39 replies to this topic

[poisomike87]

Quote

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A powerful earthquake hit the impoverished country of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing the presidential palace and other critical government buildings and raising fears of substantial casualties in what a witness called “a major, major disaster.”

The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed by numerous aftershocks, one with magnitude 5.9, the USGS reported.

"The whole city is in darkness. You have thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go," said Rachmani Domersant, an operations manager with the Food for the Poor charity.

In the hillside neighborhood of Petionville, Domersant said he saw no police or rescue vehicles.

"People are trying to dig victims out with flashlights," he said. "I think hundreds of casualties would be a serious understatement."

"People are out in the streets, crying, screaming, shouting," Karel Zelenka, director of the Catholic Relief Services office in Haiti, told The Washington Post. "This will be a major, major disaster."

Reuters video showed numerous bodies beneath collapsed walls and the presidential palace lying in ruins. President René Garcia Préval was reported to be safe.

Numerous other public buildings were destroyed, including the parliament building, the Finance Ministry, the Public Works Ministry, the Palace of Justice and Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Port-au-Prince, the national cathedral, Haiti TV reported.

The main United Nations building in Port-au-Prince collapsed and a number of personnel were unaccounted for, said U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy. He said other U.N. installations also were seriously damaged. The U.N. has a 9,000-member peacekeeping force in Haiti, following a 2004 rebellion.

The executive director of Haitian Ministries for the Diocese of Norwich, Conn., Emily Smack, said she believed two of the organization's staff, both Americans, were trapped in their partially collapsed mission house.

The earthquake also destroyed much of the Port-au-Prince air traffic control tower, and flights were being rerouted by other Haitian air traffic facilities.

Full story here

[poisomike87]

This is pretty bad

[Roadblock]

Prayers for the Haitians and everyone there.

[poisomike87]

The houses there are made of un reinforced cinderblocks, they stack the houses so close together almost on top of each other.

Imagine a line of dominos getting knocked over

My thoughts and prayers go out to them

[vampirechronicles]

poisomike87, on Jan 13 2010, 12:52 AM, said:

The houses there are made of un reinforced cinderblocks, they stack the houses so close together almost on top of each other.

Imagine a line of dominos getting knocked over

My thoughts and prayers go out to them

its sad they said on cnn that More than 100,000 dead in quake, Haiti's prime minister tells CNN

thats crazy something like that hitting haiti, they are a very poor country

as mike says up above, ditto that

[philgorp]

i just got an email from a friend in santo domingo. he said he felt it. haiti must be cursed
a church group from ft myers went to haiti last week. to work on something. hope they're ok

[rastaX]

philgorp, on Jan 13 2010, 07:14 PM, said:

haiti must be cursed

You're not the only one who thinks that.........

[philgorp]

i looked into it. theres a lot of info on this.
it's not far from the truth, and a lot of haitians believe it

[philgorp]

seriously when i fly over hispaniola there is a very distinct line between haiti and dom rep. one side is green the other is gray and brown. this is the same island.

[vampirechronicles]

philgorp, on Jan 13 2010, 07:36 PM, said:

seriously when i fly over hispaniola there is a very distinct line between haiti and dom rep. one side is green the other is gray and brown. this is the same island.

alot of people from haiti come to the usa and get refugee help, so the usa and other countries should open their doors and allow these homeless people into its borders to get situated, *for humantarian reasons*

[rastaX]

So you think the devil gave the tectonic plate a little shove?

[philgorp]

you own that idea. its all yours

[philgorp]

i believe their position prequake. had more to do with their accepted way of living. the entire country was a disaster, now its worse

[FreakinWeasel]

No where to go but up! Haiti is renowned for corruption so getting permits to rebuild your shack shouldn't be too bad.

[Roadblock]

My Opinion:


The Christian perspective here should be love, compassion and a willingness to help any way we can.

Jesus said,

"Love each other as I have loved you."

That's all the instruction we need. If that isn't enough, how about:

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."


I do well minding my own sinful nature without sitting in judgment on Haiti. I would think Mr. Robertson would be better served doing the same....

[philgorp]

who is pats judge?
i've watched the clip a few times. where is his judgement? is it his crime to point out that as a country they turned their backs on g-d and have suffered since? or, to suggest that they would be better off as a whole if they were closer to g-d?
i'd like to point out, again,,, that dom rep is on the same island and remains untouched.

right now there is a group from church that went down to work on an orphanage/school before the quake. they were going to stay there for two weeks. as of last night i heard they were all ok.

[Roadblock]

He may have tried to camouflage it a bit, but his meaning is still there. Had he simply said, "we need to pray for the people of Haiti" or "Haiti really needs our prayers" and left it at that, I would have been with him 100%. He made the inference that Haiti was being punished for something they had done in the past. That's not his call and it makes him appear as judgmental. Similar remarks were made about New Orleans a few years ago, and were just as out of place. Think what you will, but it isn't always a good thing to share every thought that passes your mind. This isn't the time for 'I told you so.' Again, this is just my opinion.

I am truly thankful that the missionary group is ok.

[poisomike87]

I'm pretty sure that trying to figure out whether or not Haiti is cursed by some higher power should be the last thing we worry about, I mean come on people are dead. and debating whether or not they brought it upon themselves will not solve anything.

I think that the video clip would have been a lot better without him sending a passive judgment about the country. how is it so hard to say "The country of Haiti experienced an earthquake killing and injuring thousands, I hope everyone prays for them"

Let's debate a "higher power" cause when the recovery effort is over. because energy wasted on that can definitely be used for a more constructive purpose.

God bless the people of Haiti, and I wish strength and safety to the rescue workers that are helping the people in need.

[FreakinWeasel]

Thanks for the comments Mike. It's like saying that Louisiana deserved what they got too isn't now. We are all sinful. But all the hurt children are supposedly without sin so end the wrath of G*D stuff already.

[vampirechronicles]

its nice that donations are pouring in to haiti right now, but that country has always been devasted and poor, and now everyone seems to want to donate to help, while that is good, not many cared before that.

*but i am sure the people who are hurt, homeless, are thankful for whatever help they receive now.

on a positive note, i think that alot of other countries are helping too.


its really sad for those individuals in haiti to have to endure such another devasting
event again. I saw the news yesterday and they said that quake *.

One scientist told CNN that the temblor struck with the force of several nuclear bombs. Around three million of the island nation's nine million inhabitants were affected by the quake.
http://www.wmmr.com/...aspx?ID=1185059

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