The Periscope Post

As many as 50,000 people are feared dead as relief efforts make their halting way into earthquake-devastated Haiti.

As of yesterday, there were no signs of an organized rescue effort on the ground, in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. Pericles Jean-Baptiste, speaking for the Haitian Red Cross, told Reuters that his organization is completely overwhelmed: “There are too many people who need help … We lack equipment, we lack body bags.”

An earthquake measuring an astounding 7.0 on the Richter scale rocked Haiti’s densely packed capital city, Port-au-Prince, at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the worst earthquake the Caribbean has seen in 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was only 10 miles southwest of the city; tremors were felt as far away as the border of the Dominican Republic. While the initial quake destroyed buildings across the city, including the UN’s headquarters, a prison, and the presidential palace, aftershocks from the quake continued until 3 a.m. the next morning. As the buildings crumbled, so did Haiti’s already fragile infrastructure.

The New York Times described a horrific, apocalyptic scene: Bodies lying in the street, buried under mounds of rubble and broken concrete, while the cries of trapped victims in the wreckage of homes, hospitals, government buildings, are growing weaker. Aid attempts have been stymied by the total devastation of the nation, as well as the lack of resources already in place in the country, the paper reports.

In the absence of rescue equipment, the BBC reported, survivors are using their bare hands to lift rubble off of trapped victims. Supplies of fresh water, food, and medicine are dwindling and the risk of infection and illness among the survivors is growing.

Several US aid teams and a 50-person team from China have already landed in Haiti, the BBC reported this morning, and plane-loads of supplies, rescuers, and equipment are said to be en route from Canada, Latin American countries, France, and others.