LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) -  Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday has brought further death and misery to one of the world’s poorest countries.

Rescue Workers Head for Haiti

Currently, likely thousands of dead and injured are trapped in fallen buildings, among them the United Nations headquarters at Port-Au-Prince, from which 36 dead workers have been recovered.  An additional 100 are missing. Lacking mechanized help,  locals have been  forced to try and free people by hand.

So far, China, France, Spain and the United States have sent planes loaded with workers and supplies.  The FAA blocked landings for part of Thursday when the runways became overloaded with planes due to lack of jet fuel allowing them to depart.  The Red Cross estimates 3 million people of Haiti’s population of 9 million may need emergency relief.

Even as supplies arrive, “we don’t have enough handling equipment or people [to offload and distribute]“,  U.S. Air Force Col. Ben McMullin, part of the team handling traffic at the airport,  has said.

The Haitian  President’s official palace and home were damaged,  and the Parliament building is essentially rubble, as are other government ministries and departments.  President Rene Preval, in power since 2006, has barely been in  public since the quake.

One American has died, and at least 164 U.S. citizens have been evacuated.   Another 370 Americans await  flights out.  About 45,000 Americans reside in Haiti.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has a web site set up to help Haitians find  the missing.   Here is a link: http://www.icrc.org/web/doc/siterfl0.nsf/htmlall/familylinks-haiti-eng?opendocument.

Laura spent years as a Hollywood story analyst, did a big 180, and is now an entrepreneur focused on web marketing and analytics. She's also a mom of one.

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