2010 Haiti earthquake Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Conditions in the aftermath== {{See also|2010 Haiti cholera outbreak}} [[File:Haiti earthquake camp.jpg|thumb|Assistance camp set up by the [[Brazilian Army]]]] In the nights following the earthquake, many people in Haiti slept in the streets, on pavements, in their cars, or in makeshift [[shanty town]]s either because their houses had been destroyed, or they feared standing structures would not withstand aftershocks.<ref>Charles, Jacqueline, Clark, Lesley, Robles, Frances [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional/supplies-begin-to-arrive-in-haiti-as-aftershocks-s/nLxLy/ Supplies begin to arrive in Haiti as aftershocks shake stunned nation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052548/http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional/supplies-begin-to-arrive-in-haiti-as-aftershocks-s/nLxLy/ |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''The Miami Herald'', 14 January 2010</ref> Construction standards are low in Haiti; the country has no [[building codes]]. Engineers have stated that it is unlikely many buildings would have stood through any kind of disaster. Structures are often raised wherever they can fit; some buildings were built on slopes with insufficient foundations or steel supports.<ref>Watkins, Tom (13 January 2010) [http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.construction/index.html?iref=allsearch Problems with Haiti building standards outlined] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120002802/http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.construction/index.html?iref=allsearch |date=20 January 2010 }} CNN, 13 January 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2010.</ref> A representative of [[Catholic Relief Services]] has estimated that about two million Haitians lived as [[squatter]]s on land they did not own. The country also suffered from shortages of fuel and potable water even before the disaster.<ref name="greene">Greene, Richard [http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/14/haiti.aid.hurdles/index.html?hpt=T2 Aid workers heading to Haiti fear for their safety] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116112143/http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/14/haiti.aid.hurdles/index.html?hpt=T2 |date=16 January 2010 }}, CNN, 14 January 2010.</ref> President Préval and government ministers used police headquarters near the [[Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport]] as their new base of operations, although their effectiveness was extremely limited; several parliamentarians were still trapped in the Presidential Palace, and offices and records had been destroyed.<ref>Romero, Simon, Lacey, Marc [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/world/americas/16preval.html?hp Government Struggles to Exhume Itself] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314204954/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/world/americas/16preval.html|date=14 March 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', 15 January 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.</ref> Some high-ranking government workers lost family members, or had to tend to wounded relatives. Although the president and his remaining cabinet met with UN planners each day, there remained confusion as to who was in charge and no single group had organized relief efforts as of 16 January.<ref>Robles, Frances, Charles, Jacqueline [http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2010808076_haiticontrol16.html With Haiti's government in ruins, 'only God is in charge'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407102217/http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2010808076_haiticontrol16.html |date=7 April 2014 }}, ''The Seattle Times'', 15 January 2010</ref> The government handed over control of the airport to the United States to hasten and ease flight operations, which had been hampered by the damage to the air traffic control tower.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1513622820100116?type=marketsNews Update 1-US takes control of Haiti airport to speed aid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106160149/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1513622820100116?type=marketsNews |date=6 November 2020 }}, Reuters, 15 January 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.</ref> [[File:Fairfax County Urban SAR scales Montana Hotel 2010-01-14.jpg|thumb|Urban Search and Rescue specialists work at the [[Hôtel Montana]].]] Almost immediately Port-au-Prince's [[morgue]] facilities were overwhelmed. By 14 January, a thousand bodies had been placed on the streets and pavements. Government crews collected thousands more by truck, burying them in mass graves.<ref>Charles, Jacqueline, Clark, Lesley, Robles, Frances, Trention, Daniel [http://articles.philly.com/2010-01-15/news/24956170_1_bodies-morgue-rescue-workers Haiti's desperation rises as swell of bodies grows] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061110/http://articles.philly.com/2010-01-15/news/24956170_1_bodies-morgue-rescue-workers |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 15 January 2010</ref> In the heat and humidity, corpses buried in rubble began to decompose and smell. Mati Goldstein, head of the Israeli [[ZAKA]] International Rescue Unit delegation to Haiti, described the situation as "[[Shabbat]] from hell. Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air. It's just like the stories we are told of the [[Holocaust]] – thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension."