Haiti Disaster

Radio1Haiti presenter Carel Pedré, 29, has broadcast an account of the devastating earthquake that rocked the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday leaving tens of thousands dead: “I was in my car driving to work on Tuesday evening and got stuck in traffic. That’s when I felt the car shaking. I thought another car had driven into me. I looked up and saw the earth shaking and the buildings trembling. When it was over, I saw that buildings had collapsed. I tried to carry on to the radio station, but had to leave the car. It was only then that I realised just how enormous the disaster that had befallen us. At every step there were injured people, people calling out for help, people who didn’t know what to do next, people who couldn’t find their loved ones, people who had just escaped from collapsed buildings but who had family still trapped inside. I saw so many left without a roof over their heads, food or water. Hundreds were just standing helplessly in front of collapsed buildings in the hope of finding family members. There is no way of getting information to the people about the situation. There is no radio station operating in Haiti. There’s no army, no police, no fire brigade, no public authorities in the street. They are not even trying to communicate with people.”