Aftershock rattles Haiti’s capital; violence fears ease

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – A new earthquake shook  the devastated Haitian capital this morning, creating  panic among survivors of last week’s devastating quake camped  out in the streets but apparently causing no new destruction.
The powerful 6.1 magnitude aftershock at daybreak sent  shrieking Haitians running away from buildings and walls in the  shattered city fearing a repeat of the magnitude 7 earthquake  that killed tens of thousands of people eight days ago.
“It felt really strong. Each aftershock is frightening. We  feel it right here (pointing at his stomach) because after last  Tuesday you never know how strong it is going to be,” said  Lenis Batiste, camped out on some grass with two children.
The U.S. Geological Survey said today’s tremor was  centered 35 miles (60 km) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince.
Desperate and hungry residents of Port-au-Prince have been  sleeping outdoors since the Jan. 12 earthquake because their  homes were destroyed, or from fear of aftershocks.
“Things started shaking. We were really afraid. People came  out into the street,” said Victor Jean Rossiny, a 24-year-old  law student, living in the street in the Petionville suburb.  “We have nothing here, not even water.”
Fears of violence and looting have eased in Haiti as U.S.  troops provide security for water and food aid deliveries, and  thousands of displaced Haitians have heeded the government’s  advice to seek shelter outside Port-au-Prince.
Medical care, handling of corpses, shelter, water, food and  sanitation remain the priorities for a international relief  operation, U.N. relief officials said.
U.S. Black Hawk helicopters swooped down on the grounds of  Haiti’s wrecked presidential palace on Tuesday, deploying  troops and supplies and immediately attracting crowds of  survivors who clamored for handouts of food.
“Supplies are beginning to get out to the people,” U.S.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a visit to India.  Gates said he hoped the presence of U.S. troops would prevent  violence.
“There is a concern that if you are unable to get  significant supplies out that in their desperation people will  turn to crime and violence,” he said. “We have not seen much of  that yet happily, and my hope is that as we get these trucks  out on the roads with supplies and people see patrols — that  will prevent any significant violence from taking place.”
LOCALIZED VIOLENCE
While military escorts are needed to deliver relief, the  United Nations said security problems were mainly in areas  considered “high risk” before the disaster. Some 4,000  criminals escaped from prisons damaged by the earthquake.
“The overall security situation in Port-au-Prince remains  stable, with limited, localized violence and looting  occurring,” the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian  Affairs said.
Around 12,000 U.S. military personnel are on the ground in  Haiti, on ships offshore or en route, including the USNS  Comfort hospital ship, which was to arrive in the area today, providing essential capacity for complex surgeries.
At least one Latin American leader, Venezuela’s socialist  President Hugo Chavez, a fiery critic of what he calls U.S.  “imperialism,” has already accused Washington of “occupying”  Haiti under the pretext of an aid operation.
Haitian President Rene Preval has said U.S. troops will  help U.N. peacekeepers keep order in Port-au-Prince.
In a bid to speed the arrival of aid and stem looting and  violence, the U.N. Security Council has unanimously agreed to  temporarily add 2,000 U.N. troops and 1,500 police to the  9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti.
The World Food Program, which has fed 200,000 quake  victims, aims to move the equivalent of 10 million ready-to-eat  meals within the next week, the United Nations said. An  additional 130,000 have been fed by other relief groups.
OUTSIDE PORT-AU-PRINCE
Soldiers also spread out to ravaged towns outside the  capital, to Leogane to the west and Jacmel on the southern  coast, to guard and supply aid distribution there.
In Leogane, the epicenter of the violent quake, the lack of  advanced medical facilities prevented many severely injured  from getting life-saving surgeries.
“Even before all this drama the hospitals here barely  functioned,” said Joel Beaubrun as he watched a U.S. military  food drop. “You can imagine what it’s like now.”
Doctors Without Borders said a cargo plane with 12 tons of  medical supplies had been turned away from the congested  Port-au-Prince airport three times since Sunday, and five  patients died for lack of the supplies it carried.
“We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue  amputations,” said Loris de Filippi, emergency coordinator for  the group’s Choscal Hospital in Cite Soleil.
The humanitarian organization said drugs for surgical care  and equipment like dialysis machines were urgently needed.
Haitian officials say the death toll from the quake was  likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000, and that 75,000  bodies had already been buried in mass graves.
So far, feared infectious diseases have not erupted,  although many injured faced the immediate threats of tetanus  and gangrene, and hospitals were overwhelmed.
The World Health Organization said at least 13 hospitals  were working in the Port-au-Prince area and it was bringing in  medical supplies to treat 120,000 people over the next month.
“We are not past the emergency phase yet but we are  starting to look at the long term,” said Margaret Aguirre of  the International Medical Corps, whose staff had helped with  150 amputations so far.
Some 90 people have been pulled alive from the rubble by 52  rescue teams from around the world and untold numbers of others  by Haitians digging through collapsed buildings. Racing against  time, they hope for a repeat miracle like that of an elderly  woman pulled on Tuesday from rubble around National Cathedral.
SOME SIGNS OF NORMALITY
U.N. relief officials said thousands of survivors were  heeding the government’s plea that they move in with friends  and family in safer areas outside the earthquake zone.
One sign of the return to normality was the emergence of  street vendors selling fruit, vegetables and charcoal, though  supplies of staples were scarce and costly.
Although damaged local banks had not reopened, the United  Nations said there were plans for them to open 30 to 40  distribution points so people could access their accounts.
Fuel prices have doubled and there were long lines of cars,  motorbikes and people with jerrycans outside gas stations.  Haitian police stood guard at some.
The World Food Program was planning to bring in 10,000  gallons (40,000 litres) of diesel a day from neighboring  Dominican Republic.
World leaders have promised massive assistance to rebuild  Haiti and Preval appealed to donors to focus not just on  immediate aid for Haitians but also on long-term development of  the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said yesterday the  devastation created the “opportunity to build back better.”