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Earthquake hits Haiti

Missionary friends who have been there for 2 generations have not checked in. No word at all. Nine in all including 3 children.

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I'm sorry, but could you please leave your Liberal/Republican bickerings to another thread? This is about the Haïtians.
 
bookitty said:
There was one small scandal. Immediately after 9/11, the Red Cross got too many people volunteering to donate blood. Instead of turning them away, they discarded the extra. Had there been another attack right away, there may have been a blood shortage as people who had already given might not have donated again. I seem to remember that this was a local issue and only happened in New York. Not very good planning, but something that can be easily corrected.

There was also a ranting chain letter making the rounds after 9/11 accusing the Red Cross of keeping donations but it was nonsense.

Personally, I tend to give blood to the Red Cross and give my cash to Doctors Without Borders. http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

eta: I see Morrigan beat me to it.
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Yes, but you gave a contact!!!:)
 
It's my understanding that buildings there are reinforced against heavy rains which may have made them earthquake deathtraps. Because of the shattered nature of the country we'll probably never know the actual death toll.
 
Kopji said:
CNN is falling all over themselves in a frenzy. There is actually news that is not some stupid celebrity or politician behaving badly. Anderson Cooper is on the air almost boasting that he's going to board a late night flight and try and drive to the capital overland via the Dominican Republic.

Hi ho silver!
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The only reason CNN is covering this story as a serious news is because the country and our president is Black.

Compare the coverage to the tsunami several years ago. Wolf Blitzer was not begging for you to make contributions back then.
 
I've been watching the Jim Lehrer news hour this week and they have been airing a series on economic development in Haiti and its slow but hopeful recovery from a series of bad governments along with the work the UN is doing and a recent visit by Bill Clinton and business leaders.
This tragedy has happened just as this country has been picking itself up from its bootstraps and there was some hope.
@Metullus: I hope your friends are alright but just don't have access to communications. Let us know if you hear anything new.
 
I just knew some religious ****wad would claim some "divine retribution". I had already heard thanks to God for sparing some people.
 
It's like a warzone in what is left of Port Au Prince after dark.
CNN is reporting the 82nd Airborne Ready Regiment has gotten its orders, and is going to be going in as quickly as possible Security is going to have be established before any real heavy duty relief efforts can begin.
Apparently the UN Peace Keeping force was almost wiped out. At least a 100 missing.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
Man--this is really awful. They're saying the death toll might reach 100,000.
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Actually, there are speculations of hundreds of thousands dead. Port-au-Prince is (was) a city with a population of two million - many in abject poverty unfortunately. If people weren't killed by the earthquake and aftershocks outright it is assured that many will die from being buried, without water/food/medical care in the next weeks. There is no infrastructure left (of what little there was) in Haiti. The hospitals collapsed. People are digging survivors out by hand. False rumors of tsunami/floods are causing mass panic.

Yes, this is truly catastrophic. As someone else mentioned, we are at the mercy of natural phenomena. We should live with that little voice in the back of our minds 'all glory is fleeting' so that we can be more cognizant and nicer to each other (before the bad stuff happens!).
 
portlandatheist said:
This tragedy has happened just as this country has been picking itself up from its bootstraps and there was some hope.
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Ah, but that's because GOD HATES THEM for supporting Napoleon in 1809 or something.

By the way, did the Iranian clerics weight in on how this is "Allah's punishment" to the western world already?

Would be interesting to compare Buchanan and the Ayatollahs over this.
 
This disaster shows how we are still puny compared to natural phenomena. If someone exploded a nuclear bomb over Haiti, the damage would probably have been less.
 
alfaniner said:
I just knew some religious ****wad would claim some "divine retribution". I had already heard thanks to God for sparing some people.
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To be fair, people who thank God for their survival might be illogical, but on a totally different moral level than those who justify God for sending the disaster in the first place.
 
NBC is reporting estimates of 500,000 dead which would make this like the second or third deadliest non pandemic natural disaster ever.
 
Skeptic said:
This disaster shows how we are still puny compared to natural phenomena. If someone exploded a nuclear bomb over Haiti, the damage would probably have been less.
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Depends on the bomb but the damage is significantly less than some of the larger fussion weapons would do.
 
Some posts moved to AAH. Please stay on topic.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Professor Yaffle
 
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