take pictures of and prints from the bodies, then burn them...
Posted on 01/14/2010 3:00:32 PM PST by NCjim
Desperate Haitians turned rubble-strewn streets and parks into makeshift hospitals and refugee camps on Thursday in the absence of any noticeable response from authorities in Haiti after Tuesday's earthquake.
With the 7.0 magnitude earthquake collapsing the presidential palace, a string of ministries and the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, Haiti faces a dangerous vacuum in security and government.
The Caribbean nation of 9 million people, the poorest in the western hemisphere, has a turbulent history of conflict, social turmoil, dictatorship, fragile institutions and devastating natural catastrophes.
Many in the capital Port-au-Prince picked away at shattered buildings with bare hands, sticks and hammers hoping to find loved-ones alive. Thousands of homeless people began to set up their own camps anywhere they could, the biggest right opposite the collapsed presidential palace.
"Look at us. Who is helping us? Right now, nobody," said Jean Malesta, a 19-year-old student who was the only survivor when her apartment building collapsed from the powerful quake that has killed thousands, possibly tens of thousands.
She and a dozen others lay under a tent they had set up in the park opposite President Rene Preval's palace. His weak and under-resourced government appears totally unequipped to handle the crisis, its officials in disarray and nowhere to be seen.
'WE ARE ON OUR OWN'
"So far, they have brought us nothing. We need water, food, shelter, everything, but we are on our own," Malesta added, to cries of agreement from women sitting and lying around her.
A major international aid effort has not yet kicked in, although plenty of small groups, many from the United States, have scrambled quickly, moving personnel into Haiti by plane and overland from neighboring Dominican Republic.
"The problem is that unlike traditional disaster situations we have few local partners to work with, because most of them have had their buildings destroyed and are looking for their own dead and missing," said Margaret Aguirre, a senior official with International Medical Corps.
Haitians are doing their best to survive chaotic conditions in the absence of any clear leadership, said Latin America expert Dan Erikson of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank.
"The sad truth is that no one is in charge of Haiti today. This vacuum, coupled with the robust response from the Obama administration, has inevitably created a situation where the U.S. will be the de facto decision-maker in Haiti."
Even President Rene Preval lost his home. "My palace collapsed. ... I can't live in the palace, I can't live in my own house," he told CNN on Wednesday.
The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force, which might have been able to step into the void, has been left counting its own dead after its headquarters were destroyed in the quake.
The United Nations said 36 of its personnel in Haiti had been killed and many more were still missing.
Peacekeepers occasionally patrolled the city in buses and trucks and have mobilized some heavy earth-moving equipment but the blue-helmet soldiers have largely stayed off the streets.
Underlying the growing sense of chaos and abandonment around the half-destroyed coastal capital Port-au-Prince, some looting began -- a phenomenon Haitians have seen many times before in past political crises.
At one crushed supermarket, young men calmly carried off bags of food and electronics without a policemen in sight.
Pickup trucks stacked high with bodies could be seen making their way through traffic-clogged streets on Thursday morning, on their way to drop off the dead at the morgue attached to Hospital General, the city's main health facility.
But Guy LaRoche, the hospital's director, said it was already filled to overflowing with more than 1,500 rapidly decomposing bodies. Many had been left lying out in the sun. LaRoche said he had had no contact with any government officials to see what to do with them.
LOOMING HEALTH THREAT
"I'm awaiting the decision of the government. What else can I do?" he said. "The health threat, from disease, could be another catastrophe. We need nurses, medical teams, more of everything."
Around the city, many Haitians put rags and masks over their faces as the stench from rotting bodies began to rise. Crushed cars and vans stuck out of collapsed buildings, while children's toys, shoes and papers were scattered on streets.
In poor areas, there was little sign of any coordinated rescue activities.
"I think 50 percent of the city is destroyed," said Vladimir Rousseau, a 32-year-old diesel engineer, in the hard-hit Carrefour district.
Reuters witnesses saw some city blocks completely leveled, though in other areas the damage was more patchy.
In the upscale, hilltop Petionville sector, a Chilean contingent of U.N. peacekeepers -- many of whom arrived only last week and looked stunned at events -- were helping excavate rubble at the landmark Hotel Montana, which collapsed.
They said they had pulled out 14 people alive already, foreign customers and local workers alike, and thought there were dozens more underneath the stones.
"There is no one in our country capable of sorting this out. Everyone is looking after their own families. Only the world can come to our rescue," said shop owner Edner Baptiste.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pledging U.S. help for Haiti's crippled government, said: "The authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function."
At least the liquor has medicinal value as a disinfectant and a pain killer. And radios/ televisions for information.
Isn’t that special? They say 9000 UN peacekeepers are there, but since they have counted 36 or so lost, they can’t function. Have they no chain of command? What kind of military organization stops moving with a .4% loss?
Oh right, the new world government...I get it now.
take pictures of and prints from the bodies, then burn them...
..Can't let a good crisis go to waste, Mon! We be victims of da white man's oppression.
Only the world can come to our rescue," said shop owner Edner Baptiste.
Save us from ourselves, Mon. You owe us, you white devils, for years of the French slavery.
The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force, which might have been able to step into the void, has been left counting its own dead after its headquarters were destroyed in the quake.
Ah, there's the answer - The U.N. Peacekeeping force. That's why this country has been so successful. The U.N., which wants to control the world, has used Haiti as its guinea pig nation for socialism. Take heed America!
'WE ARE ON OUR OWN'
It could turn out that way, too -- for us in the U.S. if and when some natural disasters happen and/or some big Islamic terrorist attack happens. So, people should be aware of that...
