Translated material
Death Island
The number of victims of the earthquake in Haiti cannot be counted
The suffering of people trapped under rubble as a result of the earthquake that struck the island of Haiti on Tuesday with a magnitude of more than 7 continues to suffer for three days. After the first, most powerful impact, about 40 more tremors followed with a magnitude of about 5 points on the Richter scale. As a result, the capital of the Republic of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, was practically destroyed, and 2 million of its inhabitants were left homeless. Tens of thousands of people (according to some estimates, the number of victims could reach hundreds of thousands) died, crushed by collapsing building structures.Housing in one of the poorest countries in the world (Haiti ranks third in the global poverty scale) has always been built of poor quality, houses were built in violation of all building codes and laws. The collapsed presidential palace was no exception, as was the building of the UN mission, which buried several dozen employees, including the head of the permanent mission (so far, the death of 36 mission members has been officially confirmed). Up to 200 more UN staff in Haiti are still missing. All schools, hospitals and even a prison, whose prisoners escaped, were destroyed.
In Haiti, due to political instability caused by constant political upheavals, there is practically no state as such, and complete legal chaos reigns. The illiterate rural population almost entirely professes voodooism, sorcerers in this country are revered more than doctors and teachers, the situation in Haiti has been close to anarchy for many years. It is in this regard that almost 3 thousand “blue helmets” from different countries of the world served in the UN mission, introduced there in 2004 after another coup. And only these people, in the first hours after the earthquake, tried to save those who showed signs of life under the rubble. However, the rescued but seriously mutilated people had nothing to treat or even bandage - there was always little medicine in Haiti, the population did not even have enough money to buy ordinary aspirin, and the few pharmacies along with hospitals were wiped off the face of the earth.
The Haitian police disappeared after the disaster, but gangs of marauders poured into the city, literally walking over corpses. Telephone communications were completely out of order, and only a few satellite phones notified the planet of the horrific disaster in the Caribbean.
According to the few journalists in Port-au-Prince, the city is scary. Thousands of people sleep in the open air, settling down for the night right among the corpses. Rescuers still continue to recover an endless number of bodies from the ruins. There is no water and food, the actions of the authorities are chaotic. Desperate people who have lost loved ones are in a state of shock and panic, turning into mass hysterics. Chaos and aggression engulfed the city that disappeared overnight.
Haitian President Rene Preval admitted that he does not have reliable information about the victims, who, according to him, could be from 50 to hundreds of thousands. The situation in rural areas is practically unknown, communications with them have not been restored, and the few roads of already poor quality have been destroyed.
The world responded to the tragedy quite quickly, but the airport control service in Port-au-Prince did not work due to a lack of electricity. Therefore, on the first day, only a few military transport aircraft with autonomous navigation capabilities were able to land. There were not enough workers to unload the first planes that miraculously landed, and during the further transportation of humanitarian supplies, they were partially looted by looters.
On the third day, the Port-au-Prince airport began operating normally, military specialists arriving from all over the world deployed mobile diesel generator sets and ensured the smooth unloading and convoy of humanitarian aid. The United States sent rescue teams, doctors, instruments and medicines to Haiti and allocated $100 million in emergency aid to Haiti. US President Barack Obama promised Haiti “unwavering support,” saying that the Americans would send ships, transport planes, helicopters and marine infantrymen. A group of ships consisting of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, several destroyers and coast guard vessels have already entered the waters of Haiti. Perhaps the American base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will become a springboard for rescue operations.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an interview to NBC television in connection with the disaster in Haiti, declaring US intentions to provide assistance to the island state, including in the long term. According to data received from US Air Force aircraft, 3 million people were injured, tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed, and the death toll would be tens of thousands. The UN special envoy, former US President Bill Clinton, may lead the UN mission to Haiti.
The fourth plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with an airmobile hospital with 50 beds, capable of operating autonomously for two weeks, has already taken off from Russia to Haiti. A day earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu, to provide assistance to earthquake victims.
France has sent three transport planes carrying humanitarian aid to Haiti, and another 100 soldiers will be sent from the French West Indies. A special government commission was created in Germany. Germany has promised to give Haiti 1.5 million euros in emergency aid. China sent a rescue team, and the Chinese Red Cross allocated $1 million for Haiti. The Spanish government sent three additional planes on Thursday to join the three already departing for Haiti. Israel sent a field hospital, as well as 220 doctors and rescue workers.
