Haiti Update

The on-ground situation, as expected, is dire. Foreign media posted outside the country are finding getting into the epicenter Port-au-Prince, extremely difficult, so details are still thin.

What is known is that the quake's epicenter was only a few kilometers away from the Haitian capital. The quake, because it was shallow, caused even greater magnification and destruction to one of the most impoverished and depleted cities in the world. It's difficult to determine the human casualties, but these natural disasters never end up going well when focused on the poorest centres of the poorest nations.

One bit of positive news is that the main runway into Port-au-Prince was left relatively undamaged, which means relief supplies and rescue officials will be transported quickly and directly to the disaster area. In fact, many supplies and human personnel are already streaming in. Strange, it seems that so much relief could come so soon (less than 24 hours), while by contrast, it took days for substantive relief to flood into New Orleans after that city was pounded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.