I was watching that "Armageddon Week" on (I think) the History Channel and that will make you think about things a bit... :-)
The Haitian government is busy. Who else is going to post all of those humanitarian supplies on Ebay and Craigslist?!?
I was in the Northridge Trailer Park off of Vanalden and Nordhoff, my home was one of three that burned.
We were on our own for thirty days and did just fine because honest people banned together and survived, and did what had to be done.
only if Haiti pays us back for the bullets. They have 1.4 billion in national debt and we have something between 13-106 trillion.
Talent Development & Excellence
Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009, 3-25
The impact of smart fractions, cognitive ability of
politicians and average competence of peoples on
social development’
“Following an economic research tradition “human capital” is relevant for economic growth and wealth (Hanushek & Kimko, 2000; Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002, 2006; Jones & Schneider, 2006; Weede, 2006; Rindermann, 2008a). In addition, cognitive ability of nations has a positive impact on political development, in that it helps building up democracy, the rule of law and political liberty (Simpson, 1997; Rindermann, 2008b).
Intelligence, knowledge and the intelligent use of knowledge also have beneficial effects on health, for instance they act as a brake on the spread of HIV (Oesterdiekhoff & Rindermann, 2007; Lakhanpal & Ram, 2008; Rindermann & Meisenberg, 2009). Finally, cognitive competence is relevant for the development of modernity as a societal and especially as a cultural phenomenon consisting of education, autonomy, liberty, morality and rationality (Habermas, 1985/1981; Meisenberg, 2004; Oesterdiekhoff, 2008; Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg, 2009). Societies at a higher ability level develop more complex, more evidence-based, more ethical and more rational world views.
For some scholars like Georg Oesterdiekhoff (2000) or Michael Hart (2007) intelligence is the driving force of history.
These broad effects at the cross-national data level are backed in different societies by results at the individual level for job performance and wealth (Bacharach & Baumeister, 1998; Schmidt & Hunter, 2004; Irwing & Lynn, 2006; Rindermann & Thompson, 2009), for tolerance, civic political attitudes and participation in elections (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994; Denny & Doyle, 2008; Deary, Batty & Gale, 2008), for health behavior and health (Goldman & Smith, 2002; Gottfredson, 2004), moral judgment (Piaget, 1997/1932;”
http://iratde.org/issues/1-2009/tde_issue_1-2009_03_rindermann_et_al.pdf
Lets try this;
A strong man or woman (if they have any authority over there, not sure of their view of women) stand up and call to round up the able bodied folk in the area. Put one in charge of assembling a team to gather and burn the dead. Another in charge of assembling a team to search for the living. Another in charge of finding a source of water and setting fires to boil such water to disperse. Another team assembled to search for food or catch some fish if close enough to water to do so. Get the women to care for the orphaned and injured as best as they can. Each community needs to have a go to person with a plan. Disaster can strike anywhere anytime.
We have neighbors, friends and families to count on in a hard and scary world. Things happen in an instant. Each neighborhood should act autonomously and have some sort of disaster plan for this very reason. Its great to have a 72 hour pack for each member of your family, but what if fleeing is not an option? Get to know your neigbors. Find out their strengths and weaknesses. Decide BEFORE you need to know who will become the defacto organizer/decisionmaker in your area. Formulate a plan in case of disaster and give each neighbor their part to play. Have one get a handpump for a well for water. Have a nurse or dr in your neighborhood, have them be your triage point. Have a heavily armed neighbor? Have them be in charge of neigborhood security and decide who will assist. Food supplies/sources etc. Get to know your neighbors cause if the SHTF, you are looking at your new family or foe. Know BEFOREHAND who you can count on and whom you may have to drive out.
/// Not to worry. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste...... By the end of the week Obama will be world Savior to Haiti, with American capitalist money and troops from a military him and AG Holder is trying to prosecute for protecting us. >
“I’m awaiting the decision of the government. What else can I do?” (Hospital Director)
A perfect example of why we should not become a welfare state.
They can interview the President of Haiti and all he does is cry because he has no home, and yet they say there is nobody to tell them what to do with the dead bodies that are beginning to rot?
FGS, take a DNA sample and bury them.
Exactly. There are able bodied men and women that are able to dig a hole or start a fire. It is awful to even imagine, and I would guess than many survivors are in shock, but sometimes you simply have to do whatever is necessary to get by. I know that if I were not severely injured that I would bury a body or start a fire before I would sit under a piece of cloth in the park next to rotting corpses.
Why can't these poor people learn to do for themselves? There is a constant presence of aid workers and missionaries on the island ... why don't they help these people do for themselves instead of biting their lip and feeling their pain? They are not doing these people any good in the long run unless they are showing them how to turn their third world craphole into a tourist destination with places to work and make life better.
Just what the world would like to see: lots of black Haitians gunned down by white US troops. Not. Pass.
My husband spoke to a business colleague of ours this morning. This man runs a business in MN and has also been active in missionary work in Haiti for many years, volunteering his time every year and his wife’s and his daughter’s time too.
He commented that this Haitian President is a good guy who will not allow foreign aid to be distributed through questionable channels in Haiti because it always gets stolen before reaching the people. He makes all foreign aid go through his own office so that he can direct it to where it is needed.
Obviously with his home and offices destroyed, that kind of “hands on” supervision is interrupted for the time being. I trust the judgement of our friend, however, so don’t trash this Haitian President until, and unless, we learn differently.
I hate to be crass about this but send them fishing poles and tarps.
“I get the impression they don’t want to do anything for themselves because
the Gov always provided for them.”
It is called enslavement. See also the Democratic Party.
That is good to know—is the Haitian president a survivor?
Don’t know — just reporting. I thought Aristede was a good guy too, and then he turned very bad, indeed.
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