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Huge earthquake in Haiti

Shit. looks bad.

A 7.0-magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean – rocked Port-au-Prince last night, collapsing a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines.

Witnesses reported seeing bodies in the rubble and clouds of dust shrouding the city, but with telephone communications cut the extent of damage was not immediately clear.

"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing, it's total chaos," said Joseph Guyler Delva, a Reuters reporter. "I saw people under the rubble, and people killed. People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions."

Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN from Washington: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."

The quake, which was shallow, with a depth of just 6.2 miles, struck at 4.53pm local time with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted around a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The last major temblor to hit the capital was a magnitude 6.7 in 1984.

The size and proximity to heavily populated slum areas made Tom Jordan, a quake specialist at the University of Southern California, fear the worst. "It's going to be a real killer."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/13/tsunami-alert-haiti-earthquake-disaster
 
Been watching reports coming in on Sky (who always seem a step ahead of the beeb with these kind of events)

It looks and sounds horrific. I think it's just turning dark over there so must be absolutely terrifying. :(
 
The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, nearly 2 million live near the epicentre in shanty-town conditions. There's gonna be a pretty grim body-count once proper reports filter through. Atm most communication is down.

:(
 
It's terrible news :( - as you say, the poorest country in the west, full of civil war strife and not exactly #1 on the US's friends list. I really feel for the poor people.
 
US Navy ships have been scrambled already, according to reports.

As one of their nearest neighbours, let's hope Cuba can do there bit to help too.
 
There's a guy giving a report on Sky News via the internet, and he's just saying "can people stop adding me as a friend on facebook please, I don't want to be your friend" :D I almost lol'd and wtf'd, but he then went on to qualify it by saying that he's received over 5000 friend requests from people trying to find out about relatives. :(
 
Sesquipedalian said:
Gosh,was just about to moan about more snow.
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Yup, been moaning all night about how the thaw has made the ice round here mega-slippy and then I read this and I feel ...well, I just hope it isn't anywhere near as bad is it is sounding.

Horrible, horrible news.
 
The Boy said:
Yup, been moaning all night about how the thaw has made the ice round here mega-slippy and then I read this and I feel ...well, I just hope it isn't anywhere near as bad is it is sounding.

Horrible, horrible news.
Click to expand...

It's real bad out there, most communications are down and the real reports are only just filtering through. :(
 
This is fucking awful. Haiti is a fucked country to start with and its people have now lost what little they had. I can't believe the pictures i'm seeing on the tv - its unrecognisable.
 
I have, as yet, not seen this on the news so I only have the BBC report to give me an idea of the scale of this.
It looks bloody terrible and I can only hope the dead and injured are in far lower numbers than are usually expected with this sort of thing. :(
 
I can't see this getting any better, the pictures on the news are terrible. :(

They've had loads of quite large aftershocks too, which, whilst normal, will make rescue efforts very dangerous. :(
 
Woah. That's a nasty quake, so close to the city. The BBC headline says 'hundreds' dead. I fear it will be many thousands :(
 
I'm watching this on Al Jazeera as I type.
After a couple of hurricanes and political/gang violence, they have this bugger to put up with.
Looks like there are going to be a lot of grieving families.
Sounds like a lot of US troops are close by so they may be able to move swiftly and save lives.
 
For those who may have a few pound spare:

Yéle Haiti is a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment. Yéle’s community service programs include food distribution and mobilizing emergency relief. Grammy-Award winning musician, humanitarian and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti in 2005.
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http://www.yele.org/

They currently are running a donation campaign via texts in the USA that seems to be spreading thankfully....
 
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