|
Post by Jaga on Jan 15, 2010 22:58:33 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 16, 2010 12:19:01 GMT -7
Haiti: 50,000 bodies found, final toll could be 200,000
By Raw Story Friday, January 15th, 2010
The latest estimate for the death toll in Haiti indicates that it could go as high as 200,000. Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters on Friday, "We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies; we anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total although we will never know the exact number."
Rescuers have continued to rescue people trapped under collapsed buildings, including a toddler and a nineteen-year-old girl whose father and boyfriend had been digging frantically for her but whom medics first took for dead when her seemingly lifeless body was finally unearthed.
The chances of survival for anyone who has been trapped since Tuesday are growing slim, however, and attention is turning to the threats of disease, violence, and starvation.
AFT reports, "Machete-wielding looters brought more terror to Haiti streets Friday as US troops poured into the quake-ravaged nation to start streaming tons of aid to traumatized and destitute people."
Although aid is starting to arrive, it is not yet reaching the people who need it most desperately. Regular food stores are empty and there are increasing reports of looting.
Disaster relief expert Chris Weeks, who has worked in the aftermath of hurricanes and tsunamis, told The New York Times, "“I’ve got the feeling that this one is going to turn out worse than all of them because the airport itself is part of the victim in all of this.”
Officials are also starting to offer estimates of damage to property. Health Minister Alex Larsen told Reuters, "Three-quarters of Port-au-Prince will have to be reconstructed, not just the areas totally destroyed, but also the places where so many houses have structural damage." Reports are coming in of heavy damage to other cities, as well.
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 16, 2010 17:00:20 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 16, 2010 17:12:32 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by Jaga on Jan 16, 2010 20:43:51 GMT -7
;D ;D Face it! Pat Robertson is just an old fool and we must have someone or something to laugh at just to keep our sanity. ;D Hi Bob, you are right. We need such interesting and original figures like Pat Robertson. We need people who are not always politically correct. Personally, I do not think that he is a bad man. By the way, here is PAT ROBERTSON VOODOO DOLL cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190365539998&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 17, 2010 5:00:23 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 20, 2010 4:36:23 GMT -7
Yet another large earthquake in Haiti. Those poor people just can't seem to catch a break !
Magnitude 6.1 - HAITI REGION
Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.1 Date-Time
* Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 11:03:44 UTC * Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 06:03:44 AM at epicenter * Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 18.428°N, 72.875°W Depth 9.9 km (6.2 miles) (poorly constrained) Region HAITI REGION Distances 60 km (35 miles) WSW of PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti 95 km (60 miles) ENE of Les Cayes, Haiti 160 km (100 miles) SSW of Cap-Haitien, Haiti 1110 km (690 miles) SE of Miami, Florida Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.5 km (4.0 miles); depth +/- 25.7 km (16.0 miles) Parameters NST=126, Nph=128, Dmin=178.1 km, Rmss=1.02 sec, Gp= 65°, M-type=(unknown type), Version=6 Source
* USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2010rsbb
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 20, 2010 4:46:40 GMT -7
Strong quake hits Haiti, sends people into streets
The Associated Press Wednesday, January 20, 2010; 6:27 AM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A strong earthquake has hit Haiti, shaking buildings and sending people running into the streets.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the preliminary 6.0 magnitude quake hit at 6:03 a.m. (1103 GMT) Wednesday about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince.
It says the quake struck at a depth of 13.7 miles (22 kilometers).
AP reporters in the Haitian capital say the temblor sent scores of people fleeing into the streets.
The pacific tsunami warning center said the earthquake was located too far inland to generate any tidal waves in the Caribbean.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A strong earthquake has hit Haiti, shaking buildings and sending people running into the streets.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the preliminary 6.0 magnitude quake hit at 6:03 a.m. (1103 GMT) Wednesday about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince.
It says the quake struck at a depth of 13.7 miles (22 kilometers).
