The Haitian Earthquake's Littlest Victims
CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric reports the Haitian people are hungry, thirsty, and desperate. They're doing their best to survive in tent cities. Couric toured one tent city. In this place, a truck provides a roof. And a bus becomes a home.
A single pot of soup is stretched to feed more than a dozen members of a family.
"That's for everybody," Couric asked. "What about after that?"
"Nothing," the woman replied.
Witness to the horror of Haiti
Frustration is reaching the boiling point.
One man told Couric that he remembered Hurricane Katrina. "This right here is worse," he said.
There are more masks - real and improvised -- because of the stench of bodies out on the streets. They have run out of body bags - metal sheeting has to suffice.
One thing not in short supply? The injured. Thursday, tents were set up by Complete Coverage: Disaster in HaitiCouric met a woman, whose stepdaughter and her cousin were both badly hurt. They said the houses came straight down, and injured them. They've been waiting for help, but no one has arrived. One girl said a block fell on her lower back and broke it. She cannot walk. One man gave up, and decided to take his relative to a hospital more than an hour away. Some trying to get into hospitals can't. Others pray it's not too late. "Family Links" Web site for the MissingThe University Hospital is bursting at the seams. A few doors down, kind of MASH unit has been set up by BFAST - a Belgian organization to take care of the overflow. As if that word could apply, when the overflow is in the hundreds of thousands.
Thirteen-year-old Pierre LaRouse has a broken leg, and a head injury. His family died. His parents died.
Pierre reached out and took Couric's hand as the doctors worked on his leg. He screamed out in agony, "Why? Why? My leg."
"Squeeze my hand, squeeze my hand hard," Couric said.
"What a horror," he cried. "Why God, why is this happening to me."
The doctors were so short of medical supplies, that they asked Couric if she had a plastic cast for his leg. Couric checked with several medical facilities and was told that they had none.
Pierre's grandmother showed up shortly afterwards, and went in to comfort him.