<ref>[http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/17/1010200/israeli-medical-rescue-workers-help-haitians Israeli medical, rescue workers help Haitians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119183624/http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/17/1010200/israeli-medical-rescue-workers-help-haitians |date=19 January 2010 }}, JTA, 17 January 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.israel21c.org/briefs/8-saved-during-qshabbat-from-hellq 8 saved during "Shabbat from hell"] ''Israel 21c Innovation News Service'', 17 January 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119072338/http://www.israel21c.org/briefs/8-saved-during-qshabbat-from-hellq |date=19 January 2010 }}</ref> Mayor Jean-Yves Jason said that officials argued for hours about what to do with the volume of corpses. The government buried many in mass graves, some above-ground tombs were forced open so bodies could be stacked inside, and others were burned.<ref>Charles, Jacqueline, Pressoir, Jean-Cyril, Brecher, Elinor [http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1431224.html No chance to give the dead a proper burial]{{dead link|date=February 2011}}, ''The Miami Herald'', 17 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.</ref> Mass graves were dug in a large field outside the settlement of [[Titanyen]], north of the capital; tens of thousands of bodies were reported as having been brought to the site by [[dump truck]] and buried in trenches dug by [[earth mover]]s.<ref>{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Haven |title=By the thousands, Haiti returns dead to the earth |date=20 January 2010 |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.newsday.com/news/world/by-the-thousands-haiti-returns-dead-to-the-earth-1.1715785 |work=[[Newsday]] |access-date=27 February 2019 |archive-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228065701/https://www.newsday.com/news/world/by-the-thousands-haiti-returns-dead-to-the-earth-1.1715785 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Max Beauvoir]], a [[Haitian Vodou|Vodou]] priest, protested the lack of dignity in mass burials, stating, "... it is not in our culture to bury people in such a fashion, it is desecration".<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DF20100117 Haiti's voodoo priests object to mass burials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201223457/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DF20100117 |date=1 December 2010 }}, Reuters, 17 January 2010</ref><ref>Cave, Damien [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/americas/19grave.html?hp As Haitians Flee, the Dead Go Uncounted] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722081902/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/americas/19grave.html|date=22 July 2016 }}, ''The New York Times'', 18 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.</ref> [[File:Haitians fill ferry in Port-au-Prince 2010-01-16.jpg|thumb|right|The Haitian government began a programme to move homeless people out of Port-au-Prince on a ferry to [[Port Jeremie]] and in hired buses to temporary camps.]] Towns in the eastern Dominican Republic began preparing for tens of thousands of refugees, and by 16 January hospitals close to the border had been filled to capacity with Haitians. Some began reporting having expended stocks of critical medical supplies such as antibiotics by 17 January.<ref>Ian Rawson, managing director, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, Deschapelles. Retrieved 17 January 2010 [http://hashaiti.blogspot.com/2010/01/overnight-several-patients-have-died-of.html Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708041528/http://hashaiti.blogspot.com/2010/01/overnight-several-patients-have-died-of.html |date=8 July 2011 }} Blog, 17 January 2010</ref> The border was reinforced by Dominican soldiers, and the government of the Dominican Republic asserted that all Haitians who crossed the border for medical assistance would be allowed to stay only temporarily. A local governor stated, "We have a great desire and we will do everything humanly possible to help Haitian families. But we have our limitations with respect to food and medicine. We need the helping hand of other countries in the area."<ref name='miamihaiti2'>{{cite news | first1=Jacqueline | last1=Charles |first2=Trenton |last2=Daniel|first3=Frances|last3=Robles|first4=Daniel|last4=Chang | title=Help begins to trickle in, but desperate populace needs widespread relief | date=15 January 2010 |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/15/v-fullstory/1426712_help-begins-to-trickle-in-but.html | work =The Miami Herald |access-date = 1 February 2011}}{{Dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref><ref>Roth, Daniel [http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/16/1428997/tension-grows-in-the-border-with.html Tension grows in the border with Dominican Republic as Haitians try to escape],{{Dead link|date=February 2011}} ''The Miami Herald'', 16 January 2010</ref> Slow distribution of resources in the days after the earthquake resulted in sporadic violence, with [[looting]] reported.<ref>Romero, Simon, Lacey, Marc [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/americas/17looting.html?hp Looting Flares as Authority Breaks Down] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722081915/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/americas/17looting.html|date=22 July 2016 }}, ''The New York Times'', 16 January 2010</ref> There were also accounts of looters wounded or killed by vigilantes and neighbourhoods that had constructed their own roadblock barricades.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/17/retribution-lynching-haiti-looters |title=Retribution swift and brutal for Haiti's looters|work=The Guardian |date= 17 January 2010|access-date=20 January 2010 | location=London | first=Ed | last=Pilkington| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100120053903/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/retribution-lynching-haiti-looters| archive-date= 20 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6991555.ece | title = Haiti quake: first British victim named as violence increases | first = Jenny | last = Booth | work = The Times | date = 17 January 2010 | access-date = 20 January 2010 | location = London | archive-date = 29 April 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110429053016/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6991555.ece | url-status = live }}</ref> Dr Evan Lyon of [[Partners in Health]], working at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, claimed that misinformation and overblown reports of violence had hampered the delivery of aid and medical services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/doctor_misinformation_and_racism_have_frozen |title=Doctor: Misinformation and Racism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince |publisher=Democracy Now!