Welcome Response

It is a horrible thing that has happened to the Haitian people. The perfect storm for earthquakes. The quake was shallow (less than 6 miles down - which intensifies the quake), it was big, over 7.0 on the Richter Scale, and it occurred in a populous place, more than 2 million people lived within 5 miles, 6 million within 20 miles, with little or no control on buildings to be earthquake proof.

The devastation is evident from the pictures that are being sent back. Every building seems flattened, bodies are lined up along the streets and large crowds gathering because they have nothing else to do and nothing to go back to. This was a country on the brink of anarchy before this massive disaster. Our prayers go out to everyone there.

It was wonderful to see the President of the United States marshaling resources to their aid. Secretaries Gates and Clinton have cut short their schedules to return to Washington DC to organize relief for Haiti. We can't prevent what has happened, we can work to make it as livable as possible for those who are alive there. The worst thing we can do is to give these people the sense that we don't care.