Posted: January 15, 2010 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: (Carl, (Patrick, 03000000, 03002000, 12, 13, 13015001, 14, 2010, 43, a, adult, aerial, alive, american, Aminise, Amputated, areas, assessment, assistance, attention, bed, Bestof, boarding, body, boy, capital, capital cities, Casualty, center, charity and relief work, city, coffin, Come, Confirmed, Creole, cross, damage, daughter, dead, debris, department, devastates, devastation, dis, disaster, disbelief, doctors, down, Downtown District, earthquake, ecstatic, Eliazar, Emanuela, Emergencies And Disasters, facility, Farrell/Miami, fear, field, fire, general, Geographical Locations, Germain, gets, girl, Gladys, greeted, group, Haiti, Haiti's, Haitian, HAITIEARTHQUAKE, Headshot, help, Herald/MCT), hold, home, hope, horizontal, hospital, hotel, hours, HTI, human body, human toe, hundreds, injured, injuries, inside, january, jeune, joseph, Juste/Miami, krt2010, krtcaribbean caribbean, krtdisaster disaster, krtedonly, krtquake earthquake quake, krtworld world, lap, large, left, leg, lie, Loiuis, looks, magnitude7, makeshift, male, man, mct, medical, men, missing, mission, Mother's, mourn, Nearly, news, NGO, occupation, officials, outside, People, perished, Physical Injury, placing, Port-au-Prince, PortauPrince, pulled, quake, React, recovering, red, remains, reports, Resourceful, rest, Roselyn, rubble, ruined, school, seek, seen, shelter, street, surrounding, Tag, Thousands, thursday, topics, Topix, town, transport, tries, turns, underneath, UPI/American, victim, villa, waiting, water, woman, women, young |
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: A women tends to an injured relative at a small clinic after she was caught in the massive earthquake on January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake killing possibly thousands. Numerous buildings were reduced to rubble by the 7.3-strong quake on January 12. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
[tweetmeme]In a country that has been totally dependent on the United Nations and the Red Cross even before the earthquake, the biggest blow to a swift humanitarian response in Haiti is the United Nations Mission has suffered a major blow with more than 150 staff still missing, presumed buried under rubble.The UN Haiti mission has about 1700 staff including 1200 Haitians. Among those reportedly still missing in Haiti is the head of the UN mission.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – JANUARY 13: A man holds a severely injured woman, while waiting for assistance in the town of Canape Vert January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
US President Barack Obama ordered a swift and aggressive US rescue effort, while the European Union activated its crisis systems and the Red Cross and United Nations unlocked emergency funds and supplies for the destitute nation. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the 7.0-strong quake on January 12 but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea.
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BBC World Service’s Andy Gallagher reported this morning that there isn’t really any sense or signs of any kind of organised international aid relief, or search and rescue, in earthquake-stricken Haiti.
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Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is seen from an aerial assessment mission by the American Red Cross.
BBC’s Gallagher, as he walked the rubble-strewn streets of Haiti:
…I barely saw anyone of any official capacity, just perhaps one Haitian police car and one Haitian ambulance.
…Still no signs of international aid..People keep asking me and stopping me and asking me, where is the help, where is the supplies, where are the promises that have been made? People just feel desperate, but more than anything else, for now completely alone.
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People walk in the streets after the earthquake.
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An injured women is seen at a makeshift field hospital in Port-au-Prince
Queried about reported problems getting aid into the international airport at Haiti, Gallagher said:
…I can hear what sounds like a C130 military plane either coming in or going out….definite activity there. The airport runway we were lead to believe was badly damaged in the earthquake but when I landed last night, it seems that the runway is fine, there is power at the airport, the runway lights do work at night, there were aircraft taking off and landing last night.
