Haiti Earthquake Update: Day Five
This is Day Five of CBSNews.com's earthquake coverage. For our earlier minute-by-minute coverage, see Day Four, Day Three and Day Two. And for a broader overview, see our full coverage.All times are Eastern Standard Time.
4:45 p.m. ET: Government sources confirmed to CBS News the following details:
HUMANITARIAN/SECURITY/INFRASTRUCTURE
An estimated 3,000 escaped prisoners are armed with some initial fighting for food and water, but no reports of widespread violence.
U.S. Naval helicopter support is available and airport space was identified in the Dominican Republic for off-loading supplies.
A U.S. communications team arrived January 16 in Haiti and set up basic operations including computers, satellite phones, a generator, and e-mail for consular operations. E-mail is working, but remains slow.
Comcel Haiti reports 90 of their 300 cell towers are out of service. NCC reports communication assets are being deployed to support initial military and humanitarian relief operations. There are reports of telephone congestion both inbound and outbound in Haiti. "Telecom without Borders" team arrived in Port-au-Prince on a special charter with equipment allowing for the creation of Wi-Fi access.
VIP TRAVEL
Spanish Vice President Maria Teresa de la Vega Fernandez will travel to Haiti via the Dominican Republic January 16, carrying 11 tons of emergency humanitarian aid. VP de la Vega Fernandez has requested a joint appearance with the Secretary to demonstrate joint international efforts.
The Spanish Prime Minister and Development Minister plan to fly to Haiti from the Dominican Republic January 17. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will travel to Haiti January 17.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
A total of 26 SAR teams are deployed on the ground. UNDAC does not require additional teams and they are turning down offers for additional teams. A Taiwanese SAR team departed January 16 for Haiti overland from the Dominican Republic, according to the Taiwan Coordination Desk. The Taiwan Red Cross team will arrive in the Dominican Republic the evening of January 16. Other countries have deployed 260 SAR personnel on 8 teams to Haiti.
COMMODITY FLOW
Priorities for air movement are medical supplies (50 percent), food and water (20 percent), and personnel (30 percent). Embassy Port-au-Prince is considering adjustments to the priorities and may give greater emphasis to water. DoD has 50 flights scheduled to arrive in Haiti January 16.
Three water sanitation units were delivered and one is operational (with the Argentine contingent at the hospital). Two more water sanitation units will arrive January 16, bringing the capacity to 300,000 liters per day. NGOs and other organizations are bringing water from the Dominican Republic.
Embassy Port-au-Prince reports the roads in northern Haiti have suffered little damage, while roads to the south are damaged and need repairs. Port assessments have been partially completed. Initial assessments indicate the repairs will not be completed in the short-term.
EVACUATIONS
U.S. military teams expanded the outer perimeter of the airport, making room for a fenced passenger processing area, allowing for faster processing of American citizen passengers.
An evacuation plan for 150 orphans to Pittsburgh is underway from Port-au-Prince.
Department of Defense evacuated 900 American citizens January 16 with the majority taken to Homestead and McGuire AFBs. Military flights and Coast Guard shuttles have the capacity to move 1,700 people January 16.
The pace of American citizens arriving at Embassy Port-au-Prince has decreased. Over 300 are at the airport, en-route to the Embassy, and at the Embassy. Post expects additional American citizens to arrive throughout the day.
INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION/REQUESTS
At the request of the Government of Haiti and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United States established new flow management procedures for all fixed wing flights into Haiti. The procedures were published and are expected to improve the pace of air and ground aviation operations, including refueling.
Turkey committed 10 tons of humanitarian aid including medicine, medical equipment, tents, blankets, and food.
UNHCR has an existing contingency plan with International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the Dominican Republic and will have a team of three arriving in the Dominican Republic January 19 to work on broader management issues at the request of the UN Resident Coordinator in the Dominican Republic. UNHCR will work with IOM to adjust planning as necessary. UNHCR is sending three staff members to Haiti to help OHCHR on protection issues.
DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. GOVERNMENT ASSETS
Fifteen Diplomatic Security agents will join 28 other agents already positioned in Haiti January 17 from the Dominican Republic. The agents will focus on escorting fuel and supply convoys. USNS Comfort departed Baltimore with a crew of 600 and will arrive in Haiti on January 20.
Latest Death Toll: Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies, not including those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press. He said a final toll of 100,000 dead would "seem to be the minimum."
4:27 p.m. ET: The Associated Press reports that Senegal's president is offering voluntary repatriation and land to any Haitians that want to come to the African nation.
4:20 p.m. ET: The U.S. Navy is sending divers and underwater construction personnel to try and get Haiti's wrecked seaport operational again, The Associated Press reports.
The salvage ship Grasp is en route to Port-au-Prince to assess damage done to piers and other port facilities, Rear Adm. Victor G. Guillory told the news wire service Saturday. Guillory is the Navy's commander for U.S. Southern Command. A functional port would make distributing aid supplies easier.
4:03 p.m. ET: A White House adviser tells The Associated Press that about 600,000 daily rations are expected to be at Haiti's airport by this evening. The rations will be distributed by the World Food Program.
3:40 p.m. ET: The Daily Beast reports that former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who was exiled to France in 1986, called on Swiss authorities late Friday to transfer all the money from the foundation named for his late mother to the American Red Cross for relief efforts.
The online newspaper doubts that Duvalier has the authority to control where the foundation's money is spent.
(At left, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Haiti)
2:58 p.m. ET: Social Order Breakdown Watch: A photographer witnessed a mob of looters turn violent when 1,000 people were fighting for goods in a central commercial street, the Reuters news agency reports.
T-shirts, bags, toys and other items were being looted from destroyed houses and shops by men battling with hammers, ice-picks, knives and stones, Reuters photographer Carlos Barria told the news agency. Police were in the area earlier but were nowhere to be seen when the fighting began.
2:45 p.m. ET: In an appearance in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, Vice President Joe Biden said the United States will provide a long-term commitment to rebuilding Haiti.
"This will still be on our radar screen long after it's off the crawler at CNN," Biden said at the Little Haiti Cultural Center with Patrick Gaspard, a Haitian-American senior administration official, sitting to his right and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on his left, according to a pool report.
During the 35-minute meeting, Biden was surrounded by 30 elected officials and Haitian-American leaders.
"Let me be clear: We are not just searching for Americans,'' Biden said. "We are searching for human beings. We are searching for anyone we can hear a cry from … The most important thing for people in need to know is that help is coming."
1:45 p.m.: The United Nations has categorized the Haitian earthquake as the worst disaster it has had to face in terms of the resources available for its relief work. UN facilities and personnel have been decimated. UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told AP that losses suffered by the Haitian government make it harder for relief agencies to work--more so than during the 2004 Asian tsuanami aid effort.
1:25 p.m.: Haiti's government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies, not including those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press. He said a final toll of 100,000 dead would "seem to be the minimum."
1:20 p.m.: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano--48 lifts into Haiti yesterday,with 17 from Homestead Air Base in Florida. She said that the "precious" Haitian airspace is like "gold," and needs to
be coordinated through the U.S. The aid effort "just needs cold, hard cash," she said. She asks that Haitians not try to get to the U.S.--they would be immediately repatriated to Haiti.
12:20 p.m.: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a 40-ton shipment of medical supplies is expected to arrive in Haiti on Sunday.
12:15 p.m.: The State Department says the U.S. death toll in the Haiti earthquake has risen to 15.
The total includes one State Department employee and 14 private American citizens.
The State Department had reported on Friday that the toll was six confirmed dead, plus 15 presumed to have died.
On Saturday the department made no mention of numbers presumed dead. It said a total of 15 were confirmed dead. It also reported 23 Americans seriously injured and three U.S. government employees missing.
How to Help Victims
"Family Links" Web site for the Missing
Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti
11:15 a.m.: AP: Frightened Haitians run from wobbly buildings as strong aftershock hits, complicating rescues.
11:07 a.m. President George W. Bush: Don't send blankets or water. "Just send your cash."
11:03 a.m. President Obama announces a joint effort by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to raise money for Haiti.
