Search teams in Haiti yesterday refused to abandon hope of finding more survivors of the massive Jan. 12 earthquake after two children were pulled alive from the rubble in 24 hours.
More than eight days after the devastating tremor, which killed at least 75,000 and left 1 million homeless, rescuers said they could not rule out the possibility of some victims still being alive in the debris.
And they said the powerful 6.1 aftershock that shook Haiti on Wednesday could have dislodged masonry giving fresh opportunities to free any last remaining survivors.
“The aftershock could have made the structures subside, but it might have also freed people trapped between two pieces of concrete,” French firefighter Gilles Perroux said.
As the focus of aid efforts turned to the vast task of providing food, water, medicine and shelter to an increasingly desperate population, rescuers said chances of survival were slim but not impossible.
“On the eighth day, is anyone alive? We believe, or else we would not be here. While we are in the country we will stay hopeful,” another French rescuer, Fabrice Montagne, said.
Experts say victims can still pull through if they are not too badly wounded, have found an air pocket and have something to eat or drink.
Two children were pulled from the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday. A five-year-old boy was found in the wreckage of his home, while neighbors dragged out an 11-year-old girl from under rubble in another part of the city.
“It truly is a miracle, she came back to life bit by bit. She is blessed by the gods,” said Dominique Jean, a surgeon working at a field hospital set up by French aid groups.
Meanwhile, workers are carving out mass graves on a hillside north of Port-au-Prince, using earthmovers to bury 10,000 quake victims in a single day as relief workers warn the death toll could increase.
Clinics have 12-day backlogs, untreated injuries are festering and makeshift camps housing survivors could foster disease, experts said.
“The next health risk could include outbreaks of diarrhea, respiratory tract infections and other diseases among hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in overcrowded camps with poor or nonexistent sanitation,” said Greg Elder, of Doctors Without Borders.
Hoping to assess the scope of the crisis, World Food Programme chief Josette Sheeran planned to visit Haiti yesterday, as did EU aid chief Karel De Gucht.
The death toll is estimated at 200,000, Haitian government figures relayed by the European Commission show, with 80,000 buried in mass graves. The commission estimates 2 million homeless, up from 1.5 million, and says 250,000 are in need of urgent aid.
In the wasteland of Titanyen, workers on Wednesday said the macabre task of handling the never-ending flow of bodies was traumatizing.
“I have seen so many children, so many children. I cannot sleep at night and, if I do, it is a constant nightmare,” said Foultone Fequiert, 38, his face covered with a T-shirt against the overwhelming stench.
The dead stick out at all angles from the mass graves — tall mounds of chalky dirt, the limbs of men, women and children frozen together in death.
“I received 10,000 bodies yesterday alone,” Fequiert said.
Workers say they have no time to give the dead religious burials or follow pleas that bodies be buried in shallow graves from which loved ones might eventually retrieve them.
Also See: Haiti devastated, but things will get better, God willing
Also See: Sixers’ Dalembert returns from Haiti
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from