Haiti rocked by devastating 7.0 earthquake

redrumloa

redrumloa

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The people of Haiti cannot catch a break, with this being the worse event yet.

Haiti president describes `unimaginable' catastrophe after earthquake
http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1422279.html

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haitian President René Préval issued an urgent appeal for his earthquake-shattered nation Wednesday, saying he had been stepping over dead bodies and hearing the cries of those trapped under the rubble of the national Parliament

The president, in his first interview since the earthquake, said the country was destroyed and he believed there were thousands of people dead but was reluctant to provide a number.

"We have to do an evaluation," Préval said, describing the scene as "unimaginable."
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:(
 
Death Toll Feared to Hit Hundred Thousand in Haiti Following Devastating Earthquake

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory ... 874&cat=11

The death toll resulting from Haiti’s worst earthquake in more than 200 years could top one-hundred thousand as rescue efforts continue to be slowed by a lack of effective machinery to remove debris.



Hospitals, offices, stores, schools and government buildings collapsed in the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday shortly before 6:00 p.m. as a 7.0-magniture quake rocked the impoverished nation. With no real building code in effect countless structures toppled as the ground beneath them shook violently.



As buildings collapsed tens of thousands of people were left trapped under the debris, leaving search crews to dig with their bare hands as the country lacks proper machinery to remove large slabs of concrete.
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Sad beyond words... If you can afford to donate something($5, $10 etc), please do.

http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearth ... 0donations
 
You've heard Pat Robertson's theory, right? That it's because the Haitians made a pact with the devil?

Which raises several questions such as, who signed this pact on behalf of all Haitians and under what authority or did every single Haitian sign on?

If you have a pact with the devil to look out for and he lets an earthquake happen, does that nullify the pact?

What if the devil says he had no control over it as it was an "Act of God"?

Anyway, Pat was so far out on a limb even Fox couldn't follow him there.
 
Pat Robertson can go to hell, which he probably will.

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. - Romans 2:1

Pat Robertson is a charlatan and a hypocrite who gets entirely too much air time.
 
redrumloa said:
Pat Robertson can go to hell, which he probably will.
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That's about the best argument for an afterlife that I've ever heard.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
redrumloa said:
Pat Robertson can go to hell, which he probably will.
Click to expand...

That's about the best argument for an afterlife that I've ever heard.
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And if there isn't, there will be plenty of people lining up to literally piss on his grave.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
You've heard Pat Robertson's theory, right? That it's because the Haitians made a pact with the devil?

Which raises several questions such as, who signed this pact on behalf of all Haitians and under what authority or did every single Haitian sign on?

If you have a pact with the devil to look out for and he lets an earthquake happen, does that nullify the pact?

What if the devil says he had no control over it as it was an "Act of God"?

Anyway, Pat was so far out on a limb even Fox couldn't follow him there.
Click to expand...
yeah, this asshole and falwell made similar douchebag comments a week after 9-11

falwell is already in hell

thank the gods :mrgreen:
 
It looks like a lot of help is going to be pouring in. Obama's made promises, a bunch of other nations are there too. This should go some way to overhauling the image of the US as a benevolent power despite escalating wars.

The logistics could be difficult - putting boots on the ground isn't necessarily that useful as there is no lack of man-power in Haiti - the place is full of people with nothing to do right now but dig through the wreckage. What they need is food and medical supplies and a small number of specialists (doctors in particular) to coordinate things.

The dead in the rubble are going to start decomposing and attracting pests and the injured are going to start succumbing to infections and people are going to start getting sick from bad water or no water etc and sanitation is going to get nasty, presumably.

Obama is definitely trying to look more responsive than Bush was during Katrina, but it will probably open old wounds for those who are still sitting in formaldehyde filled FEMA trailers all these years on wondering when things are going to get fixed.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
It looks like a lot of help is going to be pouring in. Obama's made promises, a bunch of other nations are there too. This should go some way to overhauling the image of the US as a benevolent power despite escalating wars.
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Yes, but there is still risk here. If the situation is desperate enough the people could riot and the marines would need to keep the peace. If that indeed happens we could see isolated incidents that make them look not so nice. But ya, overall Obama plans a big rescue. I just hope it'll be enough.
 
