Haiti: "Nothing on the ground, yet"

Another report -with pictures – from Ed, the missionary who is in Haiti, sharing in the suffering (thanks to his friend DeLynn, who passes it on to us…). Offered without comment:

Saturday 11:56 AM Back on line. I can’t believe it’s Saturday. This has all been one long day. We are getting more news now as the phone lines are opening up, some good news, some bad news. Some folks are still alive, some are not. Daphne just found out that her uncle did not die.

We are still having tremors but they seem to be getting smaller and fewer. Still they are enough to keep us all on edge. The population, us included, is still living outside. The main highway has thousands of people camping on it. There are tent and sheet cities everywhere.

They are starting to get the bodies out of the rubble here. Still there is an open mass grave at the cemetery and it has yet to be covered. The smell is unbearable. There are still bodies strewn around. Those alive are wandering, wailing, searching for family that they haven’t been able to contact. Hunger is setting in…. We’ve had several people come here and we’ve been giving out what we have.

Port au Prince, Photo by Ed

Reynold went to PAP yesterday. Bodies upon bodies piled in the streets. So many buildings in ruin. We lost a few people there. Enosh, Myrlande’s brother died in the collapse of their house. MANY, MANY people we know here in Ti Goave have lost their homes. We are just thankful to be alive at this point. Thankfully there hasn’t been any rain.

So far we are able to get basic foods and water. If help doesn’t get here soon, that will run out before long. We have had some helicopters fly over head but nothing on the ground yet. If anybody seeing this knows anybody coming in any official capacity, we are in the town of Petit Goave about 50 miles west of PAP.

Another thing happening now is that thousands of people are leaving PAP, many on foot, carrying what they can on their heads and they are heading out to relatives in the provinces trying to escape the Hell that PAP has become. Nearly everywhere there is a pile of garbage in PAP there are bodies as well. Words cannot begin to convey what is unfolding here.

The room Lora lived in with her family in PAP. Lora is still with us here. We know her mother and sisters got out, but don’t know where they are.

Port au Prince, by Ed

I know some of these pictures are hard to see but this is what it is and things are much worse than this. (Comment goes with second picture.)

I do want to say that I am sorry to be slow responding to e-mails right now, but I am getting a lot of e-mails, which is very encouraging, and it’s hard to respond to them all. I am truly reading them and appreciate them very much.

Also I am sharing here with the Haitian people about the vast army of people praying on our behalf. It is also VERY encouraging to them. We are not alone. We are not forgotten and Christ through us can reach out and comfort those in despair. These things bring out the best in us and tend to give us more of a heart like Jesus. COMPASSION.

Okay, I have one comment, and it is the same comment I keep making. Since the Haiti Prime Minister has temporarily signed over control of the airport to the US, we are the defacto (if pro tempore) leadership, there. Within that capacity, President Obama needs to send a pro tempore leader to Haiti, someone who can talk to these stricken people and reassure them. It has to be someone who has experience in crisis management, who knows how to lead but more importantly how to reassure, and project to the people both strength and calmness. It needs to be someone with international credibility, and someone who knows how to plan security and get infrastructures in place. To me, that sounds like Rudy Giuliani (or perhaps David Petreus, but his military standing may complicate things) and this is a crisis that demands that partisanship be put aside.

Related:
Claudia Rosett writes, the US sends help; the UN wants money.
Hot Air: Bush and Clinton Unite to Help: “a model that works.”
Instapundit: Rounds up coverage of that, plus, links to this piece, thank you, Glenn!
Kathryn Jean Lopez: also links. Thank you.

I’m back to work on another project, but Ed’s note, I thought, needed sharing. All the Haiti posts are here