I was so touched by the testimony of Olive Fernandez, a Diamond manager of our company in the Philippines, it misted my eyes. What mother or father wouldn’t?
Olive had an only child who studied in the prestigious Fordham University in New York City. After graduating he came back, but was afflicted of Hodgkin's desease (cancer of the lymph node). Olive felt that the whole world fell on her. She was depressed, but prayed hard for God’s mercy.
Imagine an only child being afflicted of cancer at a very young age of 22. He was advised to undergo chemotherapy. She consulted two physicians. One said that during chemotherapy, her son should not be given any supplement. The other physician advised supplements. So, she followed the second doctor. Being in the natural product industry, nutritional supplements were given and one of them is a double-strength multi vitamins. And you know what, “miracle of miracles”, her son did not have hair shedding, appetite was good, and he was as healthy looking as a normal individual during the chemotherapy period.
In moments of dark despair, SOS God! Of course, we have to do our part like relying also on the healing hands of doctors and the supplementations that our body need.
For more information about the products, please email me at zcsolis@gmail.com
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Texting while Driving
Some accidents happen because of texting by car/truck drivers. If we have to text, why don't we stop by the side road to keep us safe and the other motorists or pedestrians.
We need this modern technology, but we have to use it the right way.
For news on accidents about texting, read the news from CNN:
Washington (CNN) -- Drivers of commercial trucks and buses are prohibited from texting under federal guidelines that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Tuesday.
"We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe," LaHood said in a statement. "This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving."
The prohibition is effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, the Department of Transportation said in a news release.
The release did not offer specifics on how the prohibition will be enforced
One of the nation's largest groups representing professional truck drivers -- the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association -- expressed support for the goal but dismay at its implementation.
"We support where they are going, but not how they got there," said Todd Spencer, the group's executive vice president. "Making their action effective immediately bypasses normal regulatory rulemaking processes. Those processes allow actions to be vetted for unintended consequences as well as potential implementation and enforcement problems.
"We very much share in their goal, but their legal justification for taking immediate action raises many concerns."
Cracking down on distracted drivers has been a focus of LaHood's since he took office last year.
In September, he convened a two-day summit on the issue in Washington. The Transportation Department recently launched the Web site distraction.gov to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving.
And this month, LaHood and National Safety Council President Janet Froetscher announced the creation of the advocacy group FocusDriven, a nonprofit that supports the families of distracted driving victims, modeled after Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every six seconds while texting. This research shows drivers who text are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than nondistracted drivers.
Nineteen states, plus the District of Columbia and Guam, have passed laws banning texting while driving. Six states, plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, ban the use of handheld devices while driving.
President Obama also signed an executive order requiring federal employees not to text while driving government-owned vehicles or with government-owned equipment, and were ordered to comply with the move December 30.
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than 500,000 were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Eighty percent of crashes are related to driver inattention, according to a Virginia Tech study, and drivers who use handheld devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves, the National Safety Council reports.
The focus on texting while driving comes after a few high-profile accidents.
In September 2008, a California commuter train engineer missed a stop signal while trading text messages with a friend, leading to a collision with a freight train that killed 25 people, according to federal investigators.
A mass-transit accident in Boston, Massachusetts, injured 62 people in May. The operator of a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trolley later was charged with gross negligence after admitting he had been texting seconds before the collision with another trolley, according to the Suffolk County district attorney and a National Transportation Safety Board official.
We need this modern technology, but we have to use it the right way.
For news on accidents about texting, read the news from CNN:
Washington (CNN) -- Drivers of commercial trucks and buses are prohibited from texting under federal guidelines that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Tuesday.
"We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe," LaHood said in a statement. "This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving."
The prohibition is effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, the Department of Transportation said in a news release.
The release did not offer specifics on how the prohibition will be enforced
One of the nation's largest groups representing professional truck drivers -- the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association -- expressed support for the goal but dismay at its implementation.
"We support where they are going, but not how they got there," said Todd Spencer, the group's executive vice president. "Making their action effective immediately bypasses normal regulatory rulemaking processes. Those processes allow actions to be vetted for unintended consequences as well as potential implementation and enforcement problems.
"We very much share in their goal, but their legal justification for taking immediate action raises many concerns."
Cracking down on distracted drivers has been a focus of LaHood's since he took office last year.
In September, he convened a two-day summit on the issue in Washington. The Transportation Department recently launched the Web site distraction.gov to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving.
And this month, LaHood and National Safety Council President Janet Froetscher announced the creation of the advocacy group FocusDriven, a nonprofit that supports the families of distracted driving victims, modeled after Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every six seconds while texting. This research shows drivers who text are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than nondistracted drivers.
Nineteen states, plus the District of Columbia and Guam, have passed laws banning texting while driving. Six states, plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, ban the use of handheld devices while driving.
President Obama also signed an executive order requiring federal employees not to text while driving government-owned vehicles or with government-owned equipment, and were ordered to comply with the move December 30.
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than 500,000 were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Eighty percent of crashes are related to driver inattention, according to a Virginia Tech study, and drivers who use handheld devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves, the National Safety Council reports.
The focus on texting while driving comes after a few high-profile accidents.
In September 2008, a California commuter train engineer missed a stop signal while trading text messages with a friend, leading to a collision with a freight train that killed 25 people, according to federal investigators.
A mass-transit accident in Boston, Massachusetts, injured 62 people in May. The operator of a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trolley later was charged with gross negligence after admitting he had been texting seconds before the collision with another trolley, according to the Suffolk County district attorney and a National Transportation Safety Board official.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Infidelity
The other night, I heard a Philippine radio broadcaster posed this question to be responded to by listeners:
If a spouse or a mate is away on a trip, is it all right for the mate left behind to engage in cyber sex? Will it not mean infidelity?
Considering the culture of the Filipinos, surprisingly, some women responded that “yes, it is alright. Some men said, no it isn’t right.
In Matthew 5:28, the Lord said "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
What about you?
If a spouse or a mate is away on a trip, is it all right for the mate left behind to engage in cyber sex? Will it not mean infidelity?
Considering the culture of the Filipinos, surprisingly, some women responded that “yes, it is alright. Some men said, no it isn’t right.
In Matthew 5:28, the Lord said "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
What about you?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Terrorism
It is saddening to note what terrorists are resorting to to achieve their agenda.: bombings, killings like we do killing chickens and cows for our food.