AP reporters in the Haitian capital say the temblor sent scores of people fleeing into the streets.
|
|
Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
|
Post by Bob S on Jan 20, 2010 16:09:26 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 21, 2010 5:41:36 GMT -7
Profiting From Haiti's Crisis: Disaster Capitalism in Washington's Backyard
by: Benjamin Dangl Monday 18 January 2010
US corporations, private mercenaries, Washington and the International Monetary fund are using the crisis in Haiti to make a profit, promote unpopular neoliberal policies, and extend military and economic control over the Haitian people.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, with much of the infrastructure and government services destroyed, Haitians have relied on each other for the relief efforts, working together to pull their neighbors, friends and loved ones from the rubble. One report from IPS News in Haiti explained, "In the day following the quake, there was no widespread violence. Guns, knives and theft weren't seen on the streets, lined only with family after family carrying their belongings. They voiced their anger and frustration with sad songs that echoed throughout the night, not their fists."
Bob Moliere, an organizer within the popular political party Fanmi Lavalas was killed in the earthquake. His wife, Marianne Moliere, told IPS News after burying her husband, "There is no life for me because Bob was everything to me. I lost everything. Everything is destroyed," she said. "I'm sleeping in the street now because I'm homeless. But when I get some water, I share with others. Or if someone gives some spaghetti, I share with my family and others."
It is not this type of solidarity that has emerged in the wake of the crisis – and the delayed and muddled response from the international community – that most corporate media in the US have focused on. Instead, echoing the coverage and calls for militarization of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, major media outlets talk about the looting, and need for security to protect private property.
One request from Erwin Berthold, the owner of Big Star Market in Petionville, Haiti, reflects this concern for profit over people. Berthold told the Washington Post about his supermarket, "We have everything cleaned up inside. We are ready to open. We just need some security. So send in the Marines, okay?"
That militarization is already underway. This week the US is sending thousands of troops and soldiers to the country. The Haitian government has signed over control of its capital airport to the US. Brazil and France have already lodged complaints that US military planes are now being given priority over other flights at the international airport.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez responded to the US troop deployment. "I read that 3,000 soldiers are arriving, Marines armed as if they were going to war. There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that's what the United States should send," Chavez said. "They are occupying Haiti undercover." The Venezuelan President pledged to send any necessary amount of gasoline needed to the country to aid with electricity and transport.
A Heroic History in Washington's Backyard
There is also little mention in the major news outlets' coverage of how the US government and corporations helped impoverish Haiti in the first place, creating the economic poverty that makes disasters like this so extensive. Nor is there mention of the country's heroic struggle against imperialism and slavery. Fidel Castro pointed out in a recent column, "Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first great social revolution in our hemisphere. … Napoleon's most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military interventions and the extraction of its natural resources."
University professor Peter Hallward, writing in the Guardian Unlimited, criticized Washington for its responsibility in creatin the suffering it is now pledging to alleviate in Haiti. "Ever since the US invaded and occupied the country in 1915, every serious political attempt to allow Haiti's people to move (in former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's phrase) 'from absolute misery to a dignified poverty' has been violently and deliberately blocked by the US government and some of its allies. Aristide's own government (elected by some 75% of the electorate) was the latest victim of such interference, when it was overthrown by an internationally sponsored coup in 2004 that killed several thousand people and left much of the population smoldering in resentment. The UN has subsequently maintained a large and enormously expensive stabilization and pacification force in the country."
Brian Concannon, the director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti told Hallward of the root causes for the overpopulation of neighborhoods in the city of Port-au-Prince that were hit so hard by the earthquake. "Those people got there because they or their parents were intentionally pushed out of the countryside by aid and trade policies specifically designed to create a large captive and therefore exploitable labor force in the cities; by definition they are people who would not be able to afford to build earthquake resistant houses." Unnatural crises such as this made the earthquake much more devastating.
Disaster Capitalism Comes to Haiti
As Noami Klein thoroughly proved in her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, throughout history, "while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times." This push to apply unpopular neoliberal policies began almost immediately after the earthquake in Haiti.
In a talk recorded by Democracy Now!, Klein explained that the disaster in Haiti is created on the one hand by nature, and on the other hand "is worsened by the poverty that our governments have been so complicit in deepening. Crises—natural disasters are so much worse in countries like Haiti, because you have soil erosion because the poverty means people are building in very, very precarious ways, so houses just slide down because they are built in places where they shouldn't be built. All of this is interconnected. But we have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy, which is part natural, part unnatural, must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti, and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interests of our corporations."
Following the disaster in Haiti, Klein pointed out that the Heritage Foundation, "one of the leading advocates of exploiting disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies," issued a statement on its website after the earthquake hit: "In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti's long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region."
