This story doesn't reflect the recent USAID policy decision.
One Week Later: Haiti's Mass Graves, Orphans, Riots, and Refugees
ecofactory.com The first orphans of the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake arrived in Pennsylvania today on a military transport plane. International airports in Florida, particularly the state's largest in tourist-friendly Orlando, have been flooded with refugees as the US-controlled airports in Haiti began sending flight after flight into the United States. Despite the growing momentum behind relief efforts, tension is mounting in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as starvation, thirst, and unsanitary conditions threaten the lives of the quake survivors. CNN reports roaming mobs of hundreds of Haitian men who are breaking into unguarded and dilapidated stores and homes to steal everything from food to electronics. These super-riots are overwhelming the Haitian National Police force, who are only now beginning to work with US peacekeeping marines who landed in the capital last week. To complicate matters, all 4,000 high-security criminals held inside the country's National Penitentiary have escaped.
To evade logistical bottlenecks, US military transports have begun airdropping bottled water and food into Port-au-Prince. The nation's airport, which U.S. military officers said could handle about 100 flights per day if operated 24/7, is hurriedly servicing as many as 180 flights a day.
On the ground, the international relief efforts in Haiti are in full swing. Israel, Turkey, Russia, Argentina, and France all deployed field hospitals in Haiti in an effort to treat the wounded and prevent infection. A US hospital ship is expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince sometime this week. Rescuers have not given up hope, as more than 75 survivors were pulled from the rubble on Monday, nearly a week after the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake, whose estimated death toll has climbed past 100,000. Reporters in the country say that the streets of Port-au-Prince reeks of the rotting dead, who are continually being collected by police forces and deposited into mass graves.
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