More than 30 aftershocks had rocked the city in Haiti on the latest eartquake. World leaders have stepped up to pledge aid to rebuild a devastated Haiti, but on the streets of its wrecked capital quake survivors were still waiting on Sunday for the basics - food, water and medicine.
A mob of men and children watch as the bloodied corpse of a suspected thief is brutally beaten by a man with a stick.
The victim is naked and bound at his hands and feet. It is broad daylight in the devastated capital city of Haiti.
These are the latest in a series of chilling images from the country as anarchy threatens to destabilise the relief effort following Tuesday's earthquake.
Meanwhile, fears are growing for the continued safety of the nation with violence rife as scavengers and looters swarm over the wrecks of shops, carrying off anything they can find.
Robbers prey on survivors struggling without supplies in makeshift camps on roadsides littered with debris and decomposing bodies.
Fighting broke out between groups of looters carrying knives, machetes, ice-picks, hammers and rocks. Many Haitians streamed out of the city on foot with suitcases on their heads or jammed in cars to find food and shelter in the countryside, and flee aftershocks and violence.
Many others crowded the airport hoping to get on planes that left packed with Haitians. President Barack Obama promised help as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Haiti, where the shell-shocked government gave the United States control over the congested main airport to guide aid flights from around the world.
On the streets of Port-au-Prince, where scarce police patrols fired occasional shots and tear gas to try to disperse looters, the distribution of aid appeared random, chaotic and minimal. Downtown, young men could be seen carrying pistols.
Heavily armed gang members who once ran Haiti's largest slum, Cite Soleil, like warlords returned with a vengeance after the quake damaged the National Penitentiary allowing 3,000 inmates to break out.
A Reuters photographer saw police shooting in the air, grabbing and throwing people to the ground, and occasionally kicking detainees in parts of the city. But once the police left, looting and scavenging started again.
One Russian search team said the general insecurity was forcing them to suspend their rescue efforts after nightfall.
Some of the trouble stems from the destruction of the the country's main jail and subsequent absence of its prisoners.
All the while rescue workers have continued to search for anybody still alive in the mountains of rubble.
Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country and has for decades struggled with devastating storms, floods and political unrest. Around 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers have provided security here since a 2004 uprising ousted one president.
The U.N. mission responsible for security in Haiti lost at least 40 its 9,000 members when its headquarters collapsed in Tuesday's quake. The United Nations confirmed that its mission chief, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, and his deputy, Brazilian Luiz Carlos da Costa were killed.
Via - Daily Mail , Gulf News , Reuters
Categories:
Crimes
,
Natural Disaster
0 comments:
Post a Comment