Don't you feel a sense of loss when a brother is killed?
Isn't Christmas for merrymaking, remembering the birth of our Lord?
Can’t we all pray for God’s mercy, wait for God’s justice. His judgment will come at the right time.
See the news on NYTimes.com on Bin Laden:
Christmas Bombing Try Is Hailed by bin Laden
By ERIC SCHMITT and SCOTT SHANE
Published: January 24, 2010
WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, spoke publicly for the first time about the botched Christmas Day airliner bombing, praising the attempt — but not explicitly taking responsibility for it — in an audiotape broadcast Sunday that was aimed personally at President Obama.
Mr. bin Laden said that the bombing attempt was a heroic act meant to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. He warned that more strikes against the United States were looming because of American support for what he called Israel’s repression of the Palestinians, one of Mr. bin Laden’s recurring themes in his occasional audiotaped anti-West invectives.
“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” Mr. bin Laden said. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.”
Mr. bin Laden said his statement was “from Osama to Obama.”
The one-minute recording, broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel, was the first time Mr. bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border, had issued an audiotape in four months.
White House officials said they could not immediately authenticate the recording, but did not dispute that the voice was Mr. bin Laden’s. David Axelrod, a White House senior adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that whatever the source, the message “contains the same hollow justification for the mass slaughter of innocents.”
It was not clear why Mr. bin Laden waited nearly a month to say anything about the Dec. 25 bombing attempt on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, which was carried out by a passenger who sought to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear but was overpowered by other passengers. Federal investigators have said the suspect, a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, received training and the explosives in Yemen.
“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes” of Sept. 11, Mr. bin Laden said.
American and Yemeni intelligence analysts said that they believed the veracity of a statement issued Dec. 28 by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate based in Yemen, claiming responsibility for the attack.
Experts on Al Qaeda said Sunday that Mr. bin Laden’s statement did not change that assessment, since it did not explicitly claim that he or his closest associates in Pakistan played a role in planning or directing the Christmas attack.
“If you read it carefully, it’s not really a claim of responsibility,” said Steven N. Simon, senior fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He endorses the attack. He valorizes it. He says, ‘You’re going to get more of the same.’ ”
Indeed, American intelligence officials have expressed concern that the Yemeni group may have trained other suicide bombers, and Britain last week increased its terrorism threat level in advance of a conference this week in London on aid to Yemen organized by the British government.
The increasing terrorist threat from Yemen prompted Mr. Obama to decide to send Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the conference, even though that meant that Mrs. Clinton would miss Mr. Obama’s first State of the Union address, a senior administration official said.
“Prudence dictates we should assume Northwest Flight 253 was a test run for a campaign of attacks,” said Bruce O. Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer now at the Brookings Institution, a research organization. “We are putting more pressure on Al Qaeda, and it plans to hit back in Afghanistan and at home.”
Mr. Simon said Mr. bin Laden’s statement, which was very brief by Mr. bin Laden’s standards, did not suggest that he was merely belatedly claiming responsibility for an attack perceived as at least partly successful, since it penetrated airport security measures that have been greatly enhanced since the 2001 attacks.
Rather, he said, it vividly illustrated the way Al Qaeda had become a franchise, with branches of varying size and strength in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
“A franchise, just like McDonald’s, is supposed to create mutual benefits,” Mr. Simon said. “The benefit for bin Laden is he gets to associate himself with this attack. The benefit for the regional group is it gets to use the Al Qaeda name for fund-raising and recruiting.”
In the case of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the franchise relationship may be particularly close, since its current leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, once served as Mr. bin Laden’s personal secretary.
Analysts offered varying interpretations of Mr. bin Laden’s decision to highlight American support for Israel, as opposed to the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq or other grievances, as a motive for attacks. Some said the Qaeda leader was simply focusing on an issue with broad popular resonance across the Muslim world. Mr. Simon said the remarks might reflect Mr. bin Laden’s longstanding desire to create a Palestinian branch of Al Qaeda, a decade-long project that has so far made little progress.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that the recording showed that Mr. bin Laden was “still a motivating force for jihadists, Islamist extremists throughout the world.”
He added, “And so we have to stay after him.”
The last audiotape attributed to Mr. bin Laden was issued Sept. 25. It urged European nations to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, with a veiled threat of reprisals and an allusion to past bombings in Madrid and London.
The last bin Laden tape directed at the United States was issued Sept. 13, two days after the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington. That tape advised how the conflict between Al Qaeda and the United States might come to a close.
Mark Landler contributed reporting.
Don't you feel a sense of loss when a brother is killed?
Isn't Christmas for merrymaking, remembering the birth of our Lord?
Can’t we all pray for God’s mercy, wait for God’s justice. His judgment will come at the right time.
See the news on NYTimes.com on Bin Laden:
Christmas Bombing Try Is Hailed by bin Laden
By ERIC SCHMITT and SCOTT SHANE
Published: January 24, 2010
WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, spoke publicly for the first time about the botched Christmas Day airliner bombing, praising the attempt — but not explicitly taking responsibility for it — in an audiotape broadcast Sunday that was aimed personally at President Obama.
Mr. bin Laden said that the bombing attempt was a heroic act meant to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. He warned that more strikes against the United States were looming because of American support for what he called Israel’s repression of the Palestinians, one of Mr. bin Laden’s recurring themes in his occasional audiotaped anti-West invectives.
“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” Mr. bin Laden said. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.”
Mr. bin Laden said his statement was “from Osama to Obama.”
The one-minute recording, broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel, was the first time Mr. bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border, had issued an audiotape in four months.
White House officials said they could not immediately authenticate the recording, but did not dispute that the voice was Mr. bin Laden’s. David Axelrod, a White House senior adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that whatever the source, the message “contains the same hollow justification for the mass slaughter of innocents.”
It was not clear why Mr. bin Laden waited nearly a month to say anything about the Dec. 25 bombing attempt on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, which was carried out by a passenger who sought to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear but was overpowered by other passengers. Federal investigators have said the suspect, a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, received training and the explosives in Yemen.
“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes” of Sept. 11, Mr. bin Laden said.
American and Yemeni intelligence analysts said that they believed the veracity of a statement issued Dec. 28 by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate based in Yemen, claiming responsibility for the attack.
Experts on Al Qaeda said Sunday that Mr. bin Laden’s statement did not change that assessment, since it did not explicitly claim that he or his closest associates in Pakistan played a role in planning or directing the Christmas attack.
“If you read it carefully, it’s not really a claim of responsibility,” said Steven N. Simon, senior fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He endorses the attack. He valorizes it. He says, ‘You’re going to get more of the same.’ ”
Indeed, American intelligence officials have expressed concern that the Yemeni group may have trained other suicide bombers, and Britain last week increased its terrorism threat level in advance of a conference this week in London on aid to Yemen organized by the British government.
The increasing terrorist threat from Yemen prompted Mr. Obama to decide to send Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the conference, even though that meant that Mrs. Clinton would miss Mr. Obama’s first State of the Union address, a senior administration official said.
“Prudence dictates we should assume Northwest Flight 253 was a test run for a campaign of attacks,” said Bruce O. Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer now at the Brookings Institution, a research organization. “We are putting more pressure on Al Qaeda, and it plans to hit back in Afghanistan and at home.”
Mr. Simon said Mr. bin Laden’s statement, which was very brief by Mr. bin Laden’s standards, did not suggest that he was merely belatedly claiming responsibility for an attack perceived as at least partly successful, since it penetrated airport security measures that have been greatly enhanced since the 2001 attacks.
Rather, he said, it vividly illustrated the way Al Qaeda had become a franchise, with branches of varying size and strength in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
“A franchise, just like McDonald’s, is supposed to create mutual benefits,” Mr. Simon said. “The benefit for bin Laden is he gets to associate himself with this attack. The benefit for the regional group is it gets to use the Al Qaeda name for fund-raising and recruiting.”
In the case of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the franchise relationship may be particularly close, since its current leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, once served as Mr. bin Laden’s personal secretary.
Analysts offered varying interpretations of Mr. bin Laden’s decision to highlight American support for Israel, as opposed to the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq or other grievances, as a motive for attacks. Some said the Qaeda leader was simply focusing on an issue with broad popular resonance across the Muslim world. Mr. Simon said the remarks might reflect Mr. bin Laden’s longstanding desire to create a Palestinian branch of Al Qaeda, a decade-long project that has so far made little progress.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that the recording showed that Mr. bin Laden was “still a motivating force for jihadists, Islamist extremists throughout the world.”
He added, “And so we have to stay after him.”
The last audiotape attributed to Mr. bin Laden was issued Sept. 25. It urged European nations to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, with a veiled threat of reprisals and an allusion to past bombings in Madrid and London.
The last bin Laden tape directed at the United States was issued Sept. 13, two days after the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington. That tape advised how the conflict between Al Qaeda and the United States might come to a close.
Mark Landler contributed reporting.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Who Will Enter Heaven?
Some people are saying, and I was one of them; that "as long as I don't offend other people, I am very sufficient, I don't need to ask for the help of other people, it is enough."
Is it really enough? What our Lord Jesus teaches is Love your God and love your neighbor, which sums up the ten commandments.
I would like to share the reflection of Rev. Fr. Steve Tynan on today's Gospel:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONVERTED?
The story of Paul’s conversion ought to cause anyone with sense to reflect on the meaning of their life. He believes he is a man with a God-given mission and yet he is totally wrong in his most fundamental suppositions. He encounters Jesus and his life is turned upside down and inside out! It is enough to make any sinner tremble with trepidation and begin to wonder if they are really on the right path.
Paul is not bad — he is in fact a good man. However, goodness in this sense is not a measure of whether or not he has a correct understanding of either faith or God. Listening to a preacher over the last weekend, I heard him say that it is not the “good person” who will enter heaven, but the one who is obedient to God’s will. What he means is that we assign the adjective “good” to a person without understanding about salvation. Avoiding evil is a good thing but it will not get you into heaven — only God can do that. And what God requires of us in order that we might be saved and have eternal life is that we believe in Jesus and do what He commands us to do as His disciples.
Faith is not just an intellectual reality — it galvanizes us into action and causes us to become a new creation in Christ. This is the experience of Paul and it is precisely this experience that we hear about again and again in his epistles. It is not a matter of what we can achieve on our own strength but what God has done for us and what He consequently calls us to as His followers.
Jesus is different from other prophets as His life is the path to eternal life (John 14:6). It is a path of obedience — of dying to Himself and living the will of His Father. This is the example He sets out for us and calls us to as His disciples. As He tells Peter at the end of John’s Gospel, it is his faith that will lead and direct him, not his own desires. We need to pray for a level of surrender and obedience to God’s will that none of us have ever truly fathomed yet. If we do fathom it, it is certain that we will become saints.Fr. SteveTynan, MGL
For more information on Kerygma and Fr. Steve Tynan, visit http://kerymafmaily.com
Is it really enough? What our Lord Jesus teaches is Love your God and love your neighbor, which sums up the ten commandments.
I would like to share the reflection of Rev. Fr. Steve Tynan on today's Gospel:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONVERTED?
The story of Paul’s conversion ought to cause anyone with sense to reflect on the meaning of their life. He believes he is a man with a God-given mission and yet he is totally wrong in his most fundamental suppositions. He encounters Jesus and his life is turned upside down and inside out! It is enough to make any sinner tremble with trepidation and begin to wonder if they are really on the right path.
Paul is not bad — he is in fact a good man. However, goodness in this sense is not a measure of whether or not he has a correct understanding of either faith or God. Listening to a preacher over the last weekend, I heard him say that it is not the “good person” who will enter heaven, but the one who is obedient to God’s will. What he means is that we assign the adjective “good” to a person without understanding about salvation. Avoiding evil is a good thing but it will not get you into heaven — only God can do that. And what God requires of us in order that we might be saved and have eternal life is that we believe in Jesus and do what He commands us to do as His disciples.
Faith is not just an intellectual reality — it galvanizes us into action and causes us to become a new creation in Christ. This is the experience of Paul and it is precisely this experience that we hear about again and again in his epistles. It is not a matter of what we can achieve on our own strength but what God has done for us and what He consequently calls us to as His followers.
Jesus is different from other prophets as His life is the path to eternal life (John 14:6). It is a path of obedience — of dying to Himself and living the will of His Father. This is the example He sets out for us and calls us to as His disciples. As He tells Peter at the end of John’s Gospel, it is his faith that will lead and direct him, not his own desires. We need to pray for a level of surrender and obedience to God’s will that none of us have ever truly fathomed yet. If we do fathom it, it is certain that we will become saints.Fr. SteveTynan, MGL
For more information on Kerygma and Fr. Steve Tynan, visit http://kerymafmaily.com
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Killing In Appomattox, Virginia
A killing in Appomatox, Virginia. See story below from Washington Post:
Man is charged with murder in 8 Appomattox shootings
Murder suspect Christopher Speight is led out of State Police headquarters in Appomattox, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010. Speight is accused of killing eight people and leading police on an overnight manhunt.