On The Ground in Haiti BBC World Service: interviews with people on the streets, aid worker, Hillary Clinton, international aid experts
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People wait in line for water from the fire department after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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A casualty is identified with a makeshift toe tag on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
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A car remains parked outside the ruins of a cafe January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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Outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, January 14, 2010, the injured from surrounding areas have come for shelter and medical attention by a medical NGO, Hope for Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Roselyn Joseph, left, gets help in placing the body of her daughter, Emanuela Aminise, 14, inside a coffin, in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A group of women mourn and react is disbelief as the body of the daughter of the woman in the center turns missing in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A woman whose leg was amputated tries to lie down on a make-shift bed inside the Eliazar Germain General Hospital where the injured seek medical help, but the medical facility has no doctors in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A man looks at the body of a dead man outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young girl gets medical attention for her injuries outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young boy tries to rest on his mother’s lap outside the Villa Creole Hotel
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Gladys Loiuis Jeune is pulled alive from the rubble of her home after nearly 43 hours where she was greeted by her ecstatic daughter in Port-au-Prince. (Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald/MCT)
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A woman reaches joyously to Gladys Louis Jeune.
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The body of a person is trapped in the rubble of a home destroyed by the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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A man carrying a coffin through the streets. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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People look on as others search for survivors under a church in Port-au-Prince.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Christopher Holmes from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue searches for survivors in the rubble of a building in Port-au-Prince on 14th January.
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A corpse is carried on a stretcher down a street.
Posted: December 9, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Environment, health, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: agreement, attending, audience, Bestof, bhutan, capital cities, center, Chairperson, chinese, city, climate change, conference, copenhagen, day, dead, demanding, denmark, environmental damage, environmental issues, full length, government, group, Group of People, horizontal, illuminated, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Major, natural resources, Opening Ceremony, Organized Group, Parliament Building, Participant, participants, People, picture, playful, Prime Minister, protest, speech, stand, taking, talking, topics, Topix, UN climate change, united nations, Waist Up, world, writing |
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[tweetmeme]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – DECEMBER 07: A participant stands in front of the UN Climate Wall during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 7, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians and environmentalists meet for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. Photos by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images.
To watch Opening Ceremony, click here
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An illuminated globe with the writing ‘Hopenhagen’ stands in the city center next to the parliament on December 6, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Member of an environmentalist group pretend to be dead during a protest demanding a real climate deal during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Belle centre.
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Members of the delegation of Bhutan chat with each other prior to the opening ceremony
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Ritt Bjerregrad, major of Copenhagen, addresses the audience during the opening ceremony.
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A member of the Chinese delegation takes a picture of himself prior to the opening ceremony.
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Members of the environmentalist group TckTckTck protest during the first day.
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UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer holds a candle in his hand that he got handed over from the environmentalist group TckTckTck during the first day.
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Participants from all over the world attend the opening ceremony.
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(L-R) Lars Lokke Rasmussen , Prime Minister of Denmark, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer attend the opening ceremony
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Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, drinks water during the opening ceremony
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(L-R) UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, and Ritt Bjerregrad, major of Copenhagen, attend the opening ceremony.
Posted: November 16, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Community, Current, Honour & Tribute, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: (Courtney, 03000000, 08005001, 08005002, 08005005, 10, 11000000, 11001003, 11001004, 12, 13, 16000000, 2009, 30, 38, 5, armed forces armed force, army, attends, barack, base's, bows, Brian, center, ceremony, Civilian, dead, death, def, defense, Deploying, died, dis, fallen, family, first, fort, FT, Ft. Hood, funeral, grieves, Hasan, held, hill, honor, hood, horizontal, hum, illinois, j, Joliet, Kham, killed, Killeen, krt2009, krtcampus campus, krtdisaster disaster, krtedonly, krtgovernment government, krthumaninterest human interest, krtnational national, krtnews, krtpolitics politics, krtuspolitics, krtwar war, lady, law, left, Major, Malik, Maury/Pool, McNeeley/DOD, mct, medical, memorial, Michelle, military, morning, Nadal, near, news, News/MCT), Newscom, november, obama, odd, one, parade, part, pays, PEO, People, Perry/Dallas, photo, pol, Politics, post, prepare, president, Rampage, readiness, reportedly, returning, s, Screenings, security measure, service, shooting, shootings, shot, Society, soldier, soldiers, Spc, specialist, spree, Texas, the, thursday, tribute, Trieb/Pool, tuesday, undergo, UPI/Chad, UPI/Erin, UPI/Tannen, us, usa, victims, war, wounded, Xiong |
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Army Spc. Brian Hill bows during memorial service for the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed at Fort Hood U.S Army Post near Killeen, Texas, November 10 2009. Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan reportedly shot and killed 13 people, 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded 30 others in a rampage on November 5 at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center where deploying and returning soldiers undergo medical screenings. UPI/Tannen Maury/Pool Photo via Newscom. Content © 2009 Newscom All rights reserved.
Editor’s Note: At Fort Hood, with its high Samoan military population, pacificEyeWitness.org has readers based there. So, it is with them in mind that we publish these photos and honour the victims. Our deepest respect and condolences to all those who mourn their passing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 6, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Current, NZPacific, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: Army Soldier, barack obama, Bestof, capital cities, Chief of Staff, closing, crime, dead, death, family, fighting, Fort Hood, fort hood texas, friendship, giving, horizontal, justice, Killeen, killing, law, Malik Nadal Hasan, military, Physical Injury, Politics, preparation, reaching, silence, stand, talking, terrified, Texas, time, topics, Topix, trying, us military, usa, Waist Up, war, washington dc |
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KILLEEN, TX – NOVEMBER 06: U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. (3rd-R) and others stand together as they prepare for a moment of silence for the soldiers killed and wounded yesterday at Fort Hood on November 6, 2009 in Killeen, Texas. U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 30 in a shooting rampage at the Soldier Readiness Center on the grounds of the military base Fort Hood yesterday. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Arthur L. Coleman Jr. (C) walks with Command Sergeant Major Norman Corbett (R) after arriving together on a helicopter at Fort Hood today.
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KILLEEN, TX – NOVEMBER 5: Sgt. Fanuaee Vea (L) tries to reach friends and family as Pvt. Savannah Green covers her face outside Fort Hood on November 5, 2009 in Killeen, Texas. At least one gunman killed 12 people and injured 31 in a shooting on a military base at Fort Hood yesterday. (Photo by Ben Sklar/Getty Images) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 9, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Breaking News, Community, Current, Earthquake Tsunami Samoa/AmSampa 09, Environment, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region | Tags: adult, aleipata tsunami, Apia, capital, carrying, child, Community, dead, earthquake, Emergencies And Disasters, following, funeral for tsunami samoa, mass burial, mass funeral, men, natural, samoa, samoa tsunami, scale, strength, Tafaigata, time, vertical, victims |
Today will be a national day of mourning as Samoa comes to a standstill at 3pm, Thursday Samoa time, for the national funeral in honour of the tsunami victims. Its location has been shifted from the Methodist Church at Apia Park. This will be followed by a mass burial at Tafaigata although reports are suggesting only a handful of families have consented to having their loved ones buried in a mass grave. Many families have already buried their loved ones. For one, it was simply impractical to wait a week in Samoa’s heat with funeral parlour and morgues filled to overwhelming.
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The New Zealand Herald are reporting that only ten of the more than 100 dead will be interred at Tafaigata. If that number is correct, then it confirms what we had also been hearing from locals and their families who did not want, for obvious reasons to other Samoans, to have their dead buried there. Their funeral costs will be covered by the Government. It’s not known, however, if Government will cover the cost of coffins for those who refused to consent to the mass burial.
A number of reasons can be offered for the reluctance of Samoan villagers to take up the government’s offer. First, many of the bodies would have been badly decomposed. In the heat of Samoa, it’s simply unbearable to wait a whole week, particularly in situations where a body has been found, decomposed, and those living have no a car to take the body to the morgue, let alone a telephone to ring out. That’s the reality for the poorest villagers in the outbacks in Aleipata district which is the South Coast of Upolu.
