Haiti relief work in high gear as rescue teams work round the clock

Haiti relief work teams from Brazil, the Philippines, France, the US, and elsewhere are rushing to reach victims of the 7.0 magnitude quake that struck Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12.

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff Writer / January 15, 2010

A search-and-rescue team from France prepares to extract bodies from the collapsed Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Friday. The team, along with other teams from the US, Spain, and Ecuador, have rescued eight people at the hotel, but an estimated 60 to 80 people died.

Mary Knox Merrill / The Christian Science Monitor

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Two French rescue workers are burrowed in a hole barely bigger than their bodies, methodically and tirelessly using picks, small shovels, and their hands to dig out victims they believe are buried in the remains of a hotel in Port-au-Prince.

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“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” Benjamin Seewald calls out in French, trying to communicate with anyone who still might be below.

Silence. But the two men continue. So far, at least eight people have been rescued from here, as US, French, Chilean, Spanish, and Filipino paramedics, firefighters, doctors, and engineers scramble to rescue those still alive.

The city of Port-Au-Prince is in a mad rush to reach victims after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck this capital, burying entire parts of the city. The next day will be critical, as hydration becomes a life-threatening issue. But rescue workers are not giving up.

“These miracles do happen,” says Mark Stone, a member of the US Search & Rescue team from Fairfax, Va., here with USAID. “And it is that one in a million that makes us get up in the morning.”

But the Americans are not alone. Teams from across the world have been arriving in Haiti since the first hours after the quake. Many have not gotten any more than a few minutes of sleep, if any. The more than 20 countries here – in addition to the UN, World Bank, and numerous private groups – have already pledged aid to Haiti. Brazil is dispatching aircraft with food and water, Cuba has sent 30 doctors, and Israel dispatched a rescue staff of 240. At the Port-au-Prince airport, military planes from Venezuela and Colombia had landed, bringing in supplies.

The US military is sending some 9,000 troops to Haiti, though most of them will stay on ships until needed. Included in that number are some 2,200 marines.

“There is nothing that Haiti´s government can do,” says Francisco Morales, a Spanish firefighter who says he has not slept since his arrival the day after the quake. “They need our support.”