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January 20 Update

Twelve days after a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, survivors were still being pulled from the rubble. Volunteers from many countries continued to work long, exhausting hours searching for survivors, and distributing food, water, and medical help. On January 20, a strong aftershock shook the capital of Port-au-Prince. The quake, which lasted more than a minute, scared people but did little additional damage.

The United States has sent more than 10,000 troops to Haiti. Troops are airlifting food and water to starving people in Port-au-Prince and its surrounding towns. With the permission of the Haitian government, the U.S. Air Force has taken control of Haiti's international airport. Under its management, more relief planes are now able to land each day.

Many Haitians welcomed the arrival of U.S. troops, because the Haitian government has been unable to do much for its suffering people. As of January 20, President René Préval had yet to address his nation. Some Haitians, however, worried that the U.S. troops might signal an invasion and occupation of its country.

But the U.S. troops are not the only ones there. The United Nations (U.N.) has 9,000 troops in Haiti, with some 3,500 more police officers and peacekeeping troops expected soon. Their job will be to maintain order and to guard deliveries.

Counting the Dead

Haiti Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that at least 72,000 bodies had been buried so far. But that figure is far from complete. The Pan American Health Organization estimates 200,000 are dead. The U.S. State Department says at least 28 of those are Americans.

Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates that some 3 million people need food, water, shelter, and medical attention. Millions of people are homeless, living in the streets or in tents made of bed sheets propped up with sticks.

January 13 Report

Thousands in Haiti are feared dead after an earthquake hit January 12. The quake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, destroyed most of the country's capital city of Port-au-Prince. It is the country's worst quake in more than 200 years.

Haitian President René Préval said the destruction was unimaginable. "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them," he said.

"All of the hospitals are packed with people," he added. "It is a catastrophe."

U.S. President Barack Obama promised that the United States would send help quickly. Search and rescue teams from Florida, Virginia, and California were due to arrive within hours. Nations around the world are also sending aid.

"The reports and images that we've seen of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching," Obama said Wednesday in a news conference from the White House. "For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible."

A Poor Country With a Brutal History

Haiti is a country on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, about 50 miles east of Cuba. Haiti makes up the western part of the island; the Dominican Republic occupies the eastern part. Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Deforestation in the 20th century of its once-lush forests destroyed much of the natural environment there. Haitians are mostly people of African descent, and speak French or Haitian Creole.

Christopher Columbus landed in what would become Haiti in 1492 and established a European settlement there. At the time, the island of Hispaniola was home to the Taino Indians, but Columbus claimed the island for Spain. As Europeans arrived, they brought with them diseases that the native peoples had no immunity to, and the native population dropped off as many Taino died. Others were enslaved.

Over the centuries, Haiti was a Spanish colony and then a French one. For a time, Port-au-Prince was a haven for pirates. Europeans broug

ht slaves from Africa to work in the coffee, sugar, and indigo plantations. Most Haitians can trace their ancestry to those Africans. In 1791, escaped slaves started a revolution ag

ainst the French and on 1804, the independent nation of Haiti was proclaimed.

Since then, however, the country has suffered great political turmoil. During the mid-20th century, a series of brutal dictators ruled the country and terrorized the people.

Earthquakes

The earthquake that ruined much of Port-au-Prince occurred because the area sits atop a major fault line deep in the Earth's crust. Huge layers of that crust, called plates, move slowly, slipping, sliding, and occasionally bumping against each other. Where two plates hit or overlap is called a fault line.

"The island of Hispaniola ... lies between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, which are shearing, crushing, grinding the island," says geologist Mike Blanpeid of the U.S. Geological Survey. "As that happens, earthquakes pop off."

The collisions between the massive plates can cause the Earth's crust to buckle, crack, shake, and quake. When earthquakes occur in areas where great numbers of people live in poorly constructed buildings or shacks, such as Port-au-Prince, the destruction is immense.

Dangerous Aftermath

The United States and many other nations, as well as international charitable organizations, are rushing to help Haiti. The job will be extremely difficult and dangerous. The area is experiencing aftershocks, which are rumblings that commonly occur after an earthquake. Aftershocks can cause already damaged buildings to fall down, or they can trigger landslides.

In addition, aid groups are having difficulty even getting to the city, as roads are impassable, electricity is off, and communications networks are down. The most immediate concern is finding survivors stuck in the rubble and clearing the area of dead bodies. But it is also crucial to get food, water, medical attention, and shelter to the thousands of people who are now homeless. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says that helping Haiti rebuild will be a "long-term effort."

"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken," Obama said. "You will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you."

You Can Help

• Aid organizations stress that the best way to help is to donate money to a trusted charity group.
• The U.S. State Department set up a program in which individuals with U.S. cell phones can donate $10 to the Red Cross. Learn more here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/.
• You can also find a list of responsible charities working in Haiti here http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopics/Haiti.html.

Vocabulary

Richter scale—a mathematical scale of 1-10 that rates the magnitude, or strength and size, of an earthquake.
catastrophe—disaster
incomprehensible—beyond understanding
lush—rich green with trees and plants
immunity—the body's ability to resist a particular disease
indigo—plants which produce a blue dye
turmoil—disorder, chaos
crucial—of extreme importance
forsaken—left alone, abandoned