"Here at home Presidents Bush and Clinton will help the American people to do their part because responding to a disaster must be the work of all of us," President Obama said. "Indeed, those wrenching scenes of devastation remind us not only of our common humanity but also of our common responsibilities. This time of suffering can and must be a time of compassion. As the scope of the destruction became apparent, I spoke to each of these gentlemen, and they each asked the same simple question -- how can I help? In the days ahead, they'll be asking everyone what they can do."
To contribute, visit the secure online donation page at clintonbushhaitifund.org, or mail a check to:
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
c/o William J. Clinton Foundation
Donations Department
610 President Clinton Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72201
OR
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
c/o Communities Foundation of Texas
5500 Caruth Haven Lane
Dallas, TX 75225
10:45 a.m.: A White House spokesman talks about why President Obama reached out to Presidents Clinton and Bush:
"The President admired the substantial success of the effort to raise money and awareness in the aftermath of the tsunami (in Indonesia), and believed that a similar effort would be necessary to respond to a challenge of this magnitude.
"The President called George W. Bush at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday, January 13th to discuss the idea. The President also discussed the idea with Secretary Clinton."
10:40 a.m.: "To say it's primitive is an understatement. This is analogous to a Civil War" situation.
Watch CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton's compelling account of a surgery she helped assist in Haiti:
10:32 a.m.: On a conference call, NSC chief of staff Denis McDonough strongly denied speculation that that President Obama may soon visit Haiti.
"The president has no plans to travel to Haiti at the moment," said McDonough. "I think I can put that rumor to rest."
10:17 a.m.: Vice President Joe Biden said, "The president does not view this as a humanitarian mission with a life cycle of a month. This will still be on our radar screen long after it's off the crawler of CNN."
10:15 a.m.: Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush arrive at the White House for a meeting with President Obama on raising money for Haiti.
9:59 a.m. Haiti's president Rene Preval Haiti president asks international donors to coordinate better and not squabble over quake aid. Preval tells AP: it is "an extremely difficult situation. We must keep our cool to do coordination and not to throw accusations at each other."
9:55 a.m. Obama Briefed on Latest in Haiti:
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller: at 8:15 a.m., the president receives a paper update on the relief efforts in Haiti.
At 10 a.m., Mr. Obama meets with top staff to receive an update on the relief efforts in Haiti.
9:50 a.m. USNS Comfort Departs for Haiti:
The massive hospital ship has 250 beds and military medical staff of
560. Most of the staff come from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
How to Help Victims
"Family Links" Web site for the Missing
Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti
9:41 a.m. Mass. Couple Begs Obama to Speed Relief Effort:
A Massachusetts couple thought their daughter had been pulled safely from the ruins of a hotel flattened by the earthquake in Haiti, only to get the heartbreaking news she was actually still missing.
Britney Gengel, a 19-year old sophomore at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., was part of a group of a dozen students and two faculty members form the school who arrived in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince Monday on a humanitarian mission, a day before the temblor.
When he thought his daughter was safe, an emotional Leonard Gengel, of Rutland, Mass., cried out that he couldn't wait to wrap his arms around his daughter.
Leonard, his voice cracking, told co-anchor Erica Hill he's "asking, I'm begging President Obama. please, you inspired a nation, you inspired these young college students to volunteer and help the poor, and there's nothing more dignified than helping the poor. And these young girls that are trapped in that hotel and those two professors need to be found, and we need Americans, we need the paratroopers, we need people there.
"If we could do it, we'd go, but we can't go. So we need you, President Obama, to get people to the Hotel Montana and get our daughter home, all of our daughters home, please.
9:05 a.m.:
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller: George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are not what you'd call pals, but they agreed to President Obama's request that they join forces to help raise private contributions for disaster relief in Haiti. President Obama invited them to the White House this morning to discuss the situation in Haiti and begin their donation appeal from the Rose Garden.
8:45 a.m.Haiti's One-Man Hospital: AP profiles Claude Serena, a 59-year-old pediatrician who has turned his home and property into a field hospital. "It was a blessing from God my house is safe," he said. "We at least have been able to do something for everyone."