APPOMATTOX, VA. -- Christopher Bryan Speight described himself in court papers as a dependable, hardworking person who was not quick to anger, and he showed pride in his ability to "find ways to get out of problems without using force or violence."
Friends, in letters in support of his successful 1995 application for a concealed weapons permit, called him "an upstanding, Christian young man" and "very mature and responsible."
But something happened in recent years that changed Speight, friends say.
It started when his mother died in 2006. "He said he had a 'zinging' in his ears. I can't explain it the way he explained it," said David Anderson, 54, who worked with Speight and became friendly with him. Anderson said Speight told him that he began seeing a therapist but that it didn't help much. He had grown worse recently, a change that Anderson and other co-workers attributed to tensions in his house on Snapps Mill Road. "He had gotten quieter in the past six months," Anderson said.
Something must have been building, Anderson said. On Tuesday, Speight, 39, allegedly shot his sister, his brother-in-law and their two children, along with four family friends, in a rampage that left eight dead. It was the worst mass slaying in Virginia since a single shooter killed 33 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
State police released the victims' names late Wednesday, and family friends described their relationships to Speight and his family. Killed were Lauralee Sipe, 38, Speight's sister; Dwayne Sipe, 38, his brother-in-law; Morgan Dobyns, 15, Speight's niece; Joshua Sipe, 4, his nephew; Emily A. Quarles, 15, Morgan's friend; Karen Quarles, 43, Emily's mother; Jonathan L. Quarles, 43, Emily's father; and Ronald "Bo" Scruggs II, 16, Morgan's friend. Four victims were found inside Speight's house, three immediately outside it and one in the middle of a nearby road.
Speight never married, and his sister appeared to be his only family.
Although a motive for the shootings remained elusive, friends said Speight had talked of a dispute with his family about ownership of the house and land, which sits off a dirt road in wooded farmland about 200 miles from Washington. Speight's mother had left the 34-acre property jointly to Speight and his sister, court records show.
Speight thought that his sister and brother-in-law were seeking to force him out of the house and dispossess him of it, Anderson said. Speight said that the couple, who had just moved into the three-bedroom house about a year ago, promised to help him build a home on the property and that they cleared timber for the site -- a job for which Speight thought he had done the lion's share of work. But the house was not built, and Speight confided that he felt as if he had chopped wood mostly to fill the stove, Anderson said.
On Wednesday, Speight, donning a bulletproof vest and camouflage pants, emerged from the Appomattox woods where he had fled after the shootings and turned himself in to a police SWAT team, ending a 20-hour hunt during which he used a high-powered rifle to hold police at bay, authorities said. Police said his well-aimed shots forced a state police helicopter to make an emergency landing after its fuel tank was pierced, and more than 150 law enforcement officials had been combing the woods for him overnight.
After Speight's arrest, police carefully examined his home with bomb-sniffing dogs. Technicians recovered seven explosive devices later Wednesday, the state police said.
Appomattox Commonwealth's Attorney Darrel W. Puckett said Wednesday night that Speight was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
Puckett said he would meet with law enforcement officials after the crime scene investigation is complete to determine what, if any, additional charges to pursue. Puckett said he would consider levying capital charges, which could carry the death penalty. "It's a pretty horrific thing to happen anywhere, but Appomattox is a rural community, this is my home and it's a lot of really good folks who make up the Appomattox community," Puckett said. "For something like this to happen, it just shakes everyone to the core."
County stunned
The slayings stunned this rural county, which is best known for being the place where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. News spread fast among the tight-knit community, and hundreds of young residents filled Facebook pages with photographs and memories of their three slain friends.
Co-workers who knew Speight as a calm, fervent Jehovah's Witness who liked to shoot said they were astounded by the allegations. Speight was a shooter more than a hunter, and guns were one of the main interests of his life, said Anderson, who owns the Sunshine Market No. II, where Speight worked as a contractor security guard for many years.
Anderson said he and Speight became quite friendly over the years: Speight helped him work on Anderson's cabin in Campbell County, they traded firearms and practiced target shooting at Anderson's place and at the 200-yard range Speight built on his property.
"If he had the time, he'd do anything for you," Anderson said.
Speight had collected at least 25 firearms, including black powder weapons, replicas of Old West era "cowboy"-style cap and ball six-shooters and many .223-caliber AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, which were among Speight's favorites.
"You ever been in a gun shop before, and they're all lined up across the wall? That's Chris," Anderson said.
In addition to the gun safes full of weapons, Speight also had the equipment for reloading ammunition, Anderson said. Anderson said Speight had military and paramilitary gear such as night-vision goggles and Kevlar vests. Speight also had ghillie suits, which appear covered with leaves and allow hunters or snipers to become nearly invisible in the woods.
Anderson said Speight also started to dig a 12-by-8 foot "bunker" on his land. But when his huge mastiff died, Speight buried the dog in the hole for the bunker and abandoned the idea. "He said it was a stupid idea to build it," Anderson said.
'There's another body'
Because of his love of guns, the sound of gunfire echoing from Speight's property was nothing unusual to his neighbors, who said he regularly fired rounds while hunting rabbit and deer or taking target practice in the acres of woods around the home
Shots were fired Tuesday before noon, but as a neighbor drove her Jeep by Speight's home, she noticed a body in the middle of the road.
"I figured the person might be drunk because we always hear partying over there," said Tammy Lee Randolph, 29, who lives on a farm adjacent to Speight's property. Randolph said she found a man face down on the pavement, his gray hoodie covered in blood. She called 911, and after a sheriff's deputy arrived, they turned their attention to Speight's driveway, where several cars were parked. "I was like, 'Oh my God, there's another body.' " As emergency vehicles came to back up the deputy who was first to the scene, Randolph said, someone poked a gun out of the home's window and fired seven shots. The deputy tucked his head to the microphone on his chest and yelled, "Shots being fired!"
"We took off running," Randolph said. "You could tell it was a high-powered rifle.