|date=19 January 2010 |access-date=20 January 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100121014240/http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/doctor_misinformation_and_racism_have_frozen| archive-date= 21 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2010/jan/19/haiti-earthquake-updates |title=Haiti earthquake updates: live blog |work=The Guardian |date= 19 January 2010|access-date=20 January 2010 | location=London |first1=Haroon |last1=Siddique |first2=Matthew |last2=Weaver| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100120221031/http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jan/19/haiti-earthquake-updates| archive-date= 20 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> [[File:AirdropcloseJan18haiti edited.jpg|thumb|left|One of the first [[parachute]] [[air drop]]s after the quake, 18 January]] Former US president [[Bill Clinton]] acknowledged the problems and said Americans should "not be deterred from supporting the relief effort" by upsetting scenes such as those of looting.<ref name=sherwell1-16>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7005554/Haiti-earthquake-looting-and-gun-fights-break-out.html|title=Haiti earthquake: looting and gun-fights break out|last= Sherwell |first=Philip|author2=Patrick Sawer |date=16 January 2010|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=17 January 2010 | location=London| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100119194409/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7005554/Haiti-earthquake-looting-and-gun-fights-break-out.html| archive-date= 19 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="Knife Edge">{{Cite news | last = Leonard | first = Tom | title = Haiti earthquake: law and order on a knife edge | journal = The Daily Telegraph | date = 18 January 2010 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7013417/Haiti-earthquake-law-and-order-on-a-knife-edge.html | access-date = 18 January 2010 | archive-date = 22 January 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100122110044/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7013417/Haiti-earthquake-law-and-order-on-a-knife-edge.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Lt. Gen. [[Ken Keen|P.K. Keen]], deputy commander of [[US Southern Command]], however, announced that despite the stories of looting and violence, there was less violent crime in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake than before.<ref>Mackey, Robert [http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/latest-updates-on-the-crisis-in-haiti/?hp Latest Updates on the Crisis in Haiti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121172905/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/latest-updates-on-the-crisis-in-haiti/?hp |date=21 January 2010 }}, ''The New York Times'', 18 January 2010</ref> In many neighbourhoods, singing could be heard through the night and groups of men coordinated to act as security as groups of women attempted to take care of food and hygiene necessities.<ref>Charles, Jacqueline, Burch, Audra [http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1429877.html After losing all else, Haitians are keeping the faith]{{dead link|date=February 2011}}, ''The Miami Herald'', 17 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2010.</ref> During the days following the earthquake, hundreds were seen marching through the streets in peaceful processions, singing and clapping.<ref>Cooper, Anderson, Watson, Ivan [http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/15/haiti.earthquake/?hpt=T1&hpt=T1 Desperation grows: Mass grave found outside Port-au-Prince] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108031744/http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/15/haiti.earthquake/?hpt=T1&hpt=T1 |date=8 November 2012 }}, CNN, 15 January 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.</ref> <!--On Sunday, 17 January, Haitians roamed the streets looking for church services to attend. Impromptu gatherings were held outside churches that had collapsed with a few attendees appearing in their best clothes.<ref>Lacey, Marc, Cave, Damien [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18haiti.html?hp Haitians Seek Solace Amid the Ruins], ''The New York Times'', 17 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2010</ref>--> The earthquake caused an urgent need for outside rescuers to communicate with Haitians whose main or only language is [[Haitian Creole]]. As a result, a [[mobile translation]] program to translate between English and Haitian Creole had to be written quickly. The generation of waste from relief operations was referred to as a “second disaster”. The United States military reported that millions of water bottles and [[styrofoam]] food packages were distributed although there was no operational waste management system. Over 700,000 plastic tarpaulins and 100,000 tents were required for emergency shelters. The increase in plastic waste, combined with poor disposal practices, resulted in open drainage channels being blocked, increasing the risk of [[disease]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Environment |first=U. N. |date=2021-10-21 |title=Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics |url=http://www.unep.org/resources/report/drowning-plastics-marine-litter-and-plastic-waste-vital-graphics |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=UNEP - UN Environment Programme |language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page