Haiti is a burning hell, the deepest manifestation of our frail humanity. The world weeps for the biggest natural disaster of the century. However, much of the death could have been averted had the leaders of Haiti not held on with iron grip, looting and squandering the country’s wealth. Now nature has spoken, and our nostrils are filled with the stench of corpses on Haiti’s streets.

A DESOLATE youngster sits in the hospital, barely able to speak after losing his entire family in the devastating earthquake which flattened Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Seven-year-old Balnav lost his mother, father and brother when their house in the now-obliterated downtown area collapsed.

Rescuers managed to pull him out alive after several hours, but the rest of his loved ones were crushed under tons of rubble. Balnav’s tragic story is just one of thousands in the human hell Haiti has become.

Just a stone’s throw from the city’s main hospital is a scene straight from an apocalyptic Hollywood movie. Twisted, bloated bodies lie festering in temperatures of 30C (86F). The stench of rotting corpses from the scores of makeshift morgues is inescapable.

Hands, scarves and masks are no barrier to the smell - so many survivors have wedged pieces of lime up their noses or smeared toothpaste in their nostrils. The mortuaries have been so overwhelmed with bodies that every day, dumper trucks are brought in to take them to two mass graves set up in the city, more than half of which will need to be rebuilt.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, warning that a death toll of 100,000 would “seem to be the minimum” added: “Sadly, we have to bring everybody to mass graves because we are racing against a possible epidemic.”

It is feared highly-infectious cholera, dysentery and dengue fever could become rampant in the putrid capital.

Many families could not bear seeing their loved one being dumped in one of the huge graves. One young woman screamed: “It’s my father, my dear father,” before fainting. Another woman even jumped into the grave saying she felt more comfortable among the dead. Bystanders eventually dragged her out. Outside the entrance to the city’s main morgue, blood and other gore still glazed the ground after the  dead had been cleared away. Behind the morgue, hundreds more cadavers lay mouldering.

Among all the horror, surgeon Dr. Pier Boutin operated on a conveyor belt of the horribly wounded. She explained that most of the bodies outside were people taken there with injuries too serious too treat.

With the heat, anyone with severe injuries has been quickly succumbing to deadly infections. The surgeon, who had flown in from Massachusetts said: “There is so much infection here.

“We are having to prioritise those who are most sick and those who will die, but there are so many. “Most of what we are treating now are things like broken bones and severe flesh wounds.

“But many of them are becoming amputees because the injuries have got worse in the last few days. “There are so many there is nowhere for us to put them other than outside in the courtyard. It is near the dead, but we have no choice. We still urgently need more people to help and more supplies of medical equipment.”

Out in the streets, broken and twisted bodies lie on every corner. Survivors are in terror of gangs of bandits and looters robbing deserted shops and homes. One man was even spotted hauling a corpse from a coffin at a cemetery... before tipping the body out and driving away with the casket.

A mob of 1,000 looters armed with stones, knives, ice-picks and hammers battled to grab T-shirts, bags, toys and any other items they could find in destroyed houses and shops on one street with police nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Haitians began a mass exodus of Port-au-Prince, thousands nursing terrible injuries and battling thirst and hunger as they quit the wrecked city for the provinces. Many walked with bags on their heads and shoulders. Those lucky enough packed cars and trucks with possessions, lining up for hours at petrol stations to fill up. One man leaving on foot, Yves Manes, said: “I have waited for two days, but nothing has arrived, not even a bottle of water.

“They say there are trucks taking people out of this hell. I have lost all my money, but I will give my clothes, I will give anything, to get out of here.” Rescue attempts were continuing last night, with one team struggling to reach two groups of people heard screaming for help from inside a collapsed five-storey supermarket.

A 17-year-old girl called out to searchers from beneath the rubble that she was with a boy. She said they were both unhurt but deperate for water. Up to 100 shoppers are thought to have been inside when the earthquake struck.

Rescuer Jose Mendia said: “We’ve had to cut through three floors from above, we’ve been digging through concrete floors, shelving, food and everything else you find in a supermarket.”

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander last night announced a donation of more than £6.2million “to help kick-start humanitarian relief in Haiti”. Meanwhile, one heart-rending scene seemed to sum up the country’s hell. We found a man called Pedro hammering desperately at a concrete girder on top of the layers of cement entombing his daughter Enash and two other people.

Asked why he was still battling with his seemingly impossible task, he said: “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment