Wow seeing some of the pictures of the devistation is heartwreanching.
I was there in 94 for Operation Uphold Democracy.
It was the sadest place I've ever seen. It shows what can happen to a place when government runs amuk, and doesn't care for the people what so ever.



In December 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a charismatic Roman Catholic priest, won 67% of the vote in a presidential election that international observers deemed largely free and fair. Aristide took office in February 1991, but was overthrown by dissatisfied elements of the army and forced to leave the country in September of the same year. From October 1991 to June 1992, Joseph Nerette, as president, led an unconstitutional de facto regime and governed with a parliamentary majority and the armed forces. In June 1992, he resigned and Parliament approved Marc Bazin as prime minister of a de facto government with no replacement named for president. In June 1993, Bazin resigned and the UN imposed an oil and arms embargo, bringing the Haitian military to the negotiating table. President Aristide and Gen. Raoul Cedras, head of the Haitian armed forces, signed the UN-brokered Governors Island Agreement on July 3, 1993, establishing a 10-step process for the restoration of constitutional government and the return of President Aristide by October 30, 1993. The military derailed the process and the UN reimposed economic sanctions. The political and human rights climate continued to deteriorate as the military and the de facto government sanctioned repression, assassination, torture, and rape in open defiance of the international community's condemnation.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/uphold_democracy.htm

When I was there we did some minor work on roads but that was mainly so we could pass them.
Once Aristide was put back in power nothing was ever done to rebuild the infrastructure and help the people in any way.
You would think that over 15 years the UN could have done more to help the country.

This is so sad....
My thoughts & prayers go out.....

Msnbc video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34838824#34838276

Here is a good site for viewing world earth quakes:
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

Haiti earthquake: How to help
A list of charitable organizations active in the nation:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34835478/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/

im concerned about landslides into the city because the landscape in Haiti is vary steep and they long since cut down all the forests that held the hill sides in place at least since the end of the ice age. about ten years ago Haiti was hit by a hurracane and all the rain caused massive landslides nation wide. somewhere around 3000 people died in that disaster. this earthquake will be much worse because the people had no warring.

thats B.S.

This situation is so bad..I had to turn off the news coverage, I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out. My heart aches for these people..

My father was so touched by the coverage the last few days, he donated $1000 to


http://www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake/


This poor country needs every American's support, whether it be $5 or $50,ooo. Please, lets show a little humanity and true American patriotism and contribute something to this fund. There are over 308 million Americans in this country. No matter what we give, we can all make a difference in helping the people of Haiti. Donate, now, or soon, and we can all be better Americans for doing it.

American Red Cross
redcross.org
800-HELP-NOW
Donations can be made online or $10 donations can be made by texting "HAITI" to 90999.

CARE
https://my.care.org/
800-422-7385
Donations can be made online.

Catholic Relief Services
crs.org
877-HELP-CRS

World Vision
worldvision.org
888-56-CHILD

YELE Haiti Foundation
yele.org
212-352-0552
Haitian musician Wyclef Jean's foundation is accepting online donations.

AmeriCares
americares.org
800-486-4357

UNICEF
unicefusa.org
800-4-UNICEF

International Rescue Committee
theirc.org/crisis-haiti
877-REFUGEE
$5 donations can also be made by texting "HAITI" to 25383

Doctors Without Borders
doctorswithoutborders.org
888-392-0392

Partners in Health
pih.org
617-432-5298

CONCERN WORLDWIDE US
concernusa.org
104 E. 40th St., # 903
New York, NY 10016
212 557 8000
800 59-CONCERN
concernusa.org/HaitiAppeal

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
clintonbushhaitifund.org/

I don't understand how things work. I've been watching CNN practically 24/7 and here is what I have seen in regards to getting food & supplies to Haiti:
__I saw Clinton, Bush & Obama rubbing elbows and chewing the fat
at the White House.
__I saw ONE helicopter hover over some desperate Haitians and toss
out several bundles of something to them. The young, strong people
grabbed it and ran.
__I saw an American teacher pouring peroxide over people's wounds.

