Corpses Litter Haiti Streets; Diseases May Spread
There is danger that diseases may spread throughout Haiti if the corpses that litter its streets will not be collected for proper disposition, international aid groups told CNN today.
They expressed fears that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti Tuesday could get much worse if food, medicine, tents and other supplies are not delivered immediately. Otherwise, people, particularly children, will die of starvation.
Jonathan Aiken, spokesman for the American Red Cross was quoted by CNN as saying: "The ability to get people out of that rubble is paramount." There's little time to accomplish relief efforts before people die and before you start to get into issues of diseases, he pointed out.
An official from Save the Children organization has claimed that without food, shelter, and water, many of the children will get diarrhea and in a matter of hours will die of starvation.
Ian Rogers, senior adviser of the Save the Children, said it is possible that the situation can get catastrophic in light of the delay in the delivery of the much needed supplies to Haiti, he was quoted by CNN as saying.
At least 100,000 people are missing, according to the latest assessment of the United Nations relief organization, where scores of its own staff were buried under the rubble. Some 50,000 people were feared to have died during the earthquake.
Media reports said there is too much chaos and despair as can be gleaned from the faces of people, whose families and properties were among those buried under the concrete slabs of crashing buildings and houses.
CNN footage showed thousands of corpses laying unattended on the pavements and on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.
As of this writing, almost all the basic needs of the people like food, water, medicines, blankets, are scarcely available. Relief organizations are having problems delivering goods because roads leading to the sites of destruction are impassable at the moment, newswire reports said.
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