Catastrophic Earthquake in Haiti
- Thread starter 6th
- Start date
Terrible, terrible. It's always a shock when they have to keep revising death tolls upwards. Early yesterday, they said "hundreds feared dead," now the president (of Haiti) estimates it's in excess of 30,000.The problems in Haiti are two fold. First, because the country is so poor, buildings just aren't built properly. Earthquake proofing is expensive. Second, because they haven't had a devastating Earthquake there in 200 years, it's out the public's conscious, so there aren't the disaster plans that other, more geologically volatile, regions create.
As bad as it was, the Loma Prieta Earthquake could actually save lives in the Bay Area in the future, as it reminded people of the hazard, and convinced city planners and residents to build new structures, and refit old ones, to a standard that can survive moderate earthquakes (though an 8.0 would be devastating).
But back to the topic of the Haitian Earthquake, reports are that every single hospital in Port Au Prince has been destroyed. The U.S. embassy weathered the quake with little damage, but of the 45,000 Americans in the city, less than 100 have checked in. Considering that there is no potable water in the city, this could worse before it gets better. My prayers go out to those poor people tonight.
As bad as it was, the Loma Prieta Earthquake could actually save lives in the Bay Area in the future, as it reminded people of the hazard, and convinced city planners and residents to build new structures, and refit old ones, to a standard that can survive moderate earthquakes (though an 8.0 would be devastating).
But back to the topic of the Haitian Earthquake, reports are that every single hospital in Port Au Prince has been destroyed. The U.S. embassy weathered the quake with little damage, but of the 45,000 Americans in the city, less than 100 have checked in. Considering that there is no potable water in the city, this could worse before it gets better. My prayers go out to those poor people tonight.
http://newsroom.redcross.org/2010/01/12/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-haiti/
text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.
text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.
Here's a good news story out of Haiti.
This was on the news the other night. This woman is a friend of mine that I went to high school with. We also attended the same church growing up. I had no idea she lived in Auburn until I found her on Facebook!
http://www.kcra.com/video/22274169/index.html
I'm going to try and be at the airport when they bring Claire home on Thursday!
This was on the news the other night. This woman is a friend of mine that I went to high school with. We also attended the same church growing up. I had no idea she lived in Auburn until I found her on Facebook!
http://www.kcra.com/video/22274169/index.html
I'm going to try and be at the airport when they bring Claire home on Thursday!