Stunned rescuers in Haiti pulled out a man still alive after an amazing 12 days under the rubble, as vast and desperate crowds clamored for more earthquake relief on Tuesday.
The latest survivor was not buried by the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck on Jan. 12 but two days later, perhaps by one of the massive aftershocks common in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
“He was buried in the rubble for 12 days. The man had a broken leg and severe dehydration,” said a statement from the US military who found the man in a collapsed Port-au-Prince building, on the aptly named Rue de Miracles.
The 31-year-old, who emerged covered in dust, survived on small amounts of water and was said to be amazingly well considering his ordeal under the rubble — the longest of any Haiti quake survivor so far.
Meanwhile, a stung US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended the US’ role in the relief operation from charges of heavy-handed incompetence, as US officials backed plans to cancel Haiti’s debt and consider easing immigration rules.
The capital Port-au-Prince was rattled by two new tremors, two weeks after the deadly earthquake that killed at up to 200,000 people, scaring weary and destitute people out of their improvised beds in makeshift camps.
“We just can’t get used to these quakes. Each aftershock is terrifying and everyone is afraid,” trader Edison Constant said.
The US Geological Survey has warned the beleaguered Caribbean nation to expect tremors for the next month.
In the Cite Soleil slum, several thousand desperate people converged on a walled police compound to receive sacks of relief supplies, surging against the steel gates as officials struggled to let them in one by one.
Across the city, ad hoc street committees have hung imploring banners in English and French — “SOS”, “We need help here” and “We need food and water” — in desperate attempts to attract aid agencies’ attention.
With its helicopters in constant rotation overhead and foot patrols increasingly in evidence in the city, the US military has assumed a dominant role in the aid operation and has been largely welcomed by Haitians.
However, Clinton was forced to defend the operation from criticism that it had been badly coordinated with other states’ and agencies’ efforts and had been heavy-handed in the immediate chaotic aftermath of the quake.
“I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake,” Clinton said in Washington.
Some 20,000 US troops have been sent to Haiti to distribute food and water.
The international relief effort has been hampered by traffic congestion and lingering security fears, and has yet to get enough aid into the capital and flattened towns near the quake’s epicenter.
With the port only recently reopened, the hub of the aid operation remains the airport.
Donor nations and aid organizations have warned that rebuilding the country will take at least a decade.
Haitians, who lived with decades of political upheaval and bloodshed, fear the new-found international interest in their plight could soon fade.
A top officer said the US military could start rolling back its relief operation within three to six months.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS