As of this moment, we have no information from Haiti that isn’t available from other sources. However, looking at the collective and rather random information coming from Haiti, this appears to be a very devastating event. One witness said an eight story building behind the Hotel Oloffson, the most famous hotel in Haiti, had collapsed. It is, or was, the Castel Haiti, an eight story building. A passerby in front of the Oloffson was reportedly killed by a falling wall.

There is no way to know till morning just how bad it is, but, even then, it probably will take a couple of days to assess the full damage. Haiti is a country that rides on the desperate edge of poverty in the best of times. Four successive hurricanes hit the island in 2008, causing houses to wash away, massive flooding and death. There is virtually nothing in Haiti that would allow the country itself to respond to a disaster of this apparent magnitude, even if some of the medical facilities were still standing (and we don’t know if any are at this point).

Haiti is going to need a huge response and the United States is the closest developed nation from which aid can come. This could be, and should be, a world wide effort, but the most immediate help will have to come from the US, with the United Nations acting as well.

The TerryReport will be monitoring the situation and will post here if we develop information, or perspective, not widely available elsewhere. At this moment, it looks very bad for Haiti with the possibility of thousands of deaths and many more injuries. We won’t get a fuller picture until daylight allows it.

Doug Terry, 1.12.10

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AFTERMATH OF EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI

DEATH TOLL IN THE THOUSANDS?