The Associated Press, via FOXNews (January 23, 2010)
"The confirmed death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone, the communications minister said Sunday, with many more thousands dead around the country or still buried under the rubble.
"Communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue told The Associated Press that the figure is based on a body count in the capital and outlying areas by CNE, a state company that has been collecting corpses and burying them in a mass grave north of Port-au-Prince. It does not include other affected cities such as Jacmel, where thousands are believed dead, nor does it account for bodies burned by relatives.
"The United Nations said Saturday the government had confirmed 111,481 bodies; all told, authorities have estimated 200,000 dead from the magnitude-7.0 quake, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission.
" 'Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000, 300,000?' Lassegue said. 'Who knows the overall death toll?'..."
My guess is that the number will keep growing for quite a while.
Obviously, this is a very sad time for Haiti, Haitians, and everyone connected with them.
Related posts:
- "Haiti: 111,000 dead, 8,889,000 Survived"
(January 23, 2010) - "Haiti: It Could Be Worse"
(January 16, 2010)
In case you missed it, from the top of this page:
A list of charities you've probably heard about already, with links and some contact information: Also a list of posts in this, and two other blogs, about Haiti.
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