Haiti

On January 12, 2010, The country of Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Haiti is a Caribbean country that is a part of the island of Hispaniola. Half of the children there are unvaccinated and just 40% of the population has access to basic health care. The people suffer from many diseases, and they die long hard deaths. By most economic measures, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. And many people in the past have been sent to help the people in there and provide homes for the adults and children who have nothing. All of this was before the earthquake hit. Now life in Haiti is devastatingly unbearable.

This earthquake was the most severe one to hit the country in over 200 years. The epicenter for the quake was just near the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The city was devastated. All around the country, there is rubble, which is all that is left of most of the homes. People have been left without anywhere to go, and they are forced to live on the streets. The numbers involved with this disaster are unthinkable. There is a population of about 9 million in the country. CNN news states than an estimated number of about 3 million were effected by the quake.

This earthquake caused massive damage to buildings, homes, and people. The news reports have issued facts that more than 150, 000 people have been declared as deceased. Numbers of the deceased are still rising. Therefore the exact number of people that are deceased is still unknown.We have people from the U.S. and other countries trying to save lives there. They are doing all that they can to help. Many places have Haiti funds around the world and the money is being sent to places like the Red Cross that can send aid to the Haitians.

With 13,000 personnel in Haiti and on ships offshore, the US military has overtaken the UN's peacekeeping mission's capacity. Last Friday it obtained broad authority to control air and sea ports and secure roads to support relief efforts.Ministers from 11 countries were due to meet in Montreal to co-ordinate international aid to Haiti.The first high-powered gathering since the earthquake struck would work towards a ''clear, common vision'' of how to rebuild the country, said Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon. There have been calls for a ''Marshall Plan for Haiti'' from some experts on the region, and warnings that the US alone would have to contribute $US5 billion ($A5.5 billion) over the next few years to stabilise its troubled neighbor.

Ena Zizi was participating in a prayer group at the national cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, when the structure came down on her.Miraculously, the 70-year-old Zizi survived seven days trapped under the rubble before she was rescued by international search crews this week. A person can, give or take, expect to survive 72 hours trapped without water or food. Zizi managed to hold on for twice as long, something that experts say speaks to the body's resilience in times of danger. It is possible for a healthy person to survive more than 10 days in some cases, experts say."I wasn't surprised. I knew she would live through that. She is a tough woman," Janvier said, recalling when he heard the news, via a CNN tip, that his mother had been found. Earlier, he had used CNN's Web site to enter his mother's name, age and approximate location in hope of someone identifying her.

Many stories such as this one are flooding the news all of the world. People searching for lost family members can search their names on iReport on the CNN website. Miraculously people are still being found alive hidden under buildings and all of the damage down there. Unfortunately, people are also finding others who weren't so lucky. We have the choice to help out the Haitians whether financially or just through prayer, but we all need to help in some way!


http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/26/haiti.by.the.numbers/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/21/haiti.elderly.survivor/index.html