Disaster

It has been reported that a bus of the mark International overturned in Fort Diable in Mirebalais, Haiti. A total of 16 people are confirmed dead, with several injuries.

Some of the injured people were transported to the Mirebalais University Hospital. This information was just reported in the media.

Pawol pale, Pawol kompran

Yo a pen reporte ke jinyin yon akcidan kamyon ki rive jodi, 10 Oktob sa nan For Diable, nan route Mirebalais. 16 moun deja konfime mouri et gin anpil lot ki blese. Yo ttransporte blese sa yo nan opital Mirebalais.

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I am asking for prayer for this Haitian family as the remaining members are going through one of the most painful experiences in their lives. A total of five members of the same family were killes last Saturday in a car accident in Long Island. A 37 year old mother, Myriam Lebrun, her mother Moise Yolande, and her three children: Marcus Jeanty, Marcel Jeanty and Kayla Jeanty were all killed.

We have some video of the accident.

Here is live video of the tragic accident.

New York State Police reported that the car the family was driving, a 1998 Honda Accord, struck a tree and burst into flames

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As per Haitian- Caribbean News Network information dated June 9, 2014, a report issued by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs on Haiti's rebuilding effort on the transition from a devastating earthquake four years ago, the US State Department has acknowledged Haiti's successful attempt in rebuilding, encouraging private investment, job creation and long term development, among other things. The country is approaching its five year mark since the devastating earthquake of 2010 that killed nearly 300,000 people. The report puts emphasis on the facts that as of June 2014, more than 90% of the 1.5 million displaced persons living in the temporary shelters have found alternative housing. Almost all the earthquake debris has been removed, private investment was at ten year's high in 2013 and thousands (approximately 30,000 jobs) of jobs were created in the country's growing export apparel sector. Thousands of farmers have yielded higher corps and more income.

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According to Caribbean Journal, Friday night (3/21/13) around 9:11 PM, a major earthquake hit the area north of the city of Les Cayes. This was based of information from United States Geological Survey.

The epicenter of the quake was located between Petit Trou de Nippes and Les Cayes. The United States Geological data recorded its dept to be 6 kilometer.

No injuries or death have been reported so far.

Ginyin yon "Goudou Goudou ki passe yer soir antre Petit Trou de Nippes and Ocaye. Tranbleman Tè sa mesire 4.5.

Nou ponko gin infomasyon si ginyin moun ki mouri oubyen blese.

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We have long known that the islands of the Caribbean have been threatened with the event of earthqauakes. The threat having made itself remembered with the catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti only three years ago. But now, scientists are reminding us that we face another threat brought on by the number of tectonic plates shifting under our very feet, that of tsunamis.

A slightly exotic thought to the Caribbean mind, as tsunamis are often thought of as a far-away phenomena heard about on the news as it happened in some distant country. But historical accounts show that more than 3,500 people have been killed in tsunamis that struck the Caribbean between 1842 and 2010, which is higher than the 579 dead in tsunamis over the same time frame in the more traditionally tsunami-prone areas of the eastern Pacific.

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On Thursday, 16 January 2014, the response capabilities of Haiti in the event of major natural disaster was enhanced when the U.S. Ambassador Pamela White accompanied by other officials from U.S Embassy in a handover ceremony in the capital city, donated 12 transport vehicles and 12 watercrafts to Haitian Emergency Response and Civil Protection Agencies. The transport vehicles include six 20-foot, all-terrain cargo trucks, six all-terrain, large cabin pick-up trucks. The watercrafts delivered include twelve 18-foot search and rescue boats.

These trucks and boats were purchased under U.S. Southern Command's Humanitarian Assistance Program to extend Haiti's emergency response capabilities in life-threatening and natural disasters crises. The Haitian representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security accepted the keys of the vehicles on behalf of country's National Police firefighters. The trucks will be used by the Association of Haitian Volunteer Firefighter and these will be added to their existing fleet of disaster relief capabilities in six of the ten Emergency Units built under U.S assistance program for strengthening Haiti's disaster response system.

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The Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe on 10th January, just before the fourth anniversary of the massive earthquake in Haiti, has submitted a progress report on rebuilding of the country by his government. The Haitian Prime Minister while addressing a group of journalists on this occasion was accompanied by senior government officials. He described an outline of the country's rebuilding efforts on different areas like construction, housing, education and tourism since the devastating quake.

The Prime Minister through a visual representation demonstrated how the affected people living in settlements were rehabilitated in over 5,000 newly constructed homes. The journalists were also informed about the different aspects on country's economic progress like influx of over 70,000 tourists in last year, distribution of seed kits to the farmers and blooming of Haitian economy during the process of reconstruction. Following the talk, in a brief interview to the Associated Press, the Prime Minister Lamothe expressed his satisfaction over the whole process considering the enormous initial challenges and lack of resources.

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January 12 will mark the fourth anniversary of Haiti earthquake where an estimated three million people were affected. The Death toll was estimated between 220,000 and 316,000 and the Haitian government estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000commercial buildings were either collapsed or severely damaged. On Friday, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe delivered a progress report as we are approaching the fourth anniversary of the earthquake and estimated that the rebuilding effort has gone from very well to enormously well.

Is this your opinion as well? Do you think the rebuilding effort so far has gone not well at all, to some how well, very well or enormously well?

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Haiti has experienced a number of earthquakes. Here is a quick list in reverse order:

2010: Epicenter - 25km west of capital Port-au-Prince and magnitude of 7.0 Mw. Killed 316,000 people and injured 300,000.

1946 Dominican Republic: Earthquake of magnitude 8.0 in neighboring country shook Haiti very badly and triggered a tsunami killing 1,600 peole.

1842 Cap-Haitien: Magnitude of 8.1 killing 10,000 people in Cap-Haitien.

1783: A strong quake destroying Santiago church partially.

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After the 2010 earthquake that shook Haiti and brought it down to rubbles, $13 billion was pledge by philanthropists, international institutions and foreign governments. Yet another $9 + billion funds were collected in private and public donations for reconstruction of Haiti or humanitarian aid. That sounds impressive but unfortunately, other than serving the construction of Korean sweatshops and luxury hotels for the foreigners, the collected $22+ billion aid barely left any footprints in Haiti.

Thousands and thousands of Haitians still live in tents and hunger is playing is dirty game while clean water is luxury commodity that can be accessed by only a handful. It was found that 94% of the aid money collected eventually ended up with the civilian and military entities of the donors, which include international NGOs, private contractors and U.N. Agencies. The Haitian government received barely 1% of the relief funds accumulated.

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