Security concerns rise as aid trickles into Haiti
Posted Jan 16, 2010 08:23:08 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It has been days since a massive magnitude seven earthquake tore through the impoverished island nation of Haiti and the situation has improved little.
Aid agencies are having difficulty moving much needed supplies into Haiti’s overwhelmed airport and along it’s cracked and rubble strewn roads.
The United Nations stakes the death toll in Haiti at around 50,000 while the government of Haiti puts that number closer to 150,000. Any way you look at it the loss of life in Haiti is staggering.
People roam the streets, afraid to re-enter their earthquake damaged homes desperately searching for food, water and missing loved ones.
General Douglas Fraser, the head of U.S. Southern Command, says Haiti’s shattered infrastructure is making it difficult to distribute aid.
“We’re looking at every avenue possible to bring supplies as rapidly and as effectively as we can into the region,” he said. “It really is a monumental challenge.”
Some Haitians have turned to looting in the face of the catastrophe attacking aid workers, and each other to get even the most basic essentials of life.