The mercenary trade group International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) immediately offered their services to provide "security" in Haiti to its member companies, according to Jeremy Scahill. Within hours of the earthquake, Scahill wrote, the IPOA website announced, "In the wake of the tragic events in Haiti, a number of IPOA's member companies are available and prepared to provide a wide variety of critical relief services to the earthquake's victims."
Kathy Robison, a Fortune 500 executive, formerly with Goldman Sachs Companies, wrote of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. "The business leaders I have been meeting with have seen enough disappointment and suffering," she wrote. "What Haiti needs is economic development and the building of a true middle class. … There is much we are planning as far as creating new and innovative ways of using international aid and government support to promote private investment."
On January 14, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a $100 million loan to Haiti to help with relief efforts. However, Richard Kim at The Nation wrote that this loan was added onto $165 million in debt made up of loans with conditions "including raising prices for electricity, refusing pay increases to all public employees except those making minimum wage and keeping inflation low." This new $100 million loan has the same conditions. Kim writes, "in the face of this latest tragedy, the IMF is still using crisis and debt as leverage to compel neoliberal reforms."
The last thing Haiti needs at this point is more debt; what it needs is grants. As Kim wrote, according to a report from the The Center for International Policy, in 2003 "Haiti spent $57.4 million to service its debt, while total foreign assistance for education, health care and other services was a mere $39.21 million."
In the midst of the suffering and anguish following the earthquake, many Haitians came together to console and help each other. Journalist David Wilson, in Haiti during the time of the earthquake, wrote of the singing that followed the disaster. "Several hundred people had gathered to sing, clap, and pray in an intersection here by 9 o'clock last night, a little more than four hours after an earthquake had devastated much of the Haitian capital." A young Haitian American commented to Wilson on the singing, "Haitians are different," he said. "People in other countries wouldn't do this. It's a sense of community."
If these elements of the "relief" efforts continue in this exploitative vein, it is this community that will likely be crushed even further by disaster capitalism and imperialism.
While international leaders and institutions are speaking about how many soldiers and dollars they are committing to Haiti, it is important to note that what Haiti needs is doctors not soldiers, grants not loans, a stronger public sector rather than a wholesale privatization, and critical solidarity with grassroots organizations and people to support the self-determination of the country.
"We don't need soldiers," Patrick Elie, the former Defense Minister under the Aristide government told Al Jazeera. "There is no war here." In addition to critiquing the presence of the soldiers, he commented on the US-control of the main airport. "The choice of what lands and what doesn't land, the priorities of the flight, should be determined by the Haitians. Otherwise, it's a takeover and what might happen is that the needs of Haitians are not taken into account, but only either the way a foreign country defines the need of Haiti, or try to push its own agenda."
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Jan 25, 2010 7:58:59 GMT -7
Italy disaster expert slams U.S. response to Haiti
6:39am EST
By Daniel Flynn
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top disaster expert has slammed the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake, criticizing its lack of organization and the reliance on soldiers with no training in humanitarian operations. Guido Bertolaso, head of Italy's civil protection service who received international acclaim for his handling of an Italian earthquake last April, described "a pathetic situation which could have been much better organized."
Bertolaso, who arrived in Haiti on Friday, told RAI state television that Washington had made "a show of force," but military officers coordinating the emergency had no links with the humanitarian groups in the Caribbean island state.
"We are missing a leader, a coordination capacity that goes beyond military discipline," Bertolaso, who holds the rank of minister, said late on Sunday.
"The Americans are extraordinary, but when you are facing a situation in chaos, they tend to confuse military intervention with emergency aid, which cannot be entrusted to the armed forces."
A contingent of 13,000 U.S. troops is helping relief efforts after the January 12, magnitude 7 quake in Haiti, which killed up to 200,000 people and left up to 3 million hurt and homeless.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right government, which has tried to foster close ties with Washington, was quick to distance itself from the remarks.
"Bertolaso ... has attacked American and international organizations head on. The Italian government does not share these statements," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters on a visit to Washington.
Bertolaso won plaudits for his handling of last year's quake in the Abruzzo region of central Italy which killed 294 people and left 40,000 homeless.
However, the loss of life and scale of destruction was far smaller than in Haiti, and Italy as a wealthy nation is much better equipped to cope with disasters than impoverished Haiti.
