NewsWhore
01-12-2011, 03:10 PM
On the first anniversary of the terrible earthquake that is said to have taken 300,000 lives in and around Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, today's newspapers still carry stories of the million plus people living under canvas in makeshift camps lacking even the most basic services.
Hoy newspaper reports on how Dominican hospitals treated 30,000 patients from the devastated city at a cost of more than RD$420 million. The newspaper asked Dr. Hector Quezada, head of the Dario Contreras Hospital and Dr. Emilio Mena, head of the Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital for their reactions. The doctors all said that after a couple of days the local medical staff was being affected by the scope of the tragedy. Those who went to Jimani, on the Haitian border, to assist at the General Melenciano Hospital there, were overwhelmed. Some of the doctors had helped after the earthquakes in Nicaragua and Guatemala and some had served in Iraq, but they were still affected by the unprecedented scale of what happened in Haiti.
According to the Dominican ambassador to Haiti, Ruben Silie, the tragedy brought both countries together, restoring confidence and increasing understanding. He recalled that after the earthquake he spoke to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and the first Dominican assistance arrived within 24 hours of the tragedy.
The "Life and Hope" shelter run by the Catholic Church took care of 200 children and teenagers after the tragedy and after a year, there are just 13 still under its care. Father Manuel Ruiz says that the shelter received help from many places. One young man, Peter Stevenson, now 15, lost both legs when the house where he was studying fell on him. He now has his two prosthetic legs and is planning on becoming a doctor.
Meanwhile, today's Listin Diario editorial focuses on the reality of the DR being left practically to its own devices to bear the high social costs of the chaotic state of Haiti. "This experience of lack of international solidarity leads us to think that from now on the burden of the reconstruction or re-founding of Haiti will fall exclusively and primarily on us," says the editorial. "With the exception of the role played by our country, and with few exceptions, the rest of the world has washed its hands off its initial commitments to help Haiti with money, equipment, medicines, food and other goods. No one, starting with the Haitians themselves has any illusions that this help will come," writes the editorialist, warning of the profound effects this will have on life in the DR.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Hoy newspaper reports on how Dominican hospitals treated 30,000 patients from the devastated city at a cost of more than RD$420 million. The newspaper asked Dr. Hector Quezada, head of the Dario Contreras Hospital and Dr. Emilio Mena, head of the Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital for their reactions. The doctors all said that after a couple of days the local medical staff was being affected by the scope of the tragedy. Those who went to Jimani, on the Haitian border, to assist at the General Melenciano Hospital there, were overwhelmed. Some of the doctors had helped after the earthquakes in Nicaragua and Guatemala and some had served in Iraq, but they were still affected by the unprecedented scale of what happened in Haiti.
According to the Dominican ambassador to Haiti, Ruben Silie, the tragedy brought both countries together, restoring confidence and increasing understanding. He recalled that after the earthquake he spoke to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and the first Dominican assistance arrived within 24 hours of the tragedy.
The "Life and Hope" shelter run by the Catholic Church took care of 200 children and teenagers after the tragedy and after a year, there are just 13 still under its care. Father Manuel Ruiz says that the shelter received help from many places. One young man, Peter Stevenson, now 15, lost both legs when the house where he was studying fell on him. He now has his two prosthetic legs and is planning on becoming a doctor.
Meanwhile, today's Listin Diario editorial focuses on the reality of the DR being left practically to its own devices to bear the high social costs of the chaotic state of Haiti. "This experience of lack of international solidarity leads us to think that from now on the burden of the reconstruction or re-founding of Haiti will fall exclusively and primarily on us," says the editorial. "With the exception of the role played by our country, and with few exceptions, the rest of the world has washed its hands off its initial commitments to help Haiti with money, equipment, medicines, food and other goods. No one, starting with the Haitians themselves has any illusions that this help will come," writes the editorialist, warning of the profound effects this will have on life in the DR.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)