Authorities said Speight used a high-powered rifle to shoot at a police helicopter that had been doing surveillance, hitting it six times and sending it earthward. Police said that Speight surrendered unarmed and that officers were searching for the weapon and others.
When Speight applied for a concealed weapons permit in 1995, at 24, he wrote that firearms had been a "hobby" of his for many years and that he takes "seriously the responsibility of handling them."
Roland B. Parris Jr. of Appomattox wrote to support Speight's gun application that year, saying that Speight had participated in a National Rifle Association high-powered rifle clinic and competition, which he excelled in. "I can tell the character of a man after coaching him for two days on the rifle range," Parris wrote. "Chris did very well with high scores to prove his ability with the rifle."
Speight continued his shooting on his property, and he enjoyed target practice with others. Dakota Henderson, 17, of Appomattox, said he shot with Speight in his back yard last summer after meeting Speight's niece and dating her.
Henderson said he lost three friends in the attack, all Appomattox High students, including Morgan, his girlfriend of the past seven months. Henderson, who was at the house most recently on Saturday, said Speight was living in a basement bedroom.
Dorinda G. Grasty, superintendent of Appomattox County schools, said she would issue a statement Thursday about "the tragic loss of three of our students." The school's online calendar shows Tuesday as a day that teachers needed to attend but that students did not, which would explain why the three teenagers were at home on a school day. Two of the teens apparently were visiting with Morgan, friends said.
Henderson said the house was always kept clean and well appointed, with lots of family photos on the walls. He said that he had known Morgan since she moved to the area with her family from Georgia last summer and that he spent time at the house regularly. He said that the girl was "a very classy person and easy to get along with" and that Speight was always polite and friendly.
"He seemed like a regular guy, pretty laid back, cool," Henderson said of Speight. "I played video games with him. He was fun.
"This whole thing just makes me sad," Henderson said. "I was just hanging out with all of them last weekend, and everything seemed fine. Everything was normal."
But Speight's co-workers saw something different that same weekend. On Saturday, Speight seemed more preoccupied than ever, they said.
"Just the last time I saw him, he seemed more distant," said Tonya Maddox, 31, an employee of the store.
Anderson also noticed his withdrawal.
"He was pacing the floor Saturday night," Anderson said. "I said, 'Chris, you're going to wear a trench in the floor.' He said, 'I know, I know.' "
White reported from Washington. Staff writers Mary Pat Flaherty and Debbi Wilgoren and researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
Losing a mother or a father is very tragic. You lose some connection.
You feel so alone. I felt the same way when my mother died. My work, my relatives, and caring friends eased the pain and made me move forward.
The dark forces take advantage of the grief and aloneness one is suffering. So we should take comfort and protection from our God.
Psalm 101 is a prayer for protection.
"1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life--
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him I will not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who produces deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my prsence.
8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off all the evildoer
from the city of the Lord.
Man is charged with murder in 8 Appomattox shootings
Murder suspect Christopher Speight is led out of State Police headquarters in Appomattox, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010. Speight is accused of killing eight people and leading police on an overnight manhunt.
APPOMATTOX, VA. -- Christopher Bryan Speight described himself in court papers as a dependable, hardworking person who was not quick to anger, and he showed pride in his ability to "find ways to get out of problems without using force or violence."
Friends, in letters in support of his successful 1995 application for a concealed weapons permit, called him "an upstanding, Christian young man" and "very mature and responsible."
But something happened in recent years that changed Speight, friends say.
It started when his mother died in 2006. "He said he had a 'zinging' in his ears. I can't explain it the way he explained it," said David Anderson, 54, who worked with Speight and became friendly with him. Anderson said Speight told him that he began seeing a therapist but that it didn't help much. He had grown worse recently, a change that Anderson and other co-workers attributed to tensions in his house on Snapps Mill Road. "He had gotten quieter in the past six months," Anderson said.
Something must have been building, Anderson said. On Tuesday, Speight, 39, allegedly shot his sister, his brother-in-law and their two children, along with four family friends, in a rampage that left eight dead. It was the worst mass slaying in Virginia since a single shooter killed 33 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
State police released the victims' names late Wednesday, and family friends described their relationships to Speight and his family. Killed were Lauralee Sipe, 38, Speight's sister; Dwayne Sipe, 38, his brother-in-law; Morgan Dobyns, 15, Speight's niece; Joshua Sipe, 4, his nephew; Emily A. Quarles, 15, Morgan's friend; Karen Quarles, 43, Emily's mother; Jonathan L. Quarles, 43, Emily's father; and Ronald "Bo" Scruggs II, 16, Morgan's friend. Four victims were found inside Speight's house, three immediately outside it and one in the middle of a nearby road.
Speight never married, and his sister appeared to be his only family.
Although a motive for the shootings remained elusive, friends said Speight had talked of a dispute with his family about ownership of the house and land, which sits off a dirt road in wooded farmland about 200 miles from Washington. Speight's mother had left the 34-acre property jointly to Speight and his sister, court records show.
Speight thought that his sister and brother-in-law were seeking to force him out of the house and dispossess him of it, Anderson said. Speight said that the couple, who had just moved into the three-bedroom house about a year ago, promised to help him build a home on the property and that they cleared timber for the site -- a job for which Speight thought he had done the lion's share of work. But the house was not built, and Speight confided that he felt as if he had chopped wood mostly to fill the stove, Anderson said.
On Wednesday, Speight, donning a bulletproof vest and camouflage pants, emerged from the Appomattox woods where he had fled after the shootings and turned himself in to a police SWAT team, ending a 20-hour hunt during which he used a high-powered rifle to hold police at bay, authorities said. Police said his well-aimed shots forced a state police helicopter to make an emergency landing after its fuel tank was pierced, and more than 150 law enforcement officials had been combing the woods for him overnight.
After Speight's arrest, police carefully examined his home with bomb-sniffing dogs. Technicians recovered seven explosive devices later Wednesday, the state police said.
Appomattox Commonwealth's Attorney Darrel W. Puckett said Wednesday night that Speight was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
Puckett said he would meet with law enforcement officials after the crime scene investigation is complete to determine what, if any, additional charges to pursue. Puckett said he would consider levying capital charges, which could carry the death penalty. "It's a pretty horrific thing to happen anywhere, but Appomattox is a rural community, this is my home and it's a lot of really good folks who make up the Appomattox community," Puckett said. "For something like this to happen, it just shakes everyone to the core."
