Estimates now say the death toll in Haiti has passed 200,000

[malaise]

and thousands of Americans are missing. Williams says it appears that more Americans died here than on 9/11. Will Cheney invade the fault in the earth - that fault is a weapon of mass destruction.

Brian Williams wants to know how Lester Holt and the rest of them are able to process the horrific situation. He's not a chicken shit coward like you Brian - that's how - he didn't turn tail and run home. That was funny - you'd never believe Brian was there - hiding at the airport talking to his own team whole Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta were mingling with Haitians.

[BootinUp]

1. simply mind boggling

the amount of human suffering in this tragedy. I hope to never see another like it in my lifetime.

[malaise]

6. We probably won't

unless the said fault hits Jamaica or DR and then we'll see a repeat.

[Arugula Latte]

2. I can't wrap my mind around the horror.

Goddammit. Too much misery for Haiti to endure.

[malaise]

7. To deal with these numbers I try to imagine

St Lucia with every citizen dead (150,000 pop) or Barbados (270,000) with only 70,000 left. It's too hard to process. :cry:

[branders seine]

3. Haiti's plight is like some sort of curse from the Old Testament.

(I am NOT saying god had anything to do with it; I'm just commenting on the scale of the horror.)

[malaise]

8. The Old Testament wrote about the same disasters

but lack of scientific explanations led the authors to assume the wrath of some gawd or the other ridiculous explanation.

[lunatica]

4. That's heartbreaking

The thing I hate thinking about is how many people are alive under the rubble who will never be found. It makes me cry.

[malaise]

9. The slow death is the hardest part of it

but spare a thought for the hundreds if not thousands of amputees when this is over.

[jimlup]

5. Yes, this is the worst case senario for Haiti

A 7.0 magnitude quake 10 miles from an overpopulated and overwhelming poor capital city.

I think the rescue situation is also very critical and far more difficult that most Americans realize. I cry for Haiti.

[malaise]

10. Worst case scenario for any city

anywhere on the planet. :cry:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. And I hate to say it, again not popular with the 209th Chariborne Brigade

but the second wave will kill thousands more...

And here is a clue for the brigade. IF this was oh the LA Basin... it would happen TOO...

And we are like connected to a continent and have a plan. There are some disasters that are just that horrific...

And while it does help to have a plan. this was the equivalent of a nuke going off.

[Cali_Democrat]

13. The second wave of earthquakes?

What do you mean by the second wave?

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. When disease hits

people who survived will die from things like crush syndrome... as well as malaria, cholera, and other epidemic diseases.

Crush syndrome is very particular... essentially your body shuts down as the body is poisoned for all kinds of internal things in the body... leading to general organ failure. This comes from all that earth and rubble on you.

There are certain drugs that can be used, but if they even have them, those are in short supply and people will have to chose who gets them. A San Diego team that left yesterday is bringing three cases... and I am sure the IDF, the Americans and other large organizations are bringing them in. But they also need dialysis, and since they don't have machines... they are probably using the under the skin of the abdomen method which is far less efficient, but you do what you need to do.

They also have amputations that need to be done because the limb is essentially dead. If it is not cut, person dies. People who have lost limbs in Latin America have few prospects and little access to things like prosthetic... so as horrible as it sounds some parents will prefer to let a child die. I know this is unfathomable for many people, but this is a sad reality.

Second waves kill a percentage of the initial dead regardless in situations like this. The reason why we were damn lucky and that did not happen in the tsunami is how fast they buried the bodies. They have here, but the population here is even closer to the edge of starvation. That does not help.

[malaise]

20. According to BBC

200,000 dead
250,000 injured
1.5 million homeless

I'm trying hard to process this - shakes head.

[Posteritatis]

16. The effects of the infrastructure/etc breakdown, not necessarily another quake

You have your first wave of deaths as a result of large heavy things falling on people and the like, and a more drawn out one shortly afterwards as injuries, disease, difficulties in reestablishing basic infrastructure, etc., all start to add up.

[malaise]

17. No plan can prepare for this one

The Cubans would probably come closest to pulling it off and even they would fall short - this was the 'big one'.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. 209th? Is that the sister unit of the 404th?

[Hannah Bell]

21. always with the clues.

[Shell Beau]

12. I'd probably run home too. That must be so painful to see.

I don't think I have it in me to see that. Of course I am no journalist, but I am human.

I am so sick about what is happening. This is so devastating. I really am mourning for all the people hurt and effected by this. People still need to give whatever they can to help.

[sandyd921]

14. Feeling very helpless

over what I've been seeing and hearing on TV. The continuing lack of access to medical care and supplies, complete lack of coordination, bottlenecks and delays, rescue teams who are leaving while there appear to still be people who are alive, etc., etc. Never felt so helpless in my life and my heart aches for the people of Haiti.

:cry:

[hayu_lol]

18. There were an estimated 2-3 million people in the city...

plus or minus a few hundred thousands. Figure there are 2 million left alive now. Meals, mostly MREs, weigh how much per case? Figure the capacity of all the planes flying in and see how much they can take per trip.

That's just meals of a sort. Water can be air dropped in bulk: standard pallet can handle 4 50 gallon drums. Water per drum is 400 pounds(4 drums=1600 lbs., plus the weight of the pallet/rigging/chute. Other materials can be dropped in like manner.

Bulk water could be utilized at the hospitals and other similar stations.