Summary: Surviviors Process as They Rebuild Lives

From Denny: More than two weeks after the earthquake, with stiff competition for basic resources of food, water and shelter, the people began to fan out into the countryside, stressing their resources.

That's what happened in my town in south Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. There was a mass exodus from there and they came in like locusts into Baton Rouge, emptying the grocery stores, clogging the roads with bumper to bumper traffic, increasing the traffic accidents 500% and then they emptied our gas stations.

They left the locals with absolutely nothing for weeks while we waited to be resupplied. Which is why I always keep up to a month's supply of food pantry items in case of this very kind of emergency. It isn't what's going on in your town you have to worry about; it's what's going on in a larger metro area that may trigger a mass exodus coming your way. The countryside and smaller towns in Haiti are now receiving their desperate hungry locusts devouring what meager resources they had.

Two weeks after the earthquake:

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Day 12:

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Still a dearth of accurate or any information available to survivors or others outside Haiti:

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It took three weeks after the earthquake before my cousin, who was visiting Haiti to donate her time as a music teacher, was finally able to get out a message to family and friends that she was fine. She is living in one of those tent cities somewhere around Port-au-Prince where resources are limited. She was lucky to only experience bruises and minor lacerations as she fled the music school where she was giving a concert with the kids. Since she has recovered from some heavy leg bruises and a concussion she has pitched in to help the local relief efforts.


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Mission of Hope Run by American in Haiti

From Denny: A few years before the disaster struck in Haiti, American Brad Johnson decided to move there and help the people in his parents' ongoing Christian mission to Haiti. He was in a unique position to help after the earthquake as he already had an established school, an orphanage and a medical clinic operating, along with plenty of supplies. His mission is just outside of Port-au-Prince. He is busy distributing supplies to survivors and has been within hours of when the disaster hit.

Here is the website: Mission of Hope in Haiti

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Ongoing Difficulty Getting Aid Everywhere in Haiti

From Denny: This is one of the few news clips I've found on how the people are faring on the other side of Haiti away from the capitol of Port-au-Prince. The capitol has the largest concentration of the population, about 3 million of the 9 million total for the country.

What relief workers are finding is that the roads are so screwed up they cannot travel far without requiring earth moving equipment to pick up the rubble, clearing the roads. Then they run into the issue of roads erupted from the fault line, creating sliced parts of the road up in the air about 10 feet, with no way to get around it. The main port in Port-au-Prince is so damaged only half of it is available and safe for use. Makes me wonder if Jacmel's port is destroyed beyond use. Still no word about their port's availability.

Jacmel is the cultural town of 40,000 where the festivals are held. It also draws artists, budding film makers and musicians like my music teacher and classical trumpeter cousin, Jeanne Pocius, who was donating her time there when the earthquake struck. Only word we have about her is hearsay from other musicians who claim she survived the quake. She has yet to contact her family or a U.S. agency since she lost her cell phone.

My question is: Is the government or any agency assessing who survived in various areas in Haiti? What is the U. S. State Department doing to locate American citizens? Calling the official number news networks keep flashing is useless as they drop your call from excessive call volume. There is no hope of getting through to someone as they don't allow you to stay on the line.

This is one of only two news clips about the state of Jacmel, Haiti, and the level of destruction there. Fortunately, it is not as large a city, smaller population and the buildings look to be only up to two stories high, making it a better chance of surviving a collapsing building:



What's with the holdup on getting relief to people outside of the airport in Port-au-Prince?

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Day to day life after the earthquake trying to survive:




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Frustration Mounts as We See What Really Happens in Haiti Rescue Efforts

From Denny: Up at dawn and because of government red tape with the United Nations, this German rescue team was not able to begin work in this city outside the capitol until after noon. They were sent to a city too late to help. Frustrated, the rescuers left wondering why they were sent here when they could be of more use elsewhere. Precious time was wasted and who knows how many more died waiting rescue.



Here's a tough example of what rescuers face as they try to retrieve crushed survivors. This is Dr. Marc Grossman speaking from the USAR South Florida Task Force 2:

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Hillary Clinton in Haiti, Relief Helicopters Dropping Supplies to Needy

From Denny: The Obama administration held off sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Haiti initially so as not to take away from Haiti any of the news cycle. They did not want the media focused upon "the Americans" visiting instead of focused upon what the Haitian people needed. Finally, an Oval Office resident with some decency, sensitivity and class.

The earthquake erupted in Haiti late Tuesday afternoon. Secretary Clinton scheduled her visit for Saturday as by then she would have more details to relate to the Haitian government of what America will be doing in their relief efforts. She also negotiated permission from the Haitian government to allow our military to take temporary control of the airport in order to fully staff and properly facilitate faster flights in and out to which the Prime Minister agreed.

The world beat a path to Haiti's door to help but without anyone to help them land or off load desperately needed medical supplies, food and water in an efficient manner. Secretary Clinton was successful in receiving permission for a few days to be negotiated again as needed.

"America is here to help," she says.


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Rescue efforts turn to the next phase of recovery efforts:


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Take a look at this brief clip to get an idea of the logistics of how difficult it is to get supplies directly to the people:



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