Nevertheless, 12 days after the earthquake, many people in Haiti and abroad have complained that food and aid has been slow reaching those in need.
On Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- an outspoken leftist critic of U.S. intervention in Latin America -- said Washington's relief efforts had fallen short and told Obama to send vaccines instead of armed soldiers.
|
|
|
Post by kaima on Jan 25, 2010 19:34:23 GMT -7
Italy disaster expert slams U.S. response to Haiti"The Americans are extraordinary, but when you are facing a situation in chaos, they tend to confuse military intervention with emergency aid, which cannot be entrusted to the armed forces." I can't judge the effectiveness of the US effort from this distance, but it is believable. I do believe our head of FEMA should be down there or his direct appointee - a professional, and that person should be in charge, with the military being only one subordinate contingent with FEMA in charge. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right government, which has tried to foster close ties with Washington, was quick to distance itself from the remarks. Humanitarian aid should be beyond politics or military. It should be professional. No political horse racers allowed! Bertolaso won plaudits for his handling of last year's quake in the Abruzzo region of central Italy which killed 294 people and left 40,000 homeless. However, the loss of life and scale of destruction was far smaller than in Haiti, and Italy as a wealthy nation is much better equipped to cope with disasters than impoverished Haiti. It took me 8 days of following Katrina relief in New Orleans before I decided it was improperly handled. Disasters are mass confusion, news reports are incomplete and poorly done (as in Haiti with reporters not aware of the importance of quickly disposing of bodies to stop spread of disease!). So I will not criticize efforts, it it a really tough, specialized job. But then, I cannot argue against: Nevertheless, 12 days after the earthquake, many people in Haiti and abroad have complained that food and aid has been slow reaching those in need. . . . and there will ALWAYS be room for improvement! Kai
|
|
|
Post by kaima on Feb 10, 2010 22:18:24 GMT -7
Disaster Capitalism in Washington's Backyard Bringing it (human slavery) a bit closer to home, Report: Hundreds forced into labor, sex in Ohio By MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press Writer Matt Leingang, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 26 mins ago COLUMBUS, Ohio – About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday. Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission. "Ohio is not only a destination place for foreign-born trafficking victims, but it's also a recruitment place," said Celia Williamson, an associate professor at the University of Toledo who led the research. Formed last year by Ohio Attorney General Richard Condray, the commission also found that hundreds more in the state are at risk of being forced into sex trafficking or to work against their will in fields, restaurants, sweatshops or constructions sites. Nationwide, between 45,000 and 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States, according to a 2001 report by the U.S. State Department. But Williamson noted that the problem is hard to quantify because of the underground nature of human trafficking, and studies often rely on estimates. Even the Ohio study, which analyzed law enforcement and government databases, is limited, she said. Cordray said the report establishes the scope of the problem in Ohio as authorities discuss ways to combat it. From 1990 to 2000, Ohio's foreign-born population increased 30 percent, and the state has a growing pool of legal and illegal immigrants who draw victims or hide victims, Williamson said. These networks are highly organized, with brothels fronting as legitimate businesses. Also, Toronto's airport is an arrival destination for international victims who are trafficked in Canada and transported to other cities, helping make Toledo, about 55 miles southwest of Windsor, Ontario, rank fourth in the U.S. in terms of arrests, investigations and rescue of domestic child-sex victims, the report said. Only Miami, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas had more. A federal investigation into a child prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Pa., exposed Toledo as a center for the trade in 2005. Nine local girls were sold as sex slaves as part of the ring, and at least 12 of the 31 people charged had ties to Toledo. Ohio does not have a stand-alone human trafficking law. Instead, it allows prosecutors to attach a human trafficking specification to related crimes that increase prison sentences — just as penalties are more severe if a crime involves a firearm. According to the report, 42 states with tough human trafficking laws can bring serious charges. Offenders in Delaware, Montana, New Mexico and New York may face up to 100 years in prison, for example. The report said that besides weak state laws in Ohio, law enforcement agencies often don't recognize human trafficking when responding to reports of illegal activity. For example, Ohio is quick to label child prostitutes as delinquents and to incarcerate them, rarely looking further at the adults involved, Williamson said. The report recommends handling child trafficking cases through the child welfare system rather than the juvenile courts.
|
|
|
Post by Nictoshek on Apr 6, 2010 14:50:00 GMT -7
Now this is SCARY:
|
|