Quaking Haiti

A powerful earthquake struck Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince last night causing mass destruction and fears of a huge death toll in one of the Caribbean’s poorest countries. “The dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished Caribbean country. Journalists based in Port-au-Prince said the damage from the quake – the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years – was staggering even in a country accustomed to tragedy and disaster. Thousands of people were feared dead and tens of thousands homeless. Many gravely injured people sat in the streets, pleading for doctors. With almost no emergency services to speak of, the survivors had few other options. Louis-Gerard Gilles, a doctor and former senator, who went to help survivors, said the hospitals could not handle all the victims.”