Haiti One Month Later | Mercy Corps

Haiti One Month Later | Mercy Corps: Written by US Congressman Earl Blumenauer

"After just a few minutes on the ground, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude and randomness of the destruction. What I witnessed right after the tsunami in Southeast Asia and after Katrina in New Orleans had a much more distinct pattern.

Haiti is a small country, less than 30% the size of Oregon, but with more than two and a half times Oregon's population concentrated around Port-au-Prince. Nearly half a million were killed, injured, or have gone missing, and disease and trauma will continue to take their toll for months, if not years, to come.....

Although the situation in Haiti was worse than I imagined, I was heartened by the mutual understanding and areas of agreement. There is even greater urgency to ease suffering and avoid the next round of catastrophe with the coming rains, inevitable flooding, and probable outbreak of disease. There is real potential to actually fix some of the problems Haiti had before the earthquake,....."