http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.earthquake/index.html

I just grabbed the first cnn link I could find.

"The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It could be felt strongly in eastern Cuba, more than 200 miles away."

7.0!!!! That's a pretty bad earthquake by anyones standards.... let alone in a country like Haiti that has little infrastructure to deal with a disaster like this. They say up to 3 million people could be affected by this and depeding on how long it takes to get aid to some people many more people could die than already have.

It'll take weeks before we get an accurate number of people who died from this but no matter how many died I'm willing to bet more preparation could have prevented some of the deaths.

Yeah... I heard it from the news. And I will blame their architectures the most on why many people died. If they had better buildings and such before the earthquake struck, there should be less chance of people being trapped inside the building or even die inside it because of the moving and falling objects that could harm their vital parts.

I agree... but I also think there are going to be a lot of people who died needlessly because of the lack of organization and preparedness on the part of the government for a disaster like this.

There is very little in the way of heavy machinery or medical/food supplies. A majority of the people live day to day and this disaster has shut so much down that I wouldn't be surprised if more people died as a result of how poorly prepared they are rather than how bad the earthquake was.

i heard about it. my best friends friend has a wife and she was in Haiti when the quake hit she has not been found yet.

That is horrible I remember reading the early estimates it was something like half a million could be dead.

What really pisses me off about this though is USA. One minute we are bombing the crap out of countries and the next we are giving them money. Instead of begging citizens to donate why doesn't the government use the money they waste on guns and bombs and use it for aide? That is why I laugh when a disaster occurs and our leaders turn all emotional; they are a bunch of deceiving nut jobs.

Why is it we are only helping Haiti when there are millions more who need it probably just as bad here in the USA and around the world in other countries?

I agree geo organizations like FEMA here in the USA is a complete joke. When we had hurricane Katrina they were no where to be found for several days.

I think the whole system is just a complete mess, organizations that are geared towards helping are extremely slow and unprepared. There needs to be better plans set, for instance having the money ahead of time to fund such disasters along with having faster response times.

yeah, you make a lot more headway helping a country rather than bombing the crap out of it. While I do admit that there are some countries that any amount of aid would do nothing but help them hurt people (not necessarily "us" but someone) I do think that it could do some good to prevent at least some of the hate towards "the West". At least some....


And it is sad that some private charities and religious groups were better prepared to send help than some government agencies. But the with how big the government is getting it's not really a surprise that it takes them long to get anything done. With the government you can't just mobilize something without approval from a half dozen committees and what not

I find it interesting that Haiti is getting more help, faster, than Louisiana did after Katrina. Of course, different people in charge now and Haiti is accepting help from the outside so that also helps.

But yeah, the images from Haiti are heartbreaking. It's never a nice thing to hear that so many people have died, and I really wish I could do more to help. What really pisses me off though is that scammers are taking advantage of the kindness of others and setting up false charities and trying to steal people's money. It's disgusting!

More disgusting is the statement made by Pat Robinson on the 700 Club that the earthquake was a punishment for "making a pact with the Devil to break free of the French." Of all the insensitive bulls*** I have ever heard that man spout this has got to be the worst. Honestly, while I am all for freedom of speech, I feel that he should be forced to issue an apology and have his show taken off the air.

well, I think Haiti is getting more help because they NEED more help. And it's one of those types of disasters that you can't really see coming . New Orleans saw the hurricane coming Either way I'm glad they are getting as much attention as they are. That country needs it.

And that's just stupid.... making a pact with the devil? Some people abuse their freedom of speech

This was a horrible incident to happen especially to a poverty stricken country such as Haiti. Atleast they are getting the required help needed to make it through their time of crisis and need.

oh, and something I didn't say that I wanted to say... was that hopefully Haiti will get help for more than the 3 weeks the media and general public can pay attention to this story.

I agree, that would be horrible. One of my friends is actually waiting to see if another country takes over Haiti as a result... you know "protecting it" or something. I don't think they would let it happen, but I could see someone trying.

They just got another quake

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/second-earthquake-hits-haiti-2010-01-20

that's insane... a 6.1 just hit earlier today.... for a minute I was confused by what Jigsaw said... but it's true. This one hit 35 miles from the capital.

If things weren't bad enough in Haiti right now....

I was actually wondering if they had had any after shocks because I've heard that there usually are some but I hadn't heard anything about them. Maybe this was an after shock

It is very sad how the earthquakes hit Haiti, a lot of people died by getting buried...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake

According to the Haitian "Government" more than 170,000 bodies have been counted and confirmed as dead. That's just what they've counted so far. There are still a lot more possible deaths. Disease, lack of food or clean drinking water, the tent cities, crime, etc could all cause even more deaths. I won't be surprised if the death toll goes over 200,000 before the country is stabalized.

The bad part of this is that people were already really poor, but now, because of this the poverty is growing, that is why lots of food groups are sending food and supplies to Haiti, because the people can't afford it and many poor people are now homeless.
The food and supplies that are being sent to Haiti will only help the people a bit, because after a while the food drive for Haiti will stop and the people will continue living in poverty,
I guess that teaches us how lucky we are to be fed and sheltered and clothed, because there are many people around the world that lack these essentials...

we are lucky.... the poorest people in the first world are still better off than nearly everyone else in the world. And the people in Haiti are the poorest people in the western hemisphere. I heard some estimates that say it will take 10 or more years to fully recover from these earthquakes and the previous hurricanes that hit in the previous few years. The support will not last beyond 2010 for sure.... not unless something else happens.

Did you here about the baptist missionaries trying to smuggle children and ended up in jail?

http://community.beliefnet.com/go/thread/view/59723/22343065/American_Baptists_Arrested_for_Child_Smuggling:__Does_the_End_Justify_the_Means

wow... while it is possible these people had the childrens best interests at heart... more than likely they were going to be sold to parents wanting to adopt.

Pretty much you need to go through the legal channels... especially with adoption. Black market adoption just doesn't seem smart.