County stunned
The slayings stunned this rural county, which is best known for being the place where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. News spread fast among the tight-knit community, and hundreds of young residents filled Facebook pages with photographs and memories of their three slain friends.
Co-workers who knew Speight as a calm, fervent Jehovah's Witness who liked to shoot said they were astounded by the allegations. Speight was a shooter more than a hunter, and guns were one of the main interests of his life, said Anderson, who owns the Sunshine Market No. II, where Speight worked as a contractor security guard for many years.
Anderson said he and Speight became quite friendly over the years: Speight helped him work on Anderson's cabin in Campbell County, they traded firearms and practiced target shooting at Anderson's place and at the 200-yard range Speight built on his property.
"If he had the time, he'd do anything for you," Anderson said.
Speight had collected at least 25 firearms, including black powder weapons, replicas of Old West era "cowboy"-style cap and ball six-shooters and many .223-caliber AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, which were among Speight's favorites.
"You ever been in a gun shop before, and they're all lined up across the wall? That's Chris," Anderson said.
In addition to the gun safes full of weapons, Speight also had the equipment for reloading ammunition, Anderson said. Anderson said Speight had military and paramilitary gear such as night-vision goggles and Kevlar vests. Speight also had ghillie suits, which appear covered with leaves and allow hunters or snipers to become nearly invisible in the woods.
Anderson said Speight also started to dig a 12-by-8 foot "bunker" on his land. But when his huge mastiff died, Speight buried the dog in the hole for the bunker and abandoned the idea. "He said it was a stupid idea to build it," Anderson said.
'There's another body'
Because of his love of guns, the sound of gunfire echoing from Speight's property was nothing unusual to his neighbors, who said he regularly fired rounds while hunting rabbit and deer or taking target practice in the acres of woods around the home
Shots were fired Tuesday before noon, but as a neighbor drove her Jeep by Speight's home, she noticed a body in the middle of the road.
"I figured the person might be drunk because we always hear partying over there," said Tammy Lee Randolph, 29, who lives on a farm adjacent to Speight's property. Randolph said she found a man face down on the pavement, his gray hoodie covered in blood. She called 911, and after a sheriff's deputy arrived, they turned their attention to Speight's driveway, where several cars were parked. "I was like, 'Oh my God, there's another body.' " As emergency vehicles came to back up the deputy who was first to the scene, Randolph said, someone poked a gun out of the home's window and fired seven shots. The deputy tucked his head to the microphone on his chest and yelled, "Shots being fired!"
"We took off running," Randolph said. "You could tell it was a high-powered rifle.
Authorities said Speight used a high-powered rifle to shoot at a police helicopter that had been doing surveillance, hitting it six times and sending it earthward. Police said that Speight surrendered unarmed and that officers were searching for the weapon and others.
When Speight applied for a concealed weapons permit in 1995, at 24, he wrote that firearms had been a "hobby" of his for many years and that he takes "seriously the responsibility of handling them."
Roland B. Parris Jr. of Appomattox wrote to support Speight's gun application that year, saying that Speight had participated in a National Rifle Association high-powered rifle clinic and competition, which he excelled in. "I can tell the character of a man after coaching him for two days on the rifle range," Parris wrote. "Chris did very well with high scores to prove his ability with the rifle."
Speight continued his shooting on his property, and he enjoyed target practice with others. Dakota Henderson, 17, of Appomattox, said he shot with Speight in his back yard last summer after meeting Speight's niece and dating her.
Henderson said he lost three friends in the attack, all Appomattox High students, including Morgan, his girlfriend of the past seven months. Henderson, who was at the house most recently on Saturday, said Speight was living in a basement bedroom.
Dorinda G. Grasty, superintendent of Appomattox County schools, said she would issue a statement Thursday about "the tragic loss of three of our students." The school's online calendar shows Tuesday as a day that teachers needed to attend but that students did not, which would explain why the three teenagers were at home on a school day. Two of the teens apparently were visiting with Morgan, friends said.
Henderson said the house was always kept clean and well appointed, with lots of family photos on the walls. He said that he had known Morgan since she moved to the area with her family from Georgia last summer and that he spent time at the house regularly. He said that the girl was "a very classy person and easy to get along with" and that Speight was always polite and friendly.
"He seemed like a regular guy, pretty laid back, cool," Henderson said of Speight. "I played video games with him. He was fun.
"This whole thing just makes me sad," Henderson said. "I was just hanging out with all of them last weekend, and everything seemed fine. Everything was normal."
But Speight's co-workers saw something different that same weekend. On Saturday, Speight seemed more preoccupied than ever, they said.
"Just the last time I saw him, he seemed more distant," said Tonya Maddox, 31, an employee of the store.
Anderson also noticed his withdrawal.
"He was pacing the floor Saturday night," Anderson said. "I said, 'Chris, you're going to wear a trench in the floor.' He said, 'I know, I know.' "
White reported from Washington. Staff writers Mary Pat Flaherty and Debbi Wilgoren and researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
Losing a mother or a father is very tragic. You lose some connection.
You feel so alone. I felt the same way when my mother died. My work, my relatives, and caring friends eased the pain and made me move forward.
The dark forces take advantage of the grief and aloneness one is suffering. So we should take comfort and protection from our God.
Psalm 101 is a prayer for protection.
"1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life--
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him I will not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who produces deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my prsence.
8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off all the evildoer
from the city of the Lord.
Strong 6.1 Haiti Aftershock
A strong after shock of 6.1 magnitude is experienced by the Haitians, the strongest of the more than 40 after shocks.
Let's keep on praying for God's mercy.
For the full story, follow it at http://globalbreakingnews-zeny.blogspot.com
Let's keep on praying for God's mercy.
For the full story, follow it at http://globalbreakingnews-zeny.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Haiti Disaster
In all the things that are happening in our lives, there are reasons that we do not understand. God's ways are not our ways. What happened in Haiti could be God's call to us to wake up in our lethargy.
In Isaiah 45:7, the Lord says:
"I form the light and create darkness
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things."
The Lord wants us unified, for we are all His adopted children. Whatever denomination we belong to, whether we are Christians or Muslims, we should be one in our faith in God.
For our unification, visit www.onedate.org.
I would like to share this ruminations by Anne Applebaum on the Haiti Disaster.
Haiti Is a Man-Made DisasterRecovery will require a profound cultural and political change.
By Anne Applebaum
Read more about the Haiti earthquake in Slate.