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Secondly, and I think this cannot be underestimated, but those who have lost loved ones, and saw bodies swirling in the tsunami waves, it would retraumatise them to expect them to wait a whole week for their loved ones to be buried. That is compounded with their need to find food, shelter and clothing, and from all reports, it’s subsistence living right now for the affected villages. For many, if not all, waiting a week to bury a loved one whose body is severely injured and fast decomposing is an unbearable burden to place on already grief-stricken families. In many cases, those bodies will be unrecognisable or so severely injured that it is too upsetting for families to allow their loved ones to stay above ground for this long.
Thirdly, traditionally in Samoa, loved ones are buried on their land usually right outside the front of the house, or not far from it, in the village. The living remain close to the dead and tend to their graves and keep them on family land. Those graves are the markers of family land. The government’s land of Tafaigata, where the mass burial will take place, is a long way for the villagers.It’s not like they’ll be able to walk out the door and visit their grave.
Fourth, I was told that the last time there was a mass burial of Samoans was in the 1928 Spanish Influenza epidemic that wiped out 22 percent of the Samoan population, killing more than 8000. That mass grave happens to be close to where this new mass grave will be. That might be too close for comfort given the painful memories that have passed from generation to generations of Samoans about what happened back then to the bodies. This mass burial is another painful reminder of that period. They already feel enough pain with the tsunami alone.
Fifth, Tafaigata, where the bodies will be buried, is not far from the prison. That’s not an appealing thought is it? One could say, who would want their loved ones near a prison. I’m being honest here.
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To be fair to the Government, it’s hard to see that they had any other choice since Tafaigata is government land so it makes logistical sense. Also, it could be seen as effort to move villagers away from the coastline and to safer inland areas. One way to encourage that is to make sure families don’t bury their dead on their land or near the villages that have been destroyed by the tsunami.
Government have also said they will erect a memorial at Tafaigata inscribed with the names of all those who have died. They have offered to pay for the coffins of all those who are buried today in the mass grave. I don’t think any government would wish to be in the position that Samoa finds itself in. The challenge for its government leaders is going to be a tough one in how it communicates its messages to the people in this highly stressed and traumatised environment post-tsunami. God Bless Samoa.
Archives to March 2010 - PEW 
Latest Photos: Earthquake Devastates Haitians; Waiting for Aid (be warned, some pictures may disturb)
Posted: January 15, 2010 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: (Carl, (Patrick, 03000000, 03002000, 12, 13, 13015001, 14, 2010, 43, a, adult, aerial, alive, american, Aminise, Amputated, areas, assessment, assistance, attention, bed, Bestof, boarding, body, boy, capital, capital cities, Casualty, center, charity and relief work, city, coffin, Come, Confirmed, Creole, cross, damage, daughter, dead, debris, department, devastates, devastation, dis, disaster, disbelief, doctors, down, Downtown District, earthquake, ecstatic, Eliazar, Emanuela, Emergencies And Disasters, facility, Farrell/Miami, fear, field, fire, general, Geographical Locations, Germain, gets, girl, Gladys, greeted, group, Haiti, Haiti's, Haitian, HAITIEARTHQUAKE, Headshot, help, Herald/MCT), hold, home, hope, horizontal, hospital, hotel, hours, HTI, human body, human toe, hundreds, injured, injuries, inside, january, jeune, joseph, Juste/Miami, krt2010, krtcaribbean caribbean, krtdisaster disaster, krtedonly, krtquake earthquake quake, krtworld world, lap, large, left, leg, lie, Loiuis, looks, magnitude7, makeshift, male, man, mct, medical, men, missing, mission, Mother's, mourn, Nearly, news, NGO, occupation, officials, outside, People, perished, Physical Injury, placing, Port-au-Prince, PortauPrince, pulled, quake, React, recovering, red, remains, reports, Resourceful, rest, Roselyn, rubble, ruined, school, seek, seen, shelter, street, surrounding, Tag, Thousands, thursday, topics, Topix, town, transport, tries, turns, underneath, UPI/American, victim, villa, waiting, water, woman, women, young | 2 Comments[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=haiti+earthquake&iid=7542868″ src=”f/e/6/a/Major_Earthquake_Devastates_b159.jpg?adImageId=9000764&imageId=7542868″ width=”500″ height=”343″ /]
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: A women tends to an injured relative at a small clinic after she was caught in the massive earthquake on January 14, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake killing possibly thousands. Numerous buildings were reduced to rubble by the 7.3-strong quake on January 12. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
