't even get his product off the ship. People were actually swimming to the freighters and climbing up the sides, then throwing everything to their friends waiting in the water. He was a Haitian who had hoped to do some good for his home country.

[Devil Dog]

List of charities to donate:

http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti

[Poker]

Red cross has set up an easy way to donate if you can't give much. If everyone did, it would be huge.

Text "Haiti" to 90999.

Doing so will automatically donate $10 for Haitian rescue and recover efforts and will be billed on your bill.

[stewie]

Haiti will never be the same, rebuilding will be almost impossible... it will take a lifetime.

Let's hope Haiti gets the help they are being promised...


My prayers and thoughts to all of them and their families.

[Donald Aquilano]

I do feel sorry for the people there but I'm more concerned for what will happen after everyone leaves. Haiti has always been impoverished even with all the aid throughout the years. I feel that this will be a cycle that we will see over an over again until they move out of their third world stasis. I think they need more than just money and supplies....they need someone to show them how to run a country.

[Acro]

I grew up in Greece, a country that sits on the edge of two tectonic plates and where tremors occur daily. Having experienced two major quakes as a teenager, I can tell you that the sensation of anticipating a disaster that can hit any minute will make people very nervous. The Haiti quake unleashed an extreme amount of energy; the equivalent of several atomic bombs (I believe the comparison unit is the Hiroshima bomb). For a country already impoverished, the devastation via the loss of life is immeasurable, almost complete. The 1/2 million dollar donation by GoDaddy is a drop in the ocean, however an ocean can be made by several such drops.

[Poker]

Good to see this thread clear of certain personal blog plugs (i didn't report it btw).

[Acro]

A reason I don't play poker is so that I don't have to tell lies or be envious of other people's achievements.

[south]

Hopefully GoDaddy also bought all the domains and forwarded them to valid charitable organizations.

[amplify]

Hopefully GoDaddy also bought all the domains and forwarded them to valid charitable organizations.

Nope, it appears HaitiEarthquake.com is a GD parking page.

[Gerry]

COOL! (if it is possible to be happy about anything going on in Haiti)

I just saw my buddy in the background at the airport in Port Au Prince. CNN was doing a live broadcast (I think live) of how people are having to unload tons of supplies on airplanes by hand because there is no heavy equipment available. He was one of the people shown unloading equipment in a line of people.

It appears there was quite a delay in them finally getting on the ground in Haiti with many planes attempting to fly in with no real flight control. It is my understanding the US Coast Guard was initially handling this from a cutter as well as a couple of helicopters at the airport.

Quite a multinational effort going on. Glad to see that.

[draggar]

I just got a call from a friend who is 4th year medical student in Miami. Rather than continue their clinical rotations in fancy hospitals in and around Miami, he and a large majoritiy of his class have received permission from the dean to go to Haiti to aide and help the injured. These are all well capable med students about to finish up their medical school.

They will be flying out later today with tons of supplies through coordinated relief.

One of their stops on the way may be Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be used as a staging area.

I was watching unedited footage last night of the scene in Port Au Prince. It seemed like everything that was a building is nothing but rubble now. I decided not to post a link to this as the footage also showed many crushed humans under the rubble and in the streets. Not a pretty site.

For those that are of Haitian descent or ties to that nation, I hope you are able to cope with the chaos and get news of your loved ones.

They're actually being smart about sending supplies and people out. They're trying to use the major airports (Miami, Ft Lauderdale, West Palm) as little as possible so they don't affect normal traffic flow but they've been using the Ft Lauderdale executive airport for a lot of this (I've noticed a HUGE increase in traffic from there since I work right below the flight path for planes taking off and I live below the fight path for planes landing there). That airport is mostly private / corporate jets.

I saw something on TV last night that really anoyed me. I was watching CNN (yeah, I know) and one of the broadcasters was going over who has donated what and mentioned China has donated $1 million to the relief fund. The other caster commented "China has only donated a million?" (in a condescending way) and the other one quickly mentioned that Chine was the first country to get workers and aid into Haiti after the earthquake (I say it was fast enough that as soon as it hit they had a plane in the air) and were also the first to get supplies in the area - the $1 million is just a cash donation / help.

[Gerry]

Just heard that Cuba is allowing flights from the USA to use Cuban airspace. This had been closed.

Incredibly enough, this saves about 90 minutes of flying time.

That is a bunch of time. In other words, I believe a fight from Miami to Port Au Prince would normally be 4 hours. Now 2.5. That's a huge plus!

[Acro]

Doc, this is great. If only humans acted like this on a regular, daily basis, earth would be paradise.

[Gerry]

doc, this is great. If only humans acted like this on a regular, daily basis, earth would be paradise.

if

[draggar]

A magnitude 5.7 just happened in Venezuela within the past hour or so. I think this is the same fault line that shook in Haiti.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak.../intensity.jpg

This is scary - if it moved in the same direction as the earthquake in Haiti that means a lot more stress is on the Pacific plate, it COULD trigger something along the Pacific coast - maybe even in the Cascadia subduction zone.

Edit: It's not the same fault but on the other side of the same plate - it looks like the whole Caribbean sea is moving into Central America / the Pacific plate. This is putting a lot of stress in that area.

[Gerry]

You can follow all the quake activity globally here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

Explore the site and you'll find many links to US, especially the west coast.