For the past several days, I have found myself unable to look at the photographs from Haiti. I have also found that when I start reading an article datelined Port-au-Prince, I have to force myself to read to the end of it. I have donated money to Doctors Without Borders, on the grounds that it has been in Haiti a long time and will be able to use the cash quickly. However, I have no illusions about my tiny donation, or about the organization's ability to help. I have no illusions about anyone's ability to help, for this is not just a natural disaster: It is a man-made disaster first and foremost, and so it will remain.
Though the earthquake was a powerful one, its impact was multiplied many, many times by the weakness of civil society and the absence of rule of law in Haiti. As Roger Noriega has written, "You can literally see [the] dysfunction from space": Satellite photos of Hispaniola, the island split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, show green forests on the Dominican side and bare, deforested hills on the Haitian side. Mudslides and collapsing houses were routine in Haiti, even before this disaster. Laws designed to prevent erosion, and building codes designed to prevent criminally shoddy construction, were ignored. The rickety slums of Port-au-Prince were constructed in ravines and on steep, unstable hills. When they collapsed, they collapsed completely.
So weak were Haiti's public institutions, literally and figuratively, that nothing is left of them, either. Parliament, churches, hospitals, and government offices no longer exist.* The archbishop is dead. The head of the U.N. mission is dead. There is a real possibility that violent gangs will emerge to take their place, to control food supplies, to loot what remains to be looted. There is a real possibility, within the coming days, of epidemics, mass starvation, and civil war.
I don't remember feeling this utter hopelessness about previous natural disasters. Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, or Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were equally horrific scenes, and equally terrible stories: Whole villages swept away, people drowned in their houses, American families wading through water with their possessions on their heads. But—following the initial chaos in both places—it was possible to coordinate basic assistance. In fact, the victims of Katrina were moved quickly out of New Orleans: Remember the buses to Texas, the Americans who offered their spare rooms to homeless families, the churches and schools that "adopted" refugees from the Gulf coast. Although I would never claim that the result is satisfactory—neither the city nor the adjacent coastline will ever be rebuilt as it was, hundreds of thousands of people will never truly recover—at least there were no epidemics, no mass starvation, no civil war.
The same is true in Indonesia. It is even possible to read assessments of the worst-hit places, such as the island of Aceh—from the World Bank, for example—that describe life there as better than ever before. I am certain that many disagree. However, there are no scenes there of what everyone always calls "biblical" tragedy. Indonesia is not a society of utopian perfection, and neither is the United States. But both have enough social cohesion to support indigenous charities, both have enough educated people to plan reconstruction, both are capable of absorbing lessons learned, of rebuilding villages and cities with an eye to future floods, of helping their own refugees resettle.
Haiti does not have these kinds of internal resources, which means that all the reconstruction expertise will have to come from outside. Most of it will come from the United States. Yet for all the obvious historical reasons, this outside expertise will be unacceptable to many Haitians, who will see it as a colonial imposition, unwarranted interference in local affairs, cultural imperialism. Armed U.S. Marines may wind up in fire fights with those violent gangs. Local elites—those who remain—may plot to swindle the aid missions out of their food and money.
I hope I am wrong. I am sure there are optimists out there, people who think this is Haiti's chance to reconstruct itself, literally and figuratively, to rebuild government institutions, to attract donors and investment. Bill Clinton is such an optimist, and I am very, very glad that he and his wife spent their honeymoon in Haiti. How fortunate, at this moment, that the country has such powerful friends. Yet I also know that a successful recovery and reconstruction will require not just friends, not just money, and not just optimism, but a profound cultural and political change, the kind of change that normally takes decades. And Haiti does not have decades, it has days—maybe hours—before fresh disasters strike.
Correction, Jan. 17, 2010: This article originally stated that Haitian President René Préval was out of the country. (Return to the corrected sentence.)
In Isaiah 45:7, the Lord says:
"I form the light and create darkness
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things."
The Lord wants us unified, for we are all His adopted children. Whatever denomination we belong to, whether we are Christians or Muslims, we should be one in our faith in God.
For our unification, visit www.onedate.org.
I would like to share this ruminations by Anne Applebaum on the Haiti Disaster.
Haiti Is a Man-Made DisasterRecovery will require a profound cultural and political change.
By Anne Applebaum
Read more about the Haiti earthquake in Slate.
For the past several days, I have found myself unable to look at the photographs from Haiti. I have also found that when I start reading an article datelined Port-au-Prince, I have to force myself to read to the end of it. I have donated money to Doctors Without Borders, on the grounds that it has been in Haiti a long time and will be able to use the cash quickly. However, I have no illusions about my tiny donation, or about the organization's ability to help. I have no illusions about anyone's ability to help, for this is not just a natural disaster: It is a man-made disaster first and foremost, and so it will remain.
Though the earthquake was a powerful one, its impact was multiplied many, many times by the weakness of civil society and the absence of rule of law in Haiti. As Roger Noriega has written, "You can literally see [the] dysfunction from space": Satellite photos of Hispaniola, the island split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, show green forests on the Dominican side and bare, deforested hills on the Haitian side. Mudslides and collapsing houses were routine in Haiti, even before this disaster. Laws designed to prevent erosion, and building codes designed to prevent criminally shoddy construction, were ignored. The rickety slums of Port-au-Prince were constructed in ravines and on steep, unstable hills. When they collapsed, they collapsed completely.
So weak were Haiti's public institutions, literally and figuratively, that nothing is left of them, either. Parliament, churches, hospitals, and government offices no longer exist.* The archbishop is dead. The head of the U.N. mission is dead. There is a real possibility that violent gangs will emerge to take their place, to control food supplies, to loot what remains to be looted. There is a real possibility, within the coming days, of epidemics, mass starvation, and civil war.
I don't remember feeling this utter hopelessness about previous natural disasters. Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, or Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were equally horrific scenes, and equally terrible stories: Whole villages swept away, people drowned in their houses, American families wading through water with their possessions on their heads. But—following the initial chaos in both places—it was possible to coordinate basic assistance. In fact, the victims of Katrina were moved quickly out of New Orleans: Remember the buses to Texas, the Americans who offered their spare rooms to homeless families, the churches and schools that "adopted" refugees from the Gulf coast. Although I would never claim that the result is satisfactory—neither the city nor the adjacent coastline will ever be rebuilt as it was, hundreds of thousands of people will never truly recover—at least there were no epidemics, no mass starvation, no civil war.
