Haiti earthquake - Problems here pale by comparison

We have been through some difficult times in recent weeks as a result of the bad weather and the continuing downturn in the economy. But that suffering pales into insignificance in comparison with the natural disaster that struck Haiti on Tuesday.

The devastation is so extensive that authorities are not attempting to predict the ultimate death toll, other than to suggest that it will be in the tens of thousands.

All of this is a timely reminder that things could be so much worse here, and we should not take what we have for granted.

Regarded as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has a history of natural disasters and has been plagued by dire poverty and political infighting. It is sitting on a geological fault similar to the San Andreas Fault, which has been the cause of so many earthquakes in California.

Although the Caribbean is not usually considered a seismic danger zone, there have been catastrophic quakes in the past, separated by hundreds of years.

The latest earthquake, which was centred about 16 kilometres southwest of the capital, registered at between 7.0 and 7.3 on the Richter scale, which the worst to have hit the region in more than 100 years.

It was followed by a series of aftershocks lasting three to five seconds every 15 to 20 minutes. Some of these aftershocks were of a magnitude as high as 4.5, which in other circumstances would be considered a serious earthquake in itself.

As a result, Haiti is in a shambles without electricity and telephone services. This has greatly complicated relief efforts for the estimated three million people affected by the disaster.

In late 2008, the country was devastated by four hurricanes. Those left towns flooded and disrupted its infrastructure, knocking out many bridges.

Since then, the US has been providing significant humanitarian aid to Haiti and financing a large peacekeeping mission of some 9,000 police and troops on behalf of the United Nations. The Brazilian army, which has the largest number of peacekeepers in the area, has reported that four of its soldiers have been killed and five injured. Five workers with the UN mission in Haiti were killed and more than 100 are missing after the mission’s headquarters collapsed.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has been able to determine, with the cooperation of US diplomats, that Irish citizens known to be in the country are safe. The Government has offered emergency aid and up to 130 members of the specialist rapid response corps are on standby to travel to Haiti.