The UN allocated $10 million to provide urgent assistance to the republic, and the World Bank decided to provide Haiti with a grant in the amount of $100 million. The EU has already approved the allocation of 3 million euros; if necessary, this amount can be increased.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has launched a search service on its website to help reconnect those who have lost contact with loved ones in Haiti. This mainly concerns those who fled to the United States from the bloody President Papa Doc, as dictator Francois Duvalier, who ruled the island nation from 1957 to 1971, was called. Then he was replaced by his son, who fled to France in 1986 with the entire state treasury.
The most destructive earthquakes of the XX-XXI centuries
April 4, 1905 - India, Lahore province, magnitude 8.6 on the Richter scale, about 20 thousand dead.
December 28, 1908 - Italy, the city of Messina in Sicily. Simultaneously with the earthquake, hurricanes and tsunamis hit the city, killing 82 thousand people. January 13, 1915 - Italy, city of Avezzano, 30 thousand dead.
December 16, 1920 -- China, Gansu province, magnitude 8.6, 180 thousand dead, another 20 thousand died from the cold, losing their shelter.
September 1-3, 1923 - Japan, Tokyo and Yokohama, 143 thousand dead, 200 thousand wounded, 500 thousand left homeless.
May 22, 1927 -- China, Nan-Xiang province, magnitude 8.3, up to 200 thousand dead.
December 25, 1932 -- China, Gansu province, magnitude 7.6, 70 thousand dead.
May 30-31, 1935 - Pakistan, Quetta, 30 thousand people died.
January 24, 1939 - Chile, Concepción, magnitude 8.3, more than 50 thousand dead.
December 27, 1939 -- Turkey, Erzincan province, magnitude 7.9, killed 50 thousand people
October 6, 1948 - Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, up to 176 thousand dead (80% of the city's population).
May 31, 1970 -- Peru, Uruguay, magnitude 7.8, 50 thousand dead.
May 11, 1974 -- China, Yunnan province, 20 thousand people died.
February 4, 1976 -- Guatemala City, Guatemala City and other populated areas, about 23 thousand dead, 70 thousand people injured.
July 28, 1976 -- China, Tangshan city, according to official data, 242 thousand dead, according to other estimates, 655 thousand dead and 780 thousand wounded. The largest earthquake of the twentieth century.
September 16, 1978 - Iran, the city of Tebes, magnitude 7.7, 26 thousand dead.
December 7, 1988 -- Armenia, Spitak, magnitude 7.0, killed 25 thousand people.
June 21, 1990 -- Iran, Gilan province, magnitude 7.7, killed 50 thousand people, 200 thousand injured
September 1993 - India, Maharashtra state, Latur city, magnitude 6.4, 35 thousand dead.
August 17, 1999 -- Turkey, Izmit, magnitude 7.7, killed more than 17 thousand people, injured about 30 thousand people.
January 26, 2001 -. India, the epicenter in the state of Gujarat, the earthquake swept across the country, reached Pakistan and Nepal, magnitude 6.9, according to various estimates, from 30 thousand to 100 thousand people were killed, 200 thousand were injured
December 26, 2003 -- Iran, the city of Bam, an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 turned a city of 200,000 people into ruins. Over the next days, 100 tremors of magnitude 3-5 to 5 were recorded. Over 30 thousand people became victims of the earthquakes, and another 30 thousand were injured.
December 26, 2004 -- a tidal wave caused by the most powerful earthquake in the last 40 years with a magnitude of 9.0 hit the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Somalia, and Kenya in a ten-meter wall. The source of the earthquake lay at a depth of 30 kilometers near the province of Aceh in the north-west of the island of Sumatra. The total number of deaths from the tsunami was about 300 thousand people.
October 8, 2005 -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 to 8.0 occurred in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. About 87 thousand people died, approximately 40 thousand were injured.
May 12 and 13, 2008 -. China, Sichuan province, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 5.8. The number of victims was more than 69 thousand people, over 370 thousand were injured. More than 17 thousand are considered missing.