Haiti quake toll to touch 2,00,000: Minister

vIndianz.com (16 Jan, 2009) — Port-au-Prince: Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime has said on Saturday that as many as 2,00,000 people may have been feared died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti and three-quarters of the capital, Port-au-Prince, will need to be rebuilt.

“By Friday we have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies and there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number,” the minister said.

At least 40,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves. If the casualty figures turn out to be accurate, the 7.0 magnitude quake that hit impoverished Haiti on Tuesday would be one of the 10 deadliest earthquakes ever recorded, a Reuters report said.

According to reports, both President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive were living in and coordinating the government response from the judicial police headquarters near the airport.

An official said that the government is sending police into areas where bandits began to operate. “Some people are robbing, some are stealing. The people in the refugee places, once they do not find food and assistance, they are getting angry and upset. Our message to everyone is to stay calm.” the official said

A number of air planes and ships have arrived with rescue teams, search dogs, heavy equipment, tents, water purification units, food, doctors and telecoms teams.

A clogged airport, wrecked seaport and roads littered with rubble, as well as the sheer scale of the destruction, aid was not yet reaching hundreds of thousands of victims.

Haiti’s government granted temporary control of the nation’s main airport to the United States to speed earthquake relief work, the US State Department said .

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