Haiti Death Toll could Be 200,000; Among Ten Worst Earthquakes In History

Most of Port-au-Prince is reduced to rubble.  Entire towns have slid down hillsides.

Life in the wrecked city is concentrated in brightly colored patchwork spots where tens of thousands have set up makeshift camps in open spaces as aftershocks frighten people away from the buildings that are still standing.

From above, the cathedral looks like it has been stepped on. The gleaming white presidential palace looks like an iced wedding cake that has been dropped on the floor. Multistory car parks and supermarkets have been leveled like concertinas.

Cinder block houses are so crumpled it seems they must have been built of clay.

Health Minister Alex Larsen told Reuters on Friday that three-quarters of Port-au-Prince will have to be rebuilt. Even in a country less miserably poor and ill-equipped than Haiti, it’s hard to see where you would even start.

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The government’s estimated death toll of up to 200,000 people would put Tuesday’s earthquake among the 10 worst in recorded history, and it has happened in one of the poorest and volatile countries in the world.

Looting and fighting for food is more commonplace as there is no sign of a plan for recovery and no government control.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.