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DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Repairing Haiti port to take 8-10 weeks: US military

France to rebuild Haiti's presidential palace: Preval
Haitian President Rene Preval said Wednesday France has offered to rebuild the ruined presidential palace, whose collapsed cupola has become a symbol of the devastated quake-hit nation. The French "ambassador has told me that France is ready to rebuild the national palace as it was," Preval told a press conference at the government's temporary headquarters near the airport. The imposing white domed building, designed by the Haitian architect Georges Baussan, was constructed in 1918 during the time of the American occupation, and was modeled on the White House, guide books say. It overlooks the vast Champ de Mars square, now a makeshift tent city for thousands left homeless by the January 12 7.0-magnitude quake. Preval also rejected the notion that Haiti's infrastructure, such as the ports and airports, had now been placed under foreign, notably American, control. "We are in a situation which would be a catastrophe for any country, and even when there was an earthquake in Italy I saw that they called for help," Preval said, referring to a quake last April northeast of Rome which killed 299 people and left some 70,000 homeless. "Haiti was already very weak," even before the quake, he stressed. The Haitian leader also said his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy would visit the Caribbean nation, and "become the first French president to come to Haiti." Preval did not give a date for the visit.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) Jan 28, 2010
 US engineers will need eight to 10 weeks to repair a pier at the Haitian capital's crucial port after aftershocks knocked it out of operation, a US general said on Thursday.

While the southern pier undergoes repairs, the US military was deploying landing craft and floating docks to try to bring in more badly-needed relief supplies, said General Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command.

Of the port's two main piers, one was totally destroyed and one partially survived the country's massive January 12 earthquake.

The southern pier was able to operate with limited traffic but had to be shut down again Wednesday after divers detected further damage from a spate of aftershocks, Fraser told reporters by video link from Miami.

"We're looking at the repair of the pier, the south pier, that we just had to stop using yesterday," Fraser said.

Engineers estimated "it will take us eight to 10 weeks to repair that facility," he said.

The discovery of fresh damage at the southern pier dealt another setback to relief efforts as aid agencies view the port as a vital gateway for supplies and heavy equipment needed for reconstruction.

The US Navy was now transporting 200 containers a day through its temporary "over-the-shore" vessels and equipment and by next week planned to move 500 containers a day, with plans for 800 containers a day by the middle of February, he said.

The military was also looking at moving some supplies through smaller ports around Port-au-Prince, he added.

Engineering teams were planning longer-term repairs that would restore the southern pier to its pre-earthquake capacity but it was unclear how long that work would take, he said.

In a major relief operation, the US military has deployed 20,000 forces, 23 ships and more than 90 aircraft to help deliver aid and emergency medical care to survivors of the quake, he said.

Military teams have handed out nearly two million bottles of water and about 1.5 million rations since the quake struck more than two weeks ago, he added.


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DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Clinton calls for Haiti aid as girl's recovery amazes
 Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Jan 28, 2010
 Former US president Bill Clinton launched an appeal for Haiti quake victims Thursday as doctors marveled at a girl's miracle recovery after 15 days buried in the rubble without food or water. Clinton urged global corporate bosses at the World Economic Forum in Davos to use the catastrophe which killed around 170,000 people as an opportunity to lift the devastated Caribbean nation out of gene ... read more






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