It's total madness ~ By Barbara Simpson

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Barbara Simpson Posted: January 18, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 If ever you doubted the power of nature, just look at the pictures from Haiti. It's difficult to imagine such destruction caused by the earth, which we usually consider "solid" ground. German relief worker Regina Tauschek told Spiegel Online that it's almost impossible to describe the situation. She said, "It's total madness." Last Tuesday, a violent earthquake tore through the small island nation. Centered below the capital city of Port-Au-Prince, the 7.0 magnitude quake hit just before 5 p.m. People were in the streets, shopping, at work and going home. Instantly, everything changed. Forever. Buildings collapsed, others fell apart; roads were ripped and whatever niceties of 21st century life existed – suddenly, simply, didn't: no utilities or phone, no shelter, no churches, no schools, no food, no water, no sanitation, no hospitals, no police, no government. All gone. Nature spread the misery. No group was spared. The dead and injured include the rich and poor, professionals, clergy, working people and tourists, Haitians and people from more than 21 other countries, city and country dwellers, the healthy and the sick of every age, even children and infants. At least one orphanage was flattened. The United Nations mission building collapsed. The body of the mission chief, Hedi Annabi, was found, as were those of his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, and the acting police commissioner, Doug Coates. Nearly 330 U.N. personnel are missing; 37 are confirmed dead. As I write, the totals of dead, injured and other survivors change constantly. Who knows how many died as buildings fell on them? There'll probably never be an accurate count because bodies are just piled on streets, many remain buried under wreckage and thousands have been buried mass graves. It's doubtful they were all identified first. The Haitian government estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed, and the Red Cross says some 3 million people were injured and/or left homeless. The earthquake mortally devastated this small country, which even in the best of times is the poorest of the poor with half the population living on a dollar a day. READ FULL STORY >