Death toll is expected to be in the hundreds.
Along with that hospital already mentioned, a presidential palace and a cathedral also collapsed.
Aftershocks are contiuing between 5-5.7 on a frequent basis as reported atm.
This is really bad. US ready to assist.
mitch, i would have to say the death toll will be in the tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands.
sadly, according to reports, at least 60% of structures on the island are not built to withstand much at all, let alone one of this magnitude...
the presidential palace is well built...and look at it :frown1:
http://media.voanews.com/images/480*290/AFP+Haiti+presidential+palace+earthquake+480.jpg
i fear the absolute worst...they say bodies are "already lining the streets of the capital" (and they have barely even been able to dig out maybe 3% of the rubble so far, and this is just in Port-Au-Prince alone.
if you look at this construction in Port-Au-Prince in just a very small part of a citty that calls 2 million home, you can imagine the total disaster that we may see unfold :frown1:
http://forum.globaltimes.cn/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2364&d=1253079392
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/haiti/haiti00.jpg
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/images/news/2007/37052.jpg
i cannot imagine that any of those would stay up, and most would collapse on top of each other in those sections as seen in the first photo...
obviously the time of day (late afternoon) may be crucial too...if people were arriving home, or in offices and buildings at the time, it would make the disaster even worse...thank goodness it was not at night, when everyone is home in these structures.
and nobody probably is able to reach or know the extent of the damage to the interior of the country and the 7 million others living throughout...
i am sure all the hospitals have collapsed and been destroyed...i shudder to think how many of an already sick and unhealthy population will now die due to the destruction of the already inadequate health systems.
this is going to be absolutely horrific when we see its full scope.
like Indonesian Tsunami horrific :frown1:
this may be the only time when living in an earthen type hut outside of town, would have been beneficial. :frown1: