Haiti Suffers Catastrophe of Major Proportions

TheCypressTimes.com ^ | 01/13/2010 | John G. Winder

[Patriot1259]

First Lady of Haiti Begs For U.S. Hospital Ship; Capital of Port Au Prince in Ruins

In a press conference held just moments ago, Haiti’s Ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph said Haiti is currently in the assessment phase. Alcide also related a message from Haitian First Lady Elisabeth Debrosse Delatour who said, “Please ask the world. Ask the United States to help us with a hospital ship.”

In 2008, the U.S. deployed a Navy Hospital ship following widespread devastation caused by numerous hurricanes that struck the island nation.

[edzo4]

Presidential Palace

Before

After

[silverleaf]

Maybe not- if it encourages thousands of desparate people to try to sail and paddle and swim out to be picked up

Field hospitals much better

Security in Haiti is always a nightmare- now it will be sheer hell

[silverleaf]

Maybe not- if it encourages thousands of desparate people to try to sail and paddle and swim out to be picked up

Field hospitals much better

Security in Haiti is always a nightmare- now it will be sheer hell

[silverleaf]

Maybe not- if it encourages thousands of desparate people to try to sail and paddle and swim out to be picked up

Field hospitals much better

Security in Haiti is always a nightmare- now it will be sheer hell

[woodbutcher1963]

Right now they need people to dig through the rubble.

[aimhigh]

Prayers and support for the island's people.

In Haiti, the major religion is voodoo. They will be praying to a different God.

[RC one]

Haitians eat dirt to survive. They make little cakes out of it and actually sell it, buy it, and eat it. That's how freaking poor these folks are. This is the last thing they needed. This is in our backyard. We should not allow this and we should do something to help them during this crisis, something fairly large scale. Just my opinion of course.

[Larry Lucido]

Then how about YOU pray for them?

[roses of sharon]

# Roman Catholic priest in France says archbishop of Port-au-Prince killed in #Haiti quake - AP 3 minutes ago from BreakingNews Headquarters

[aimhigh]

Then how about YOU pray for them?

Why do you assume I haven't?

[thefactor]

One of my bosses just said the best thing we can do for Haiti right now is to just go there, take over, and make them a state/commonwealth.

[Wahoo82]

Haiti sounds a lot like Detroit.

[DIRTYSECRET]

ZULU-You and Fat not lazy may have something here. My suggestion is to turn it into a 50-year protectorate. Remove all females of child bearing age(and younger) and transfer them throughout the 25 french-speaking countries(including the US). We then turn it into a penal colony, emptying our jail cells. 50 years down the road we turn the country over to it’s rightful owners the Dominican Republic.

[fatnotlazy]

Detroit is becoming Haiti.

[dfwgator]

We have a large Haitian community in Miami, they run businesses, these are the people who should be running Haiti.

[Joan912]

Was Haiti at one time a Spanish colony? A British one?

Why is it that in the year 2010, people still live in tin shacks, do without electricity and eat mud? What the hell has gone on in that country in the last 80 years?!

[N. Theknow]

Will it be 3 days before O responds?

He has already responded so it must not have been and isolated extremist, alleged earthquake.

[firebrand]

The Duvaliers helped destroy their own people. A visiting nun, when she saw the obscene difference between how the rich lived and how the poor lived, promptly threw up. The Duvliers were only gotten rid of by allowing them to leave loaded with what was left of the wealth of the country.

At a certain point in the downward spiral, poverty becomes irreversible without outside help. Maybe Haiti will get that help now.

[ClearCase_guy]

This is just from memory, so I could have a mistake, but this is the bit of Haitian history I know:

France owned Haiti. It was a significant french holding in the middle of the Carribean.
There was a slave revolt around 1801 and the French were driven out.
At that time, Napoleon needed money, and he knew that the loss of Haiti as a staging area was very serious. Napoleon came to the conclusion that the Louisiana territory was no longer sustainable.
Napoleon sold Louisiana to Thomas Jefferson because of the slave revolt on Haiti.
Haiti has been independent for over 200 years.

It should be noted that Haiti is half of an islnd (Hispaniola). The other half consists of the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republican was owned by Spain, but was taken over by Haiti in about 1820.
The Dominican Republic became independent in about 1840. The Domincan Republic has been independent for less than 200 years.

Haiti is desperately poor and the Dominican Republic is not. It's not the land. It's not the climate. They are on the same island.

This is perhaps the world's best example that government (and government corruption) is the difference between a nation's success or failure. Haiti has never been well served by its politicians.

[djf]

Breaking news on NBC the Haitian Ministry is reporting hundreds of thousands could be dead...