“Haiti is Shaken to the Core”: Amy Goodman Reports from Port-au-Prince

[EFerrari]

“Haiti is devastated as if a bomb, many bombs, exploded throughout Port-au-Prince and beyond, where help has not arrived at all,” reports Amy Goodman on her travels outside of Port-au-Prince to the epicenter of the earthquake. “The smell of death hangs in the air.”

snip

And what we did yesterday is what few journalists have done: we left Port-au-Prince, and we went along the coast to Carrefour and to Léogâne. This is the epicenter. This is where the United Nations issued its statement, saying they acknowledge 90 percent of the buildings were down, that thousands of people were dead. But, they said, unless they could ensure security, they would not be providing aid there. Now, this is tremendously frightening.

As we passed through the epicenter, a young man hailed down our car, and he said, “Please, we see some helicopters overhead, but they don’t stop here. We have no aid. We have no food.”

And then moving into Léogâne, this old city of dignity, the city where the church is the church where Jean-Jacques Dessalines was married, that’s about to celebrate its 500th anniversary, a grief-stricken priest outside said, “Please help us.” It is in shambles. The steeple is buried in the rocks below. And the most frightening is when you see people digging with their bare hands or with mallets or with hammers, trying to get their loved ones out of the building. That is the image of Léogâne.



http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/haiti_is_shaken_to_the_core

Audio, video, transcript at link.

[HeresyLives]

1. Canadians have arrived in both places.

Canadian ships arrive in Haiti.

Two Canadian naval ships have arrived off the coast of Haiti and 200 sailors are expected to deploy ashore within the hour.

The destroyer HMCS Athabaskan and navy frigate HMCS Halifax arrived on Tuesday morning after five days at sea, said Naval Task Force Commander Capt. Art McDonald.

-snip-


HMCS Halifax was launching its efforts just offshore from Jacmel, a town about 25 kilometres southwest of Port-au-Prince where Canada's DART team has based its efforts. It is also the hometown of Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

HMCS Athabaskan was docked near Leogane, west of the capital.


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/201...

[EFerrari]

2. So good to read.

Thank you.

[TxRider]

3. I believe the Bataan

And the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are deploying there as well.

[HeresyLives]

5. Canada to take charge at quake's core

Canada to take charge at quake's core


Campbell Clark and Rhéal Séguin

Ottawa and Quebec — Published on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010 2:59AM EST Last updated on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010 10:10AM EST

Nearly 2,000 troops will mount Canada's largest-ever relief mission in an isolated triangle south and west of Haiti's capital, clearing roads and providing relief to the hard-hit area around the epicentre of the earthquake.

Cut off from the rest of the country by roads clogged with rubble, the Canadian relief zone is a ravaged district of towns and countryside that stretches from the outskirts of Port-au-Prince to Jacmel, a town of 40,000 on Haiti's south coast.

Jacmel has a symbolic tie to Canada: It is the birthplace of generations of Governor-General Michaëlle Jean's family, a place she saw often as a child, and where she had an emotional homecoming as the Queen's representative to Canada in 2006.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/haiti/canada-to-take-charge-at-quakes-core/article1435800/


Dunno who else is showing up, but it doesn't sound like there's a lot left to save. I imagine we asked for this one because of our GG.

[TxRider]

7. The US military

Is saying they will have an airstrip open in Jacmel by tomorrow.



U.S. To Open Additional Runway in Haiti, General Says

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2010 – As some 200 daily flights transit through the congested and sole functioning Haitian airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. military is looking to open a second runway in the city of Jacmel within a day.

The airfield will receive C-130 deliveries that initially will support Canadian humanitarian assistance efforts centered in the southern city about 30 miles southeast of the Haitian capital, a military official said.

“The first runway in Haiti proper will go into operation in the vicinity of Jacmel within the next 24 hours,” Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the second in command of U.S. operations in Haiti, told Pentagon reporters today.



Sounds like the U.S. and Canadian militaries are on the ball and getting big things done as fast as can be expected. Opening the door and building the logistical foundations for all the aid from NGO's and others to flood in faster.

[HeresyLives]

8. Sounds good.

Amazing what can happen in situations like this eh?

[EFerrari]

4. I really just wanted to put this report up without comment but

for this one.

Amy Goodman may be 100 lbs soaking wet. She was almost executed during the Church riots she was covering in East Timor.

If anyone would recognize a security issue, I imagine Amy Goodman, who felt that gun to her head, would be that person.

[TxRider]

6. Our military says there is no security issue

Besides the usual gang areas that the U.N. people already deployed before the quake have under control.

They are busy setting up new distribution points and spreading them out from the city.

[EFerrari]

9. .

[EFerrari]

10. Kick