Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 01/20/10
Eight days after the quake hit, another survival is found alive in Haiti. And, desperate to leave. See how some Haitians are trying to escape Port-au-Prince. Plus, the raw politics of the GOP Senate victory in Massachusetts. What does it mean for the Democrats seeking health care reform?
Want to know what else we're covering? Read EVENING BUZZ
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How to Help: Impact Your World
Impact Your World
An International Red Cross spokesman warned that up to 3 million people may have been affected by last week's earthquake in Haiti. Here are some organizations specifically helping Haiti.
Providing Basic Needs:
• American Red Cross
• CARE
• United Nations Foundation/CERF
• World Vision
• UNICEF USA
• International Relief Teams
• Save the Children
• Catholic Relief Services
• Samaritan's Purse
• American Jewish World Services
• Clinton Foundation
• George W. Bush Center
• Yéle Haiti
• World Concern
• Mercy Corps
Providing Shelter:
• Shelterbox
• Habitat for Humanity International
• International Organization for Migration
• Pan American Relief
Providing Medical Aid:
• Direct Relief International
• International Medical Corps
• Medical Teams International
• Doctors Without Borders
• Operation USA
• MAP International
• World Health Organization
• Americares
• Project Medishare
• Partners in Health
Providing Food:
• World Food Programme
• The Salvation Army
• Compassion International
• Food for the Poor
• World Water Relief
Go here for more resources and for a list of organizations accepting international currencies...
Aid workers frustrated with relief effort
Arthur Brice
CNN
Anger boiled over on the streets of Haiti's capital Tuesday - not just from residents who have gone a week without food and water, but from the people who are supposed to be providing it.
Relief workers say help is not reaching many of the 2 million residents in Port-au-Prince who need aid, because those who are supposed to be coordinating the efforts are inept.
"It's terrible," said Eric Klein, head of disaster-relief agency CAN-DO. "There's got to be coordination."
Medical aid is particularly needed, Klein and others said.
"There are medical supplies just sitting at the frigging airport," Klein said while sitting in the cab of a 1,200-gallon water truck near the heavily damaged presidential palace.
Klein and two Haitian businessmen had just delivered free water to a nearby town.
Evening Buzz: Stories of Survial
Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
Another amazing story of survival in Haiti. A five-year-old boy named Monley was found alive in the rubble of his home today. His mother was killed and his father is missing. Monley was taken to a hospital where doctors say he has no broken bones, but he is suffering from severe dehydration.
Anderson was at the hospital when Monley arrived this afternoon. He got details on the rescue from his family.
"The uncle was actually searching through the rubble, looking for the dead body of his brother, this boy's father. The uncle, with four of his friends, not some international search and rescue team, pulled out the little boy," Anderson reported earlier today.
Anderson went to the hospital to see how the doctors and patients were coping after a magnitude 5.9 aftershock this afternoon.
"They actually ended up having to evacuate all the patients from General Hospital and put them in the courtyard of the hospital. And they had been sitting out in the sun, getting dehydrated. I mean, it is - it is a mess there today," Anderson said.
We'll have an update for you on the hospital conditions tonight on 360°.
Partners in Health is worried about the health conditions in Haiti. It issued a warning on its Web site today that as many as 20,000 people might be dying every day from infections. We'll talk it over with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
We're also looking at how senior citizens are coping with the crisis. 360's Gary Tuchman visited a nursing home today in Port-au-Prince. 80 men and women lived there before the quake. Six died, 74 survived, but seeing how they're surviving is difficult. It's a story that we feel must be told.
And, tonight, we'll take you outside of Port-au-Prince to see the damage in the town of Leogane, due west of the capital. Anderson will show you want he discovered when he found the rubble of a catholic school.
We're also following the fallout from the U.S. Senate vote in Massachussets. GOP Sam Brown has won the seat that Democrat Ted Kennedy held for nearly 50 years. What will Brown's election mean for the Democrats fight for health care reform? Wolf Blitzer will talk strategy with our political panel.
Join us for these stories and much more starting at 10 pm. ET.
Obama's first year by the numbers
Robert Yoon
CNN Political Research Director
President Obama was inaugurated one year ago today.
Here's a recap on his first year, by the numbers:
124 bills signed into law
39 executive orders issued
3 nationally televised prime-time presidential addresses
4 prime-time press conferences
5 press conferences from the White House
20 countries visited
(Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Trinidad, Turkey, United Kingdom)
Vote shows independents unhappy with Obama
Gloria Borger
CNN Senior Political Analyst
The picture of the two former presidents - George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - together in the cause of saving Haiti was one of those arresting images we had to notice. Not because we never see the former presidents together; we do. Sad to say, it's usually when they're reunited after a tragedy - like a tsunami or an earthquake - and want to be of service.
Impending domestic financial disaster, a national health care crisis or threats of terror at home get no such bipartisan commiseration or leadership.
Pity.
And it's what is driving independent voters to despair. After all, it was supposed to be different in President Obama's post-partisan Washington. That's why they voted for him.
Gen. Honoré: Evacuate most vulnerable Haitians
Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré
Special to CNN
CNN: There are reports of looting in Haiti. Is it looting, or an attempt at survival?
Gen. Russel Honoré: In the first days after a disaster, people are generally scavenging for food. They are trying to find food where they can. People are going into survival mode.
Due to challenges and logistical issues, they use the food they have and what they can get their hands on. I would use the word "looting" lightly - these people are surviving. It's reminiscent of what was seen during Katrina in the convention center. They survived because they found food in the surrounding areas.
CNN: With the potential for violence running high, how can civilians protect themselves?
Honoré: People should stay in their family groups and be with people they trust. During a disaster, in the case of not having enough communication, some of the information coming out is speculation and rumor.
The role of the military is to provide a sense of order and try to keep people from becoming too excited when food and water are distributed. They also assure that help is on the way.
Video: 5-year-old pulled out alive
Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor
1 year in: Will fortune smile on Obama?
Aaron Miller
Special to CNN
Tuesday's Democratic meltdown in Massachusetts not only wreaks havoc with the president's health care legislation; it jeopardizes the legacy of a leader who barely two months ago was summoning up links to the ghosts of great presidents past.
As the calendar marks the first year of the Obama presidency, it's not too early to be thinking about his legacy. I guarantee you the president is.
Who do you suppose shapes President Obama's view of his presidency and what he hopes to accomplish? We have some clues. In his speech on Afghanistan last November, one of the most consequential in his young presidency, Obama conjured up the spirits of three of his predecessors.
The first reference to Eisenhower seemed to be a throwaway; after all, the president was speaking in the Eisenhower Hall Theater at West Point.
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