The same is true in Indonesia. It is even possible to read assessments of the worst-hit places, such as the island of Aceh—from the World Bank, for example—that describe life there as better than ever before. I am certain that many disagree. However, there are no scenes there of what everyone always calls "biblical" tragedy. Indonesia is not a society of utopian perfection, and neither is the United States. But both have enough social cohesion to support indigenous charities, both have enough educated people to plan reconstruction, both are capable of absorbing lessons learned, of rebuilding villages and cities with an eye to future floods, of helping their own refugees resettle.
Haiti does not have these kinds of internal resources, which means that all the reconstruction expertise will have to come from outside. Most of it will come from the United States. Yet for all the obvious historical reasons, this outside expertise will be unacceptable to many Haitians, who will see it as a colonial imposition, unwarranted interference in local affairs, cultural imperialism. Armed U.S. Marines may wind up in fire fights with those violent gangs. Local elites—those who remain—may plot to swindle the aid missions out of their food and money.
I hope I am wrong. I am sure there are optimists out there, people who think this is Haiti's chance to reconstruct itself, literally and figuratively, to rebuild government institutions, to attract donors and investment. Bill Clinton is such an optimist, and I am very, very glad that he and his wife spent their honeymoon in Haiti. How fortunate, at this moment, that the country has such powerful friends. Yet I also know that a successful recovery and reconstruction will require not just friends, not just money, and not just optimism, but a profound cultural and political change, the kind of change that normally takes decades. And Haiti does not have decades, it has days—maybe hours—before fresh disasters strike.
Correction, Jan. 17, 2010: This article originally stated that Haitian President René Préval was out of the country. (Return to the corrected sentence.)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
HaitianEarthquake worse than the 2004 tsunami
Haitian survivors are in despair, but hope is seen as aids come in.
However, violence erupted in some places, people fighting for goods.
As of last Saturday, search crew could still hear a survivor.
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman said that the damage done by the earthquake is worse than the 2004 tsunami.
For full story, read ...
msnbc.com news services
updated 11:52 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of the ruined Haitian capital, but the island's despair threatened to spark a frenzy in places.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, standing in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as U.S. military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
As desperation rose, looting turned violent in Port-au-Prince, when a mob of 1,000 people fought for goods in a central commercial street, a Reuters witness said.
Two Dominican men providing aid were shot in Port-au-Prince, WNBC reported, citing Dominican state police. Carlos Gattar and Melton Matos were giving out food when they were attacked by someone with a shotgun, police said. The severity of the injuries was unclear.
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians fled the capital to seek shelter with friends and relatives. Many simply walked with bags on their heads and shoulders; others packed cars and trucks with possessions, lining up for hours at gasoline stations to fill up.
Across the hilly, steamy city, people choked on the stench of death, and hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel.
But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor," search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on.
Elsewhere, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard deep in the ruins of a multistory supermarket that pancaked on top of them.
Nobody knew how many were dead. In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Associated Press that 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
'Everything is damaged'
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and U.N. capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Port-au-Price to pledge more American assistance, and President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to urge Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
As the day wore on, search teams recovered the body of Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, the United Nations chief of mission in Haiti, and other top U.N. officials who were killed when their headquarters collapsed.
Despite many obstacles, the pace of aid delivery was picking up.
The Haitian government had established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and U.S. Army helicopters were reconnoitering for more. With eight city hospitals destroyed or damaged, aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
Thousands lined up in the Cite Soleil slum as U.N. World Food Program workers distributed high-energy biscuits there for the first time. As the hot sun set, the crew was down to just a few dozen boxes left from six truckloads. Perhaps 10,000 people were still waiting patiently, futilely, in line.
Seven months' pregnant, and with two children, 29-year-old Florence Louis clutched her four packets. "It is enough, because I didn't have anything at all," she said.
50,000 in tent city
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital. Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division flew there Saturday to set up a base for handing out water and food.
After the initial frenzy among the waiting crowd, when helicopters could only hover and toss out their cargo, a second flight landed and soldiers passed out some 2,000 military-issue ready-to-eat meals to an orderly line of Haitians.
More American help was on the way: The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort steamed from the port of Baltimore on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive here Thursday. More than 2,000 Marines were set to sail from North Carolina to support aid delivery and provide security.
Nightly News
But for the estimated 300,000 newly homeless in the streets, plazas and parks of Port-au-Prince, help was far from assured.
"They're already starting to deliver food and water, but it's mayhem. People are hungry, everybody is asking for water," said Alain Denis, a resident of the Thomassin district.
Denis's home was intact, and he and his elderly parents have some reserves, but, he said, "in a week, I don't know."
Airport congestion
Aid delivery was still bogged down by congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport, quake damage at the seaport, poor roads and the fear of looters and robbers.
The problems at the overloaded airport forced a big Red Cross aid mission to strike out overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic. The convoy included up to 10 trucks carrying temporary shelters, a 50-bed field hospital and some 60 medical specialists.
"It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said from the Dominican capital.
Another convoy from the Dominican Republic steered toward a U.N. base in Port-au-Prince without stopping, its leaders fearful of sparking a riot if they handed out aid themselves.
The airport congestion touched off diplomatic rows between the U.S. military and other donor nations.
France and Brazil both lodged official complaints that the U.S. military, in control of the international airport, had denied landing permission to relief flights from their countries.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who has 7,000 Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti, warned against viewing the rescue effort as a unilateral American mission.
The squabbling prompted Haitian President Rene Preval, speaking with the AP, to urge all to "keep our cool and coordinate and not throw accusations."
At a simpler level, unending logistical difficulties dogged the relief effort.
A commercial-sized jet landed with rescue and medical teams from Qatar, only to find problems offloading food aid. They asked the U.S. military for help, surgeon Dr. Mootaz Aly said, and were told: "We're busy."
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, the U.S. leadership promised to step up aid efforts. In Washington, Obama joined with his two most recent White House predecessors to appeal for Americans to donate to the cause.
"We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience," he said.
Their resilience was truly being tested, however.
On a back street in Port-au-Prince, a half-dozen young men ripped water pipes off walls to suck out the few drops inside. "This is very, very bad, but I am too thirsty," said Pierre Louis Delmar.
Outside a warehouse, hundreds of desperate Haitians simply dropped to their knees when workers for the agency Food for the Poor announced they would distribute rice, beans and other