Thousands of Haitians Flee Port-au-Prince

Posted on Jan 18, 2010

AP / Gregory Bull

Haitians cram into a truck leaving the capital of Port-au-Prince on Monday.

Hoping to find help among friends or family members, or just hoping to get out of their country’s devastated capital, thousands of Haitians fled Port-au-Prince on Monday by the busload and headed for the countryside. Meanwhile, the top-ranking American commander in Haiti called an estimated death toll of 150,000 to 200,000 a “start point,” according to The New York Times.  —KA

New York Times:

Some Haitians told news agencies they were seeking the help of friends or family members; others said they were leaving blindly, in hopes that any change would be an improvement on the shattered chaos of Port-au-Prince.

But for every person who found an option for shelter or food outside the capital, it seemed like another still did not.

“I would like for my family to escape the misery in this city, but I need painkillers for my child first,” said Manuel Lamy, 28, a plumber whose 5-year-old daughter, Yvenca, lost her left hand. Mr. Lamy and his wife, Sagine Oscar, 30, took her to a triage center set up by Cuban doctors.

The displaced were streaming out of Port-au-Prince even as more relief, aid workers and American troops were arriving. Some hospitals along the border with the Dominican Republic were swamped with earthquake victims.

The United Nations World Food Program said it planned to distribute 200 tons of food aid on Monday to 95,000 people at eight locations and appealed anew for public donations to the relief effort. The calls for more help came even as aid workers, mobile clinics and other supplies continued to arrive at the airport and overland from the Dominican Republic.

Read more

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.