Wow the head of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti is missing

and hundreds of their people are missing. A hotel collapsed with at least 200 of them. Add that to the thousands of Haitians and weep :cry:

here in Jamaica

The world will wake up to this disaster today. I will send what little money I can.

this is so heart rending.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti counts a total of around 7,060 soldiers of various nationalities under Brazilian command, and 2,091 police.

Around 1,300 Brazilian soldiers are incorporated in the mission, alongside troops from Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, the United States and Uruguay.

The head of the UN department of peacekeeping operations, Alain Leroy, said in a statement that the MINUSTAH headquarters in he Haitian capital "has sustained serious damage along with other UN installations" from a 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday.

He added: "For the moment, a large number of personnel remain unaccounted for."

more:http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=95988

:shrug:

as well as all those around him

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6985914.ece

Hope you're OK on your beautiful island...remember most of Port Royal lies under the waves thanks to a massive quake.

I was listening to BBC last night...one of the few places with any reports about this disaster...there was barely a mention on newscasts last night (including MSNBC...shame!). This appears to be a massive disaster that first light will shine give a better idea of how bad things are. The report said that since the quake hit at about 5pm...just before sunset, it caught people on their way to and from work as well as knocked out electricity and phones...Port Au Prince plunged into darkness. The destruction of the Presidential palace and UN offices were also a big problem and that there was little, if any, communications from the rest of the country; especially the villages around the epicenter.

Just looking at the picture of the destroyed Presidential palace makes one wonder how well the tin and wood shanties that a majority of the people live in survived. The country's backward communications only adds to the problems in finding out how bad the damage is and then to get relief to the area. In essence a power vacuum exists and here's hoping that relief missions are on the ground quickly...this poor country has suffered enough.

:hi:

We remember that every January. Indeed after the quake in California on the weekend we were discussing the fact that this week is the anniversary of the Kingston quake. We also had a 5 quake on January 14 2004. We are terrified of quakes - believe me on that one.

I wish this planet would spend more time spreading building codes and ways to alleviate poverty rather than democracy. One is way more urgent and ay actually facilitate the other.

One of these days we need to link the worst of poverty in our hemisphere with US occupations (covert and overt). Honduras is not far behind Haiti.

as can concrete, especially un-reinforced concrete. I believe a cubic foot of concrete weighs 150 lbs, not much less than the whole roof would on some of those shanties. I'm more worried about the people in the commercial buildings, high rises and such. :hi:

concrete blocks without steel. The collapsed city buildings are a major problem but the large number of deaths will come from the hillside shacks which would have collapsed and rolled down into ravines, etc.

From what I was hearing, the devestation was widespread and while shanties may be better suited to deal with this disaster, it's displaced many people...my hopes are the IRC and other relief agencies get up and operating fast to avert a greater disaster.

:hi:

:hi:
Did you feel it in Jamaica?:scared:

4 in St Thomas, St Mary, Kingston and St Andrew and 5 in Portland.
----------------
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100113/lead/lead2.html
<snip>
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, and some panicked residents in the capital of Santo Domingo fled from their shaking homes. But no major damage was reported there.

In eastern Cuba, houses shook, but there were also no reports of significant damage.

In the community of Thomassin, just outside Port-au-Prince, Alain Denis said neighbours told him the only road to the capital had been cut but that phones were all dead so it was hard to determine the extent of the damage.

Jamaicans living in coastal areas across the island were put on high alert last night after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked neighbouring Haiti hours earlier, triggering a tsunami watch for four Caribbean nations.

The Earthquake Unit at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies reported that two aftershocks, measuring magnitude 5.5 and 5.9, were felt in sections of the Corporate Area, St Thomas, St Mary and Portland.

Cheers.

I heard this on CBS Early Show.

this was the big one they were warned about two years ago. Reminds me of Katrina in that everyone was warned and nothing was done.

:(

killing everyone inside the building. Also reporting that airport and US embassy are ok.

CNN reporting that there are more buildings collapsed than are left standing in Port-au-Prince.