page_title: 2010 Haiti earthquake
section_title: Rescue and relief efforts
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Haiti earthquake / Rescue and relief efforts
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14 lands as United Nations soldiers arrive to help distribute supplies to earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 16, 2010. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and Carrier Air Wing 17 are conducting humanitarian and disaster relief operations as part of Operation Unified Response after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused severe damage near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 12, 2010.
context_page_description: The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne and approximately 25 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.
  By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake. Death toll estimates range from 100,000 to about 160,000 to Haitian government figures from 220,000 to 316,000, although these latter figures are a matter of some dispute. The government of Haiti estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The nation's history of national debt, prejudicial trade policies by other countries, and foreign intervention into national affairs, contributed to the existing poverty and poor housing conditions that increased the death toll from the disaster.
  The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other cities in the region.
context_section_description: Rescue efforts began in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, with able-bodied survivors extricating the living and the dead from the rubble of the many buildings that had collapsed. Treatment of the injured was hampered by the lack of hospital and morgue facilities: the Argentine military field hospital, which had been serving MINUSTAH, was the only one available until 13 January. Rescue work intensified only slightly with the arrival of doctors, police officers, military personnel and firefighters from various countries two days after the earthquake.
  From 12 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been working in Haiti since 1994, focused on bringing emergency assistance to victims of the catastrophe. It worked with its partners within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, particularly the Haitian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
  Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders; MSF) reported that the hospitals that had not been destroyed were overwhelmed by large numbers of seriously injured people. The hospitals had to perform many amputations. Running short of medical supplies, some teams had to work with any available resources, constructing splints out of cardboard and reusing latex gloves. Other rescue units had to withdraw as night fell, amid security fears. Over 3,000 people had been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières as of 18 January. Ophelia Dahl, director of Partners in Health, reported, "there are hundreds of thousands of injured people. I have heard the estimate that as many as 20,000 people will die each day that would have been saved by surgery."
  An MSF aircraft carrying a field hospital was repeatedly turned away by US air traffic controllers, who had assumed control at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport. Four other MSF aircraft were also turned away. In a 19 January press release MSF said, "It is like working in a war situation. We don't have any more morphine to manage pain for our patients. We cannot accept that planes carrying lifesaving medical supplies and equipment continue to be turned away while our patients die. Priority must be given to medical supplies entering the country." First responders voiced frustration with the number of relief trucks sitting unused at the airport. Aid workers blamed US-controlled airport operations for prioritising the transportation of security troops over rescuers and supplies; evacuation policies favouring citizens of certain nations were also criticised.
  The US military acknowledged the non-governmental organizations' complaints concerning flight-operations bias and promised improvement while noting that up to 17 January 600 emergency flights had landed and 50 were diverted; by the first weekend of disaster operations, diversions had been reduced to three on Saturday and two on Sunday. The airport staff was strengthened in order to support 100 landings a day, compared to the 35 a day that the airport gets during normal operation. A spokesman for the joint task force running the airport confirmed that, though more flights were requesting landing slots, none was being turned away.
  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and French Minister of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet criticised the perceived preferential treatment for US aid arriving at the airport. A spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the French government had not protested officially with regard to the management of the airport. US officials acknowledged that coordination of the relief effort is central to Haitian recovery. President Préval asked for calm coordination between assisting nations without mutual accusations.
  Based on US Air Force logs documenting activity at the airport, the Associated Press largely disproved the claim that the US held up aid in favor of military flights. The US military initially gave priority to military units in order to secure the airport, distribute aid, and provide security, but after that, incoming relief flights were cleared or 
caption: MINUSTAH troops meet a U.S. relief flight on 16 January
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