8:25 a.m.Scarce Water, Dangerous Streets
From AP: Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are in desperate need of drinking water because of an earthquake-damaged municipal pipeline and truck drivers either unable or unwilling to deliver their cargo.
The lack of water has become one of the greatest dangers facing Haitians in part because earthquake survivors stay outdoors all day in the heat out of fear of aftershocks and unstable buildings. While aid has started to pour in from around the world, supplies are not quickly reaching all who need them.
8:02 a.m.The Associated Press takes a look at the town of Carrefour, a crossroads town outside of Port-au-Prince heavily damaged by the earthquake:
Crossroads are an essential part of life in Haiti, where populations are spread over mountainous terrain and nearly everybody walks. In Voodoo, the lord of the crossroads is usually the first spirit invoked to make way for others, his intersections uniting past and future, the seen and unseen.
That sense of connectivity, and its location just a few miles down the road from the capital, made it a favorite spot for artists and swank social clubs in the era of the Duvalier dictatorship.
But overpopulation and mismanagement polluted its popular Riviere Froid, felled its trees for fuel and space, and transformed what was once a garden community into a dusty, rundown suburb of concrete shops and low-rise towers.
Then, in a matter of moments, this week's earthquake created something far worse:
7:23 a.m. CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton talks about assisting with surgeries in Haiti. "To say it's primitive is an understatement. This is analogous to a Civil War" situation.
Ashton reports that estimates are that less than 1,000 medical personnel on the ground. "That is not enough."
7:13 a.m.: P.J. Tyska, a Lynn University student who survived the earthquake told CBS' "The Early Show" from Boca Raton, Fla.: "I was in shock" when I took video of the aftermath and said of his six classmates who still remain missing, "We're going to keep the faith that they're going to be OK."
Fellow Lynn student Nikki Fantauzzi echoed that sentiment. She talked about the process of leaving Haiti and returning to Florida. It was "indescribable. Long, tiring, but we made it and we're here."
7:07 a.m.: Seven ships are offshore of Haiti that can deliver water to the Port-au-Prince airport, then it needs to be distributed by the 82nd Airborne, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. Martin adds that U.S. military personnel may be in Haiti for more than six months.
7:04 a.m.: CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports that the situation in Haiti has largely gone from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. Glor reports of bodies being burned on the streets. Half of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Would not call this a "lawless situation" but there is a lot of disorganization. A U.S. military official told Glor they hope to make "order out of this chaos."
6:28 a.m.: The International Federation of the Red Cross says a convoy carrying a "huge amount" of aid is heading overland from the Dominican Republic to quake-struck Haiti.
The IFRC says the aid includes a 50-bed field hospital, surgical teams and an emergency telecommunications unit.
Spokesman Paul Conneally says the Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Danish and Japanese Red Cross workers will arrive in Port-au-Prince in six to eight hours.
He told The Associated Press by phone from Santo Domingo on Saturday that the convoy is traveling overland because "it's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now because the airport is completely congested."
The IFRC, which represents national Red Cross chapters worldwide, will shortly increase its aid appeal for Haiti.
How to Help Victims
"Family Links" Web site for the Missing
Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti
3:31 a.m.: The New York Times reports that "Patience was wearing thin, and reports of looting increased.
'For the moment, this is anarchy,' said Adolphe Reynald, a top aide to the mayor of Port-au-Prince, as he supervised a makeshift first aid center that was registering long lines of wounded people but had no medicine to treat them. 'There's nothing we can do. We're out here to show that we care, that we're suffering along with them.'
The United Nations said that 9,000 people had been buried in mass graves - and collecting bodies had become one of the few ways to earn money.
'They pay me $100 a day,' Valencia Joseph, 32, said Friday at 2 a.m., as he was called to tug a body free of wires. 'We must have picked up 2,000 bodies.'"
12:29 a.m. Wyclef Charity Comes Under Scrutiny
Watch CBS Station WFOR's report:
12:15 a.m. ET: CBS News Station WFOR-TV in Miami reports how ham radios have become a lifeline for communication between the United States and Haiti.