[tweetmeme]In a country that has been totally dependent on the United Nations and the Red Cross even before the earthquake, the biggest blow to a swift humanitarian response in Haiti is the United Nations Mission has suffered a major blow with more than 150 staff still missing, presumed buried under rubble.The UN Haiti mission has about 1700 staff including 1200 Haitians. Among those reportedly still missing in Haiti is the head of the UN mission.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – JANUARY 13: A man holds a severely injured woman, while waiting for assistance in the town of Canape Vert January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Planeloads of rescuers and relief supplies headed to Haiti as governments and aid agencies launched a massive relief operation after a powerful earthquake that may have killed thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
US President Barack Obama ordered a swift and aggressive US rescue effort, while the European Union activated its crisis systems and the Red Cross and United Nations unlocked emergency funds and supplies for the destitute nation. Much of Port-au-Prince was reduced to rubble by the 7.0-strong quake on January 12 but the airport was operational, opening the way for international relief aid to be ferried in by air as well as by sea.
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BBC World Service’s Andy Gallagher reported this morning that there isn’t really any sense or signs of any kind of organised international aid relief, or search and rescue, in earthquake-stricken Haiti.
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Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is seen from an aerial assessment mission by the American Red Cross.
BBC’s Gallagher, as he walked the rubble-strewn streets of Haiti:
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People walk in the streets after the earthquake.
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An injured women is seen at a makeshift field hospital in Port-au-Prince
Queried about reported problems getting aid into the international airport at Haiti, Gallagher said:
On The Ground in Haiti BBC World Service: interviews with people on the streets, aid worker, Hillary Clinton, international aid experts
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People wait in line for water from the fire department after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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A casualty is identified with a makeshift toe tag on January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images).
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A car remains parked outside the ruins of a cafe January 13, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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Outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, January 14, 2010, the injured from surrounding areas have come for shelter and medical attention by a medical NGO, Hope for Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Haitian men transport a male earthquake victim after recovering him underneath debris in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT)
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Roselyn Joseph, left, gets help in placing the body of her daughter, Emanuela Aminise, 14, inside a coffin, in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A group of women mourn and react is disbelief as the body of the daughter of the woman in the center turns missing in Port-au-Prince.(Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A woman whose leg was amputated tries to lie down on a make-shift bed inside the Eliazar Germain General Hospital where the injured seek medical help, but the medical facility has no doctors in Port-au-Prince. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT).
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A man looks at the body of a dead man outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young girl gets medical attention for her injuries outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Port-au-Prince.
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A young boy tries to rest on his mother’s lap outside the Villa Creole Hotel
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Gladys Loiuis Jeune is pulled alive from the rubble of her home after nearly 43 hours where she was greeted by her ecstatic daughter in Port-au-Prince. (Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald/MCT)
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A woman reaches joyously to Gladys Louis Jeune.
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The body of a person is trapped in the rubble of a home destroyed by the massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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A man carrying a coffin through the streets. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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People look on as others search for survivors under a church in Port-au-Prince.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Christopher Holmes from the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue searches for survivors in the rubble of a building in Port-au-Prince on 14th January.
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A corpse is carried on a stretcher down a street.