Global Medic Flight To Haiti

Georges Anglade, a Montreal university professor for 30 years, and his wife, Mireille, have been confirmed dead in the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The Anglades are the second and third Canadians to die in the catastrophic earthquake, which is the worst to hit the poverty stricken country in two centuries.

The first confirmed Canadian victim was Elmira, Ontario, nurse Yvonne Martin, who arrived in Haiti's capital on Tuesday afternoon, about 90 minutes before the earthquake hit.

The International Red Cross says up to 3-million people are in need of immediate assistance.

Canada's initial financial commitment is up to 5-million dollars, which is the typical first response with more to follow.

Canada's first advance team, the recon unit of the Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Relief Team, is on the ground Port-au-Prince.

There are two Canadian police officers there who are not yet accounted for.

The United Nations is releasing 10-(m) million dollars in emergency funds.

A C-17 cargo plane took off from C-F-B Trenton, Ontario early Thursday morning loaded with a helicopter, personnel and tonnes of equipment, food and water.

Two Canadian naval ships will also head for Haiti Thursday with another helicopter, chainsaws, generators and more relief supplies.

Three Canadian financial firms with interests in Haiti -- Desjardins Group, Scotiabank and Bank of Montreal -- are each donating at least 250-thousand dollars to Red Cross relief efforts.

Aid groups and governments are scrambling to send relief, especially medical supplies, shelter and food.

Toronto-based charitable aid group Global Medic is on its way to Haiti to provide relief.

Listen to Newstalk 1010's Ryan Bird report on Global Medics departure to Haiti.

The international community has started organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in Haiti, after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the Western Hemisphere's poorest country Tuesday.

Haiti's president says it's too soon to grasp the magnitude of Tuesday's earthquake that has absolutely devastated his country.

Rene Preval says that thousands of people may have been killed.

A Haitian senator says the death toll could be as high as a half-(m) million, but adds nobody really knows yet.

Rescuers are searching desperately through the rubble of thousands of collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital for signs of survivors.

The quake flattened much of Port-au-Prince.

Aid and military assistance is en route to the island from Canada, the U-S and other countries.

Listen to Rahul Singh, with the aid agency Global Medic, speaking to Newstalk 1010's John Moore.

The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.
The International Red Cross says an estimated three million people may have been affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

International aid groups including the Red Cross are gearing up for a major relief effort in Haiti focused on rescuing survivors and setting up field hospitals for the wounded.

Donations to support the Red Cross can be made online at http://edit2.newstalk1010.com/www.redcross.ca/helpnow, by calling toll free 1-800-418-1111 or at any Red Cross office.

A statement from the Red Cross says its response was immediate. Local volunteers continue to support evacuation activities and provide much needed shelter, clean water and medical support. The Canadian Red Cross has contributed $200,000 from its International Disaster Relief Fund and Canadian aid workers are on standby to be deployed to Haiti if needed.

Officials said it would likely take 24-48 hours before a clear picture emerges of the scale of the destruction.

You can offer support through a number of agencies, including Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Injured Haitians sat on darkened streets pleading for help Wednesday and untold numbers were trapped in tons of rubble brought down by the strongest earthquake to hit this poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years.

Destroyed communications made it impossible to tell the extent of destruction from Tuesday afternoon's 7.0-magnitude tremor or to estimate the number of dead lying among thousands of collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital.

The ornate National Palace crumbled into itself, the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission collapsed and swaths of rickety shacks lay in shambles. Clouds of dust thrown up by falling buildings choked Port-au-Prince for hours.

The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., centred just 15 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of just 5 miles 8 kilometres, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Listen to USGS geophysicist Amy Vaughan's conversation with John Moore on Newstalk 1010's "Moore in the Morning".

The quake appeared to have occurred along a strike-slip fault, where one side of a vertical fault slips horizontally past the other, said Tom Jordan, a quake expert at the University of Southern California. The quake's power and proximity to Port-au-Prince likely caused widespread casualties and structural damage, he said.

Tuesday's quake was felt in the Dominican Republic. In eastern Cuba, houses shook but no significant damage was reported.

With electricity knocked out in many places and phone service erratic, it was nearly impossible for Haitian or foreign officials to get full details of the devastation.

Haitian-Canadians have been on the phone, frantically trying to reach their relatives.

But phone lines were down, making it hard for anyone outside the country to learn if their friends and families had survived the quake.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said there are no reports of Canadians being injured in the earthquake. About 6,000 Canadians are believed to be working and living in Haiti.

Kim Greenheist is a Canadian who teaches in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Listen to her conversation with Newstalk 1010's "Live Drive" with John Tory

The Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince has been evacuated and Cannon said friends and family of Canadians in Haiti can call emergency operations centre in Ottawa at 1-800-387-3124 for assistance.

However, the department's travel advisory for Haiti, updated Tuesday after the earthquake, was still advising Canadians in need of assistance ``to make their way to the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince.''

A group of 56 people from central Ontario, on a church-sponsored mission to Haiti, were reported to be fine Tuesday night.

And a number of Canadians government agencies as well as the Department of National Defence, the RCMP and Montreal police have a presence in Haiti.

A Department of National Defence spokesman said Ottawa was trying to reach their staff via satellite phones and people on the ground were driving from one location to the other to ensure everyone was accounted for.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada stands ready to provide any necessary assistance to the people of Haiti ``during this time of need.''

He said Canada is home to a large community of Canadians of Haitian decent and ``our thoughts and prayers are with them as they seek word about the safety of their loved ones.''

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, who's of Haitian origin, said the natural disaster has hit ``a country with an extremely fragile infrastructure, where many buildings are already unstable.''

``I would like all Haitians to know that they are not alone and that the people of Canada will respond to this emergency.''

``We're hoping that there's no loss of life,'' she said in a statement.

42 Montreal police officers are in the country working for the UN.

Montreal police director Yvan Delorme said they were doing everything they could to locate the officers.

``We are treating it like it happened in Montreal,'' Delorme told a news conference late Tuesday. ``We immediately put a crisis team in operation.''

Jeff Adams, director of communications at Samaritan's Purse Canada, an international Christian relief and development organization based in Calgary, said they are already sending help.

He said they were flying in a disaster team to look at what's needed but expects that food, clean water and supplies to build shelters will be needed immediately.

Most of Haiti's nine million people are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards.

The country is the largest recipient of Canadian long-term development assistance in the Americas and the second largest in the world.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for a generous international aid response for the victims of Haiti's earthquake and has pledged concrete help from the Catholic Church.

Benedict also urged prayers for the victims and assured all those who were suffering that he was spiritually close to them and had ``implored God for consolation and relief in their suffering.''