UN hopes more survivors will be found in Haiti
Posted Jan 18, 2010 05:16:01 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The UN is holding out hope more survivors of last Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti will be found today.
The death toll from the magnitude-7.0 quake may still be weeks away, but the Pan American Health Organization estimates between 50-100-thousand people have died.
Rescuers continue to search the ruins of collapsed buildings and the UN believes there could be more people trapped, but alive inside.
Among the survivors found Sunday were a 16-year-old Dominican girl in the ruins of a small hotel, and two people pulled alive from a collapsed supermarket.
So far, eight Canadians are confirmed dead, with more than 11-hundred others still unaccounted for. About 600 also have been flown back to Canada.
A group of 17 high school students from British Columbia, along with their chaperones and an infant are due to arrive in Montreal this morning.
The Canadian military is sending more aid to the area today. Warships HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax are expected to arrive loaded with relief supplies. Another 1,000 Canadian soldiers will leave for Haiti this week to help the 200 troops already there providing relief and security.
Meantime, there is growing frustration that life-saving aid isn’t getting to the earthquake victims fast enough.
Millions of Haitians remain without food, water or medical supplies and many organizations are blaming the U.S. military for skewing priorities and for a supply bottleneck at the city’s airport which is under its control.
A U.S. general leading relief efforts says there must be a safe environment to deliver aid — and the streets of Port-au-Prince are not always secure.
Police have been battling stone-throwing looters and bands of machete-wielding young men who are roaming the streets.
