Haiti earthquake

Aid efforts continue with food drops and flashlight surgery

Article published on the 2010-01-19 Latest update 2010-01-19 11:19 TU

A line of soldiers guards a crowd of local people coming to get humanitarian aid in Port-au-Prince
(Photo: Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva)

Thousands of US Marines have joined the relief effort in Haiti following last week's earthquake. Rescuers continue searching through the rubble for survivors, a week after the 7.0-magnitude quake while hundreds of thousands of homeless, injured and hungry people wander the streets in search of food, water and medicine.

More than 2,200 Marines arrived aboard the ship USS Bataan, bringing the overall number of US troops to 7,000, including those in Haiti and off-shore. The US military has begun dropping food and water north-east of the capital Port-au Prince and officials say aircraft will help distribute 600,000 daily food rations in the coming days. 

US President Barack Obama called Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday to propose a joint US-Brazilian-Canadian leadership for relief efforts, a Brazilian government official said Monday.

Obama suggested to Lula da Silva that the three countries "should lead and coordinate efforts by the international community of Haiti donors and other parties".

EU countries have pledged almost 500 million euros in aid and reconstruction funds but Dominican President Leonel Fernandez estimated that ten billion dollars over five years would be needed to help the recovery in Haiti. It is the western hemisphere's poorest nation and Fernandez warned that what was most needed was "a central authority in Haiti able to channel all the aid that is arriving".

The United Nations said Tuesday that more than 90 people have been pulled out alive from the earthquake rubble since international search and rescue teams began their work a week ago.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has requested 3,500 extra troops and police for the relief effort. This is in addition to the 7,000 troops, 2,000 police and 2,000 civilian personnel already present in Haiti as part of the UN mission that was present in the country even before disaster struck. The UN Security Council is to meet on Tuesday to adopt a draft resolution to that effect.

Alain Leroy, head of UN peacekeeping operations said the extra troops would be used to build humanitarian corridors to link Port-au Prince with the neighbouring Dominican Republic and a northern Haitian port.

UN agencies said field hospitals and food distribution had multiplied in and around the capital.

The Red Cross warned that violence by desperate Haitians was growing. "Prices for food and transport have skyrocketed since last Tuesday and incidents of violence and looting are on the rise as the desperation grows," the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

"Something that is increasing as well is the violence," said Loris de Filippi of Medecins sans Frontières, adding that they had begun treating Haitians with gunshot wounds this week.

However Lieutenant-General Ken Keen, the top US officer on the ground, denied that security was deteriorating: "The level of violence we see now is below pre-earthquake levels." 

A Haitian government minister said Sunday that 70,000 bodies had been buried so far.

Former US president Bill Clinton, a special UN envoy to Haiti, defended the pace of the relief effort as he visited Port-au-Prince on Monday to meet Haitian leaders. "No, I don't think they were slow coming in," said Clinton, while visiting the General Hospital in the capital. "The infrastructure broke down, and that's what we're building up."

From Saturday to mid-day Monday, out of 30 operations performed by the French team at the General Hospital, 28 ended in amputation. French doctor Jacques Lorblanches said he had lost count of the number of amputations he had performed in the past 48 hours but would never forget the ghastly conditions.

"I have never seen anything like this - infected wounds full of larvae," he said.  "I did my first amputation with three forceps, five scissors and a scalpel, without water, and just a flashlight to illuminate the injury."

Emergency workers are expanding their operations to stricken communities outside of Port-au-Prince, including Gressier, Petit Goave, and Leogane, which were all flattened by the earthquake.

Estimates of the death toll from the 7.0-magnitude quake range from 100,000 to 200,000.

A quarter of a million more people were injured and 1.5 million left homeless. The disaster is also the worst yet in terms of fatalities for the United Nations. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said 46 UN staff were now confirmed dead and more than 500 missing.