Haiti: Still Too Soon for Deadly Earthquake's Casualty Toll

Now quake-shattered Haiti awaits aid as thousands are feared dead. Some sources place the number in the hundreds, but it is simply too early to know.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM) - The earthquake that rocked Haiti on 12 January is considered the deadliest this island nation has seen in two centuries, and it is still too early to have any real idea of what the casualty toll will be.

Russia Today Correspondent Anastasia Churkina says it is, "Mayhem and chaos."

Every third building is down, three million people are affected, and six hundred thousand are homeless.

Downed communication lines are keeping the tension very high as family members frantically try to reach one another.

One local source reported that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake about 14 miles from Port-au-Prince brought a hospital to the ground, leaving the people inside screaming for help.

The collapsed Hospital is in nearby Petionville, according to the Associated Press.

Another on-scene report indicated that buildings in another nearby neighborhood had tumbled into a ravine.

The event destroyed the Presidential Palace and killed many government officials.

The AP reports that most of the island's infrastructure was severely damaged.

Now quake-shattered Haiti awaits aid as thousands are feared dead.

Some sources place the number in the hundreds, but it is simply too early to know.

The Prime Minister of Haiti initially said that he feared an earthquake which devastated Port-au-Prince could have killed "well over 100,000" people.

Sadly, the tragedy was mocked by one religious network here in the U.S.

American religious media zealot Pat Robertson took the opportunity to say that the people of Haiti, devastated and suffering from the earthquake, were struck by God because they "made a deal with the devil" to rid them of a French occupational force centuries ago.

The first country to step up to the plate and offer aid and assistance was Venezuela.

The U.S. soon followed as a stunned world moved into action to help these people whose home is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Reactions from world governments and NGO's have been mostly good. As groups in the NW like local chapters of The American Red Cross and Medical Teams Intl. spring into action, other charity based volunteer and relief groups around the world are also mobilizing. Check here to read all of our stories about the earthquake in Haiti.

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com