Glaucus said:
Yes, but there is still risk here. If the situation is desperate enough the people could riot and the marines would need to keep the peace. If that indeed happens we could see isolated incidents that make them look not so nice. But ya, overall Obama plans a big rescue. I just hope it'll be enough.
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Rioting isn't the big problem, roaving gangs might be. Before this earthquake the country had major problems with these gangs, who are fairly heavily armed.
 
redrumloa said:
Rioting isn't the big problem, roaving gangs might be. Before this earthquake the country had major problems with these gangs, who are fairly heavily armed.
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A very good point. If they have enough time to become the local security provider they could end up seriously competing with government becoming serious political infrastructure rather than a nuisance.

Also, between the Aristide loyalists who blame the US for his ouster and the anti-Aristide-ists who think he was just a US patsy anyway, this might be difficult territory for the US to work in.
 
On the subject of Pat Robertson if you fancy a youtube harangue for your amusement.

and back to Haiti:

boston.com has a couple of galleries of photos from yesterday and today which give a glimpse into the magnitude of the hurt these people are in.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
You've heard Pat Robertson's theory, right? That it's because the Haitians made a pact with the devil?

Which raises several questions such as, who signed this pact on behalf of all Haitians and under what authority or did every single Haitian sign on?

If you have a pact with the devil to look out for and he lets an earthquake happen, does that nullify the pact?What if the devil says he had no control over it as it was an "Act of God"?.
Click to expand...

Robertson bases his comments on these events in Haiti's history.

In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is an iron pig statue. It commemorates the ritual of Voodoo conducted by Boukman on August 14, 1791.

A pig on that day was ritually killed. The escaped slaves joined in drinking its still-warm blood as part of a pact. Boukman led his followers in vowing that they and their children would serve the pagan gods of the island, including the devil, for exactly 200 years in exchange for freedom from the French. Seven days later the slaves of Haiti rose in rebellion. On January 1, 1804 France acknowledged the independence of Haiti. In April 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide declared voodoo an officially recognized religion in Haiti.

Haitian Ambassador's reply to Robertson

If you’re trying to divine, the divine will, by tracing a cause-and-effect between certain historical events, how do you know which events to select?

Thoughtful reply from the Ambassador.
 
metalman said:
Robertson bases his comments on these events in Haiti's history.

In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is an iron pig statue. It commemorates the ritual of Voodoo conducted by Boukman on August 14, 1791.
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Robertson bases his comments on folklore.

We have a statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Big Blue Ox. It however doesn't mean the Babe's footprints caused the 10,000 lakes. That'd be folklore. Same with this story.
 
faethor said:
metalman said:
Robertson bases his comments on these events in Haiti's history.

In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is an iron pig statue. It commemorates the ritual of Voodoo conducted by Boukman on August 14, 1791.
Click to expand...
Robertson bases his comments on folklore.

We have a statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Big Blue Ox. It however doesn't mean the Babe's footprints caused the 10,000 lakes. That'd be folklore. Same with this story.
Click to expand...

Paul Bunyon is considered a folklore tall tale, but to Hatian's the Voodoo pact with the devil is historical, it's their Declaration of Independence.

The History of Haiti
According to accounts of the rebellion that have been told through the years, François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture helped plot the uprising. Among the rebellion's leaders were Boukman, a maroon and voodoo houngan (priest); Georges Biassou, who later made Toussaint his aide; Jean-François, who subsequently commanded forces, along with Biassou and Toussaint, under the Spanish flag; and Jeannot, the bloodthirstiest of them all. These leaders sealed their compact with a voodoo ceremony conducted by Boukman in the Bois Cayman (Alligator Woods) in early August 1791. On August 22, a little more than a week after the ceremony, the uprising of their black followers began.
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