APPEAL:HAITI'S PRESIDENT last night issued a desperate appeal for international aid, as fears grew that the death toll could rise above 100,000.
René Préval said the damage caused was “unimaginable” and appealed for help, describing hearing the screams of those trapped under collapsed buildings while he and his wife stepped over bodies lying in the streets.
“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them. All of the hospitals are packed with people. It is a catastrophe,” said Mr Préval.
With chaotic scenes in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, officials said it was impossible to gauge accurately the scale of the disaster, but the country’s prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told CNN that the final death toll could be well over 100,000. “I hope that is not true . . . But so many, so many buildings, so many neighbourhoods are totally destroyed, and some neighbourhoods we don’t even see people, so I don’t know where those people are.”
Haitian senator Youri Latortue told the Associated Press that 500,000 might be dead. Both men admitted they had no way of knowing.
One third of the country’s nine million people could need emergency aid, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross. Many thousands are homeless and sleeping in the streets. Witnesses described dazed survivors wandering the streets holding hands amid choking clouds of dust, as powerful aftershocks continued to rock the city.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and thousands live in poor quality shacks, many of which were immediately toppled by the quake. Reporters described survivors clawing their way from under debris, while thousands gathered in the comparative safety of public squares to sing hymns. Hours after the quake, severely injured survivors were still lying in the streets pleading for help. – (Guardian service)