SENATE President, David Mark, announced yesterday that Nigeria had donated $1million to the people and government of Haiti to ameliorate the pains of the massive earthquake that ravaged the country. But even as humanity rallies round its own, telluric forces, seem unplacated still as a fresh quake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale again slammed the already prostrate country.
However, there were no reports of any casualties.
Mark’s announcement was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw (Cross River State) and was accorded serious attention on the floor of the Senate.
Mark told senators that Nigeria did not do much publicity about the donation like other countries were doing.
The motion had asked for such donations but Mark quickly informed his colleagues that it was now belated because he had been informed by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan that the sum of $1million had been donated by Nigeria.
Senators also agreed that each of them would voluntarily contribute money to be sent to Haiti for further assistance.
Also through a motion moved by John Halims Agoda representing Ethiope federal constituency in Delta State to the effect that the House of Representatives should assist the people of Haiti affected by a recent earthquake, the chamber resolved that each of the 360 members should contribute N20, 000 each amounting to about N7.2 million.
A powerful aftershock struck Haiti yesterday, shaking buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets. It was only eight days after the country’s capital was devastated by a major quake.
The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest aftershock yet to the apocalyptic January 12 quake that shattered Haiti’s capital. It was not immediately clear if it caused additional damage or injuries.
The new quake hit at 6:03 a.m. (1103 GMT) about 56 kilometres Northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince and 22 kilometres below the surface.
Wails of terror rose from frightened survivors as the earth shuddered at 6:03 a.m. The U.S. Geologic Survey said the quake was centred about 56 kilometres Northwest of Port-au-Prince and was 22 kilometres below the surface.
Last week’s magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless, according to the European Union Commission. A massive international aid effort has been launched, but is struggling with overwhelming logistical problems.
Still, search-and-rescue teams have emerged from the ruins with some improbable success stories – including the rescue of 69 year-old ardent Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the rubble.
Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting at the residence of Haiti’s Roman Catholic archbishop when the quake struck, trapping her in debris. On Tuesday, she was rescued by a Mexican disaster team that was created in the wake of Mexico City’s 1985 earthquake.
Zizi said that after the quake, she spoke back and forth with a vicar who also was trapped. But after a few days, he fell silent, and she spent the rest of the time praying and waiting.
“I talked only to my boss, God,” she said. “And I didn’t need any more humans.”
Doctors who examined Zizi on Tuesday said she was dehydrated and had a dislocated hip and a broken leg.
Elsewhere in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university building. And near midnight Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighbourhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders.
Crews at the cathedral compound site Tuesday recovered the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot.
Authorities said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens of teams sifting through Port-au-Prince’s crumbled homes and buildings for signs of life.
But the good news was overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can’t get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty.
“We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don’t know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon,” said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-old mother of two who has been living under a bedsheet with seven members of her extended family.
The World Food Programme said more than 250,000 ready-to-eat food rations had been distributed in Haiti by Tuesday, reaching only a fraction of the three million people thought to be in desperate need.
Nigeria Police officers are among United Nations international troops and police officers helping out in the devastated Haiti search, rescue and relief efforts, the secretariat of the world body has said, disclosing however that the actual death toll from the earthquake may never be known.
Besides, at the UN Security Council where Nigeria is still few weeks old, the nation’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. U. Joy Ogwu, was prominent among sponsors of a new UN Security Council resolution on Tuesday morning calling for more UN troops and police contributions to Haiti.
At a UN press conference in Haiti monitored at the New York headquarters via videoconferencing, UN officials in Port-au-Prince, Edmond Mulet, and David Wilmhurst, briefed reporters on Tuesday afternoon on the daily developments in Haiti.
Asked about the involvement of Nigerians in the UN Mission in Haiti, the UN Chief of Public Information in Haiti, David Wilmhurst, confirmed that “we have Nigeria Police who are actively engaging in Port-au-Prince.”
According to him, Nigerian Police officers are part of the patrolling in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince alongside other UN police force in the town.