The relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake is being overwhelmed by demand. The destruction was made worse by the poverty and lack of building standards. The human toll is something one must be there to understand. This is a human tragedy of epic proportions!

Sixteen Britons are among the tens of thousands missing after a catastrophic earthquake ripped Haiti apart.

They had all been living in the capital Port-au-Prince when the disaster – which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale – struck on Tuesday.

Today the Haitian Red Cross said it believes between 45,000 and 50,000 people died in the quake. Up to three million could be hurt or homeless

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This tragedy has been compounded by the lack of infrastructure in that country. This has delayed aid to the millions of Haitians who need it.

Relief has begun trickling into quake ravaged Haiti but impassable roads and a heavily damaged airport have left eager aid workers largely unable to get food, water and rescue workers into Port-au-Prince.

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The Red cross is now running out of medical supplies. This means the death toll will go higher and many victims will not receive the care they need to survive.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A spokesman for the American Red Cross says the aid organization has run out of medical supplies in Haiti. said Wednesday that the small amount of medical equipment and medical supplies that were available in Haiti has be distributed.PorterfieldRed Cross spokesman Eric

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The Haitians however, being a resourceful people, are trying to make the best out of this tragedy by helping themselves.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Turning pickup trucks into ambulances and doors into stretchers, Haitians were frantically struggling to save those injured in this week’s earthquake as desperately needed aid from around the world began arriving Thursday. An Air China plane carrying a Chinese search-and-rescue team, medics and tons of food and medicine landed at Port-au-Prince airport before dawn, joining three French planes with aid and a mobile hospital, officials said. A British relief team arrived in neighboring Dominican Republic.

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Now diseases are breaking out in Haiti in the aftermath of the destruction.

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — Survivors of the earthquake in Haiti that may have killed as many as 100,000 people face deadly outbreaks of diarrhea, measles and malaria after its already fragile clean water and health-care systems were destroyed.

Even before the bodies of the dead have been removed from the rubble, health officials say it’s critical in the next few days that massive containers of water be set up throughout the capital of Port-au-Prince, temporary treatment centers established and tons of antibiotics and basic medical supplies delivered.

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Hopefully, the relief intensifies and the Haitian people will get the help they deserve. This is a human tragedy and as Americans we should help a neighboring nation filled with good people.

Here is a good charity for Haiti called Yele Haiti. Founded by Haitian-American Rapper/Producer Wyclef Jean a former Fugees member, this charity has been on the scene since minutes after the quake hit.

Another good charity is an old reliable, The Red Cross.

Please donate if you can!

Update: Haitian gangs are now fighting over food and supplies.

In some disturbing news, the 7.0 Earthquake which Rocked Haiti and was felt in neighboring Dominican Republic may have caused the deaths of 500,000 people. I called my relatives in Dominican Republic and they felt it. Imagine what the Haitians experienced. The nation, which is the poorest in the Hemisphere, was already barely functioning as a State. Many Haitians have moved to the Dominican Republic or America for a better life. Now the expatriates are trying to communicate with their homeland and are having difficulty due to the bad communication systems that nation had before the tragedy.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake flattened the president’s palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared hundreds of thousands may have perished but there was no firm count. Death was everywhere in Port-au-Prince. Bodies of tiny children were piled next to schools. Corpses of women lay on the street with stunned expressions frozen on their faces as flies began to gather. Bodies of men were covered with plastic tarps or cotton sheets.

He believes thousands were killed in Tuesday afternoon’s magnitude-7.0 quake, and the scope of the destruction prompted other officials to give even higher estimates. Leading Sen. Youri Latortue told The Associated Press that 500,000 could be dead, although he acknowledged that nobody really knows.

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Our prayers and hopes go out to the Haitian people. It is incidents like this that make one realize the fragility of humanity. Please donate if you can to a charity.