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New 6.1-quake hits Haiti, people flee into streets
By PAUL HAVEN and MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writers Paul Haven And Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writers
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27 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The most powerful aftershock yet struck
Haiti
on Wednesday, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending
screaming people running into the streets eight days after the
country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake.
The
magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest of more than 40 significant
aftershocks that have followed the Jan. 12 quake. The extent of
additional damage or injuries was not immediately clear.
Wails
of terror rose from frightened survivors as the earth shuddered at 6:03
a.m. U.S. soldiers and tent city refugees alike raced for open ground,
and clouds of dust rose in the capital.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday's quake was centered about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of
Port-au-Prince and 6.2 miles (9.9 kilometers) below the surface — a little further from the capital than last week's epicenter was.
"It kind of felt like standing on a board on top of a ball," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Payne. The 27-year-old from
Jolo, West Virginia was preparing to hand out food to refugees in a tent camp of 25,000 quake victims when the aftershock hit.
Last
week's magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti,
left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless, according to the
European Union Commission.
The strong
aftershock prompted Anold Fleurigene, 28, to grab his wife and three
children and head to the city bus station. His house was destroyed in
the first quake and his sister and brother killed.
"I've seen the situation here, and I want to get out," he said.
A
massive international aid effort has been struggling with logistical
problems, and many Haitians are still desperate for food and water.
Still,
search-and-rescue teams have emerged from the ruins with some
improbable success stories — including the rescue of 69-year-old ardent
Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the
rubble.
Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting
at the residence of Haiti's Roman Catholic archbishop when the Jan. 12
quake struck, trapping her in debris. On Tuesday, she was rescued by a
Mexican disaster team.
Zizi said after the
quake, she spoke back and forth with a vicar who also was trapped. But
he fell silent after a few days, and she spent the rest of the time
praying and waiting.
"I talked only to my boss, God," she said. "I didn't need any more humans."
Doctors who examined Zizi on Tuesday said she was dehydrated and had a dislocated hip and a broken leg.
Elsewhere
in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university
building. And near midnight Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old
Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the
Petionville neighborhood by the French aid group Rescuers
Without Borders.
Crews at the cathedral recovered the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the Jan. 12 quake.
Authorities
said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by
international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens
of teams hunting through Port-au-Prince's crumbled homes and buildings
for signs of life.
But the good news was
overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can't get
enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty.
"We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don't
know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something
soon," said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-old mother of two who has been
living under a bedsheet with seven members of her extended family.
The World Food Program said more than 250,000 ready-to-eat food
rations had been distributed in Haiti by Tuesday, reaching only a
fraction of the 3 million people thought to be in desperate need.
The WFP said it needs to deliver 100 million ready-to-eat
rations in the next 30 days, but it only had 16 million meals in the
pipeline.
Even as U.S. troops landed in Seahawk helicopters Tuesday on the manicured lawn of the ruined
National Palace, the colossal efforts to help
Haiti
were proving inadequate because of the scale of the disaster.
Expectations exceeded what money, will and military might have been
able to achieve.
So far, international relief efforts have been unorganized, disjointed and insufficient to satisfy the great need.
Doctors Without Borders
says a plane carrying urgently needed surgical equipment and drugs has
been turned away five times, even though the agency received advance
authorization to land.
A statement from Partners in Health, co-founded by the deputy U.N. envoy to Haiti,
Dr. Paul Farmer, said the group's medical director estimated 20,000 people are dying each day who could be saved by surgery.
"TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS NEED EMERGENCY SURGICAL
CARE NOW!!!!!" the group said in the statement. It did not describe the
basis for that estimate.
Play Video
AP
– Raw Video: First pics following Haiti aftershock
AP – Earthquake survivor Hotteline Lozama, 26, smiles as she was pulled out from the rubble by French aid …
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