You better damn well hope KARMA doesn’t lunch with REINCARNATION because you’re name is bound to come up.:dubious:
Parts of the Dominican Republic did, indeed, feel the quake, however, damage was minimal as the DR is further from the epicenter and actually has enforced building codes.
And while you have no sympathy for the Haitians - most of whom are just trying to survive and who are not personally responsible for centuries of mismanagement and neglect - their neighboring country is asking for help on their behalf and offering the use of their facilities such as airports to assist in getting aid to Haiti. Granted, some of it is self-interest because the last thing they need is a million desperate refugees rushing the border, but it seems they may have more sympathy for Haiti than you do.
Frankly, as there have been people in Port-au-Prince who have been digging in rubble all night with their bare hands to rescue people trapped in the rubble, those same people having lost their own homes and unable to find family and friends, I have to say that they are demonstrating far more compassion and kindness than you are, Monkey. Yes, Haiti is a mess, but the current generation didn’t generate that mess and they’re doing what they can to survive in a hellhole that just got suddenly much, much worse. If you don’t have any sympathy for the Haitians then go vent in the Pit, don’t drop into a news thread and crap all over people who are undergoing a horrific experience.
Yes. Although apparently at the moment he, too, is homeless.
Yes. It seems most government personnel had already gone home for the day and were not in the government buildings when most of them collapsed. Of course, much of the infrastructure of government is damaged or destroyed, but the people are, apparently, mostly still alive and able to function.
I caught President Obama’s brief address this morning. Apparently as of 10 am Eastern Time the US military had completed overflights and damage assessments, and the President said that US aid would start arriving this afternoon.
Reports are that the Port-au-Prince airport is damaged, including loss of all power and the traffic control tower, but the runways are usable. There are standard international procedures for flying into and out of an airport with no traffic control that all pilots are trained in, and flights will need to be restricted to daylight hours until runway lights can be restored. Operations will be slower than at an intact airport, but if reports are accurate then aid will be able to flown directly into the city.
I’m not asking anyone to do anything here, but I’m curious – does this link work for anyone outside of my network?
Magiver and zweisamkeit, if you want to take pot shots at me, take it to the pit. Believe me, I’ll be happy to oblige. But as far as this thread, keep the discussion to Haiti.
Yes.
Terrible situation. The U.S. is already gearing up aid to help. We’ll probably get slammed for not doing it quick enough. But, in spite of our own economic difficulties we’ll find a way to help them rebuild.
OK, good. And thanks.
Although it seems a little moot, as others have already posted relief sites. This is the one I went through, and I got it from an internal e-mail.
I wonder if the hospital I work for is going to send doctors. I know we sent a bunch to Rwanda last year.
Not a problem. If there is such a thing as reincarnation you are probably going to Haiti.
He’s right, though. Further discussion about this belongs in the Pit, and that goes for everyone.
Are they all held captive on the island? Does nobody ever emigrate from Haiti?
In fact, we are. The donation I made is being used to fund that. I hope that my boss goes.
Yeah, they get no sympathy from me if they don’t have the good sense to get on their luxury yachts and sail to America.
I was in the breakroom a little while ago and ran into someone whose parents are in Haiti right now. He says they are alright but he spent an awful night calling over and over before he got through to them. I’m sure tens of thousands of people are going through the same thing right now.
It’s being reported that there were about a hundred people in the U.N. building when it collapsed, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
I return this thread to images of people digging their loved ones out with their bare hands for anybody who cares about such things.
Sure, people emigrate. All it takes is the money to arrange for transportation and housing in your new country, plus the skills to make yourself attractive to the immigration regime in your new homeland. (Uneducated, unskilled people find it hard to find developed, or even less-poor ones, willing to take them - and it’s hard to get education or skills when your country is a basket case.)
For some relatively privileged few, emmigration is a solution. (I say “relatively”, because I’m sure most of still pretty darned poor in absolute terms.) But for most Haitians, it isn’t an option. Not even close.
It’s actually a cycle of intellectual poverty because the well educated move on leaving the uneducated behind.
Latest reports I saw were that about 100 people are trapped in the UN headquarters, although only 5 are confirmed dead.
Apparently some trapped people are able to communicate by cell phone.
I can’t imagine what Port-au-Prince is like - the buildings are rubble, the streets are filled with people, many of them injured and most emotionally rocked, there are dead bodies lying around, no power, Og only knows where food or water can be obtained, people are trying to dig the trapped out of rubble with bare hands and pieces of debris, we know that help is on the way but they have no access to news. Hospitals are collapsed, doctors and nurses are injured themselves… and there are screams and shouts from the piles of rubble from the people still trapped underneath.
How truly horrible. I wish there was something I could do, but my own financial situation is so precarious I just can’t see how I can give anything.
Apparently the archbishop of Haiti was killed when the cathedral collapsed. There might be hundreds of people buried there.
It really seems like the entire city was wiped off the map.
Yeah, seriously- those lazy pigs. Why don’t they take a cue from the Cubans and make some bath tub boats to America, where we will certainly welcome unskilled, uneducated workers with open arms? Look, the sweet air of freedom doesn’t just waft to you, Haiti, you’ve got to work for it!
USA! USA! USA!
PS: I got a CNN breaking news text while with a client a few minutes ago that says hundreds of thousands are dead in Haiti. Awful.
That’s what is so frustrating. 22 months of unemployment has eaten my finances up.
It’s good to know that we have already overflown the area and put together an assessment of the situation considering the Haiti government is probably nothing but a list of names at the moment. I wonder if the cell phone system has power or is running off of generators since it’s their only lifeline to the world.