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Earthquake strikes
4:53 p.m.: A killer quake of magnitude 7.0 strikes 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince, causing untold deaths, collapsing thousands of buildings, severing roads, putting the city's main seaport out of operation, crippling the city. A tsunami warning is issued, later canceled.
• 5 p.m.: Shaking can be felt at U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; there's no damage.
• By nightfall, fires dot a landscape darkened by the loss of electricity; local hospitals are damaged, overwhelmed; the injured ca -
Aftermath
Daybreak: Rescuers claw frantically through rubble; find Port-au-Prince's Catholic Archbishop, Joseph Serge Miot, dead in his office at the cathedral. President René Préval, who escaped collapse of Haitian National Palace, describes stepping over bodies of those killed.
• President Barack Obama pledges help for ``this especially cruel and incomprehensible' tragedy. Thirty-one nations, including China, have aid on its way to Haiti
• All day, aftershocks rattle buildings, nerves -
AID
• Daybreak: Aftershocks taper off; government workers start digging mass graves for the estimated 50,000 dead. Morgues overflow, remain without electricity; hospital parking lots are covered with bodies. Hot weather starts decomposition; the stench of death pervades the city. Hospitals run short of bandages, antibiotics, syringes. Crying relatives search for bodies seeking loved-ones.
Pres. Obama pledges $100million of US aid -
Law & order
As the tragedy entered its fourth day, security began to deteriorate. Desperate survivors blocked roads with piles of corpses; the U.N. World Food Program warehouse was looted of food. Aid groups added security details.• Beside the wrecked National Cathedral, volunteers and priests bury Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot• U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon estimated that half of Port-au-Prince's buildings were damaged.• Time was running out for people trapped beneath rubble -
Death Toll
Haiti's government recovered 20,000 bodies -- not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told the Associated Press. He said a final toll of 100,000 dead would ``seem to be the minimum.'
• The U.N. World Food Program plans to feed 28,000 people in in Port-au-Prince in a single day. The organization is also sending 20.5 metric tons of ready-to-eat meals from El Salvador.
- U.N. officials began to distribute food at the National -
Looters and aftershocks
Haitian Police officers opened fire on hundreds of looters, killing at least one. Episodes of looting continued, as aid officials feared a breakout of lawlessness unless US troops can deliver the needed aid to the up to three million survivors who have not received any. Two aftershock earthquakes measuring 4.6 and 4.7 struck an area about ten miles West of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince -
Airdrops and marines
Long-awaited air drops have begun by the US air force in the countryside. Three sites were secured. If air drops are successful, the method will be used more widely. It was originally feared that air drops with no security would cause riots and other problems.[84] By 18 January 2010, 5,800 US troops were in Haiti or offshore on naval vessels, and 7,500 Marines were sent to join their effort.[85]
On 18 January, 100 US troops were transported by helicopter onto the lawn of the Presidential Palace -
Survivors and naval help
It was announced USS Bataan, USS Fort McHenry, and USS Carter Hall sailed into Haitian waters, putting most major elements of the sea-base on scene, except for USNS Comfort which is scheduled to arrive within the next 24 hours A 22-day-old baby girl was found in the ruins of the Jacmel hospital's maternity ward, by Colombian rescuers. Her parents were unable to get news about her since the earthquake struck. The girl was found many days beyond the usual survival period of three days without wat -
USNS Comfort
USNS Comfort arrives in Haiti -
Burial
Haitian burial workers continued to fill mass graves. Earth-moving equipment was used to dig the graves, and up to 10,000 bodies were buried in a single da -
Air traffic control
Radar and air traffic control services are activated by the Canadian Forces at Jacmel Airport, located near the city with the same name on Haiti's south coast, Jacmel, in order to start 24-hours-a-day flight operations -
End of rescue efforts
The Haitian government declares an end to rescue efforts
