Rescue and relief efforts continue in Haiti as aftershocks continue to shake region

A strong aftershock hit early this morning just west of Port au Prince, Haiti, causing panic for survivors who have been sleeping outside and sending those who were inside buildings fleeing into the streets. The quake hit around 6 am and registered 6.1 magnitude. There were no immediate reports of additional deaths or damage.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts continued on the eighth day after the earthquake that has affected 3 million Haitians, a third of the country's residents. Yesterday, according to the Associated Press, a police-fire team from New York City pulled out two children from a collapsed building in the capital. Another woman was reportedly pulled from a shopping center. And UN teams rescued four people from the debris Tuesday. Medical teams who are understaffed and without critical supplies, are racing to treat the injured. Several aid agencies have criticized the handling of the airport and airspace around Port au Prince, which is now under the control of the US Military.
According to Doctors Without Borders, five planes carrying a total of 85 tons of medical and relief supplies, have been blocked from landing. Since Sunday, one plane carrying 12 tons of drugs, surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three times despite what the organization says were assurances that it was cleared to land.

Dr. Paul Mcmaster is with Doctors without Borders and has been treating people since last week. He says his team has been performing surgeries outside the damaged building in a courtyard and his staff is running out of supplies:

"The surgery has been outside a hospital called Carrefour. We have treated many hundreds of patients in the road. We have blocked off the road outside and the patients were lying on the floor and on mattresses for the first 48 hours. Now we have some beds for some of the people outside, and we operate in the courtyard of the hospital as the building is unsafe – just under the trees.  We managed to get some electricity working during Friday (15th) night and then improved that. And then some water working within 36hours. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get any of our equipment to the hospital yet, it wasn’t able to come in, so we’ve had to struggle to find instruments. We’re using gynaecological instruments we managed to borrow. We’ve been running out of stuff, we haven’t got any histamine drugs for anaesthetics during Saturday  (16th) night. We ran out of plaster of Paris twice for fractures and we have no crepe bandages at the moment, so our logistics team are working very, very hard. The airport was closed but I’m not sure for how long, but we could not get flights in and they’re still flying to Dominican Republic."

Another humanitarian organization, Partners in Health, which is coordinating seven aid agencies in the capital, estimates that 20,000 Haitians who could be saved by surgery are dying every day.

Army Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, head of the US forces in Haiti, responded to those criticisms earlier today on CNN. He blamed the delays on air traffic control.

Keen did acknowledge that last night a plane was turned away and sent back to Domincan Republic that did contain medical supplies.

Outside Port Au Prince, some areas hit by the earthquake still have not been visited by medical teams or relief personnel. Today FSRN spoke with Benaja Antoine , a 30-year old resident on the island of LaGanove, located northwest of the capital. FSRN asked if any doctors, relief agencies or troops have made it to the island.

"Not yet, because we only have one hospital in LaGanove which is outside. They had some Cuban doctor and they don’t have enough space for the people who get injuries, so they put people outside the hospital.”

Antoine works at a The Matenwa Community Learning Center, an organization that educates youth on the island. He said that in the town, many of the buildings have been destroyed and some people are still sleeping outside. Since the earthquake, the center has become a place where people meet to get information.

"Every day, we have a lot of people here. They come to listen to the news on the radio and the Internet because, you know, we have access to radio and the Internet here at the school.”

Water and food is running out on La Ganove, said Antoine. And more boats filled with people fleeing Port Au Prince arrive every day. The boats are filled with people who bring clothes and at times a few belongings. But so far, no other supplies have come.

Despite the ongoing rescue of survivors, US military officials say they will soon switch to recovery operations. The UN has said while search and rescue is still a priority, it will also soon direct more resources to distribution of aid.