Why does it take so damn long to get help to these people??

Did anybody notice lately the 6.1 earthquake reported there? I wonder if they should be evacuating people. What if this continues.


P.S. The next person I meet that has the 'Why are we helping them?' attitude, I'm laying them out on the ground.

Lets not assume that because media hasnt shown it it hasnt happened.

A short history of Haiti

For tourists on cruise ships plying the Caribbean, Haiti appears a beguiling, mysterious place.The first independent black state, set up 200 years ago after a rebellion by African slaves against colonial France, the mountainous island is home to exotic birds and animals and mist-shrouded tropical forests.


But it is no paradise for the country's nine million people. Indeed, the devastating earthquake now bringing death and heartbreak is the latest in a long line of tragedies to befall a place dubbed the Island of the Damned.

No paradise: A houngan, or voodoo priest, lights a pipe in his temple in Haiti.Those with the misfortune to be born in Haiti - part of the island of Hispaniola, shared with the Dominican Republic - have long endured a living hell. With one in ten under-40s infected with HIV, and millions living in squalor and destitution, thousands try to flee each year to the U.S. by hanging on to anything that will float.


While hurricanes, floods and earthquakes have all devastated the landscape over the years, the biggest threat has come from humans.
Successive dictators have raped, murdered and even reputedly eaten their enemies.Described by one commentator as an 'international crime scene' rather than a country, Haiti became infamous around the world during the reign of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, a former doctor who murdered 100,000 people and formed a private band of killers called the Tonton Macoutes.


Wearing their trademark mirrored sunglasses and designer T-shirts, these murderers and cannibals were named after a terrifying bogeyman from Haitian mythology, who carried off naughty children into slavery.The Tonton Macoutes cut out the hearts, eyes and lungs of opponents with machetes, while Papa Doc, who stole almost a billion pounds in foreign aid, insisted that every television and radio programme had to be entirely in praise of his rule.

In power from 1957, Papa Doc made voodoo the country's official religion and claimed to be Baron Samedi, the religion's spirit of death.He often wore a top hat and tails while demanding the skulls of his dead victims were brought to his palace in Port-au-Prince.
He collected blood from prisoners who had been tortured and killed and sold it for $22 a pint to U.S. health groups.

He once ordered the death of all black dogs in the country after a political enemy was rumoured to have transformed into one.Haitian women participate in a voodoo ritual which includes animal sacrifice
Even after Papa Doc died in 1971 there was no respite for Haiti. Baby Doc, his deranged son, took over and continued the terror.

His wife spent £10,000 a month on flowers and always wore expensive furs indoors - with officials facing death if they forgot to turn on the air-conditioning.After 15 more years of bloodshed and oppression, the people finally rose up in 1986 and Baby Doc was forced to flee into exile in France.

But the torment did not end with the Duvaliers. After the country's first free elections in 1991, the new president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was forced to flee after a coup by corrupt military figures keen to control lucrative cocaine smuggling routes.In 1993, I watched as the might of the U.S. military was repelled by mobs armed with stones and clubs when American troops arrived to restore order.

Papa and Baby Doc were long gone, but gangs of Tonton Macoutes roamed the streets in pick-up trucks, randomly shooting anyone they passed. Aristide returned to power in 1994 with a bigger U.S. force - only to flee again after threats that he would be hacked to death and eaten. Since then, despite the presence of an ineffective UN peacekeeping force, gangs have continued to wreak havoc and murder throughout a country where new graves are guarded to prevent bodies being stolen for voodoo rituals.

The most infamous of these killers is the Cannibal Gang, a group of sadists once led by a former prisoner with political aspirations, who was himself shot in the eyes and had his heart cut out in 2004.
His gang lives on, murdering innocent people and allegedly eating their organs.For the people of Haiti, though, hope has always been a rare commodity.