US army prepares notorious Guantanamo Bay for earthquake survivors -- just 4 km away from the terrorist detention centre!
US army prepares notorious Guantanamo Bay for earthquake survivors -- just 4 km away from the terrorist detention centre!The US has begun preparing Guantan-amo Bay, not widely known for its humanitarian missions, for Haitians migrants in case of a mass exodus spurred by the earthquake.
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Bad Times: Haitian earthquake survivors struggle for aid in
Port-au-Prince yesterday. Pic/AFP |
Officials confirmed that about 100 tents, each capable of holding 10 people, have been erected already. They have more than 1,000 more on hand in case waves of Haitians leave their homeland and are captured at sea.
The migrants would be held on the opposite side of the base to the detention centre, where around 200 terrorism suspects are still being held. They would be separated from prisoners by about two-and-a-half miles of water and would have no contact with prisoners.
Navy Rear Admiral Thomas Copeman, who commands the site, said they had also tested toilets and
were gathering supplies for refugees.
Major Diana Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, said, "There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti," Haynie stressed. "We have not been told to conduct migrant operations." But the base is getting ready "as a prudent measure", Haynie said, since "it takes some time to set things up."
The US base in southeastern Cuba is also being used to transport supplies and personnel to the aid effort in Haiti, about 200 miles away.
Meanwhile, in Haiti, workers have buried 10,000 earthquake victims in a mass grave in just one day as hopes dwindled of finding more survivors.
Aid workers warned yesterday that the death toll -- currently estimated at 2 lakh -- was likely to rise.
Doctors without Borders said there were 10-to-12 day backlogs of patients at some surgical sites and they
were seeing infections in untreated wounds.
With basic supplies, including food and water, still struggling to get through, the US announced it would increase its force in the country by a third. Troop numbers will swell to 16,000, made up by diverting marines due to be deployed in the Gulf and Africa.
Overcrowding in parks and other temporary shelters has stressed sanitation and hygiene beyond the breaking point. People have been sleeping outdoors because their homes were destroyed or out of fear that aftershocks would bring down more buildings.
Meanwhile, rescue workers were still scouring the city in a desperate hope to find survivors.
| Haiti struck by another aftershock |
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Port-au-Prince: Haiti was hit yesterday by a 4.8 magnitude aftershock, although there were no immediate reports of damage. The aftershock was centred 40 km from Port-au-Prince. This aftershock follows a heavier 6.1-magnitude jolt on Wednesday, after the catastrophic 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12, which killed up to 2 lakh people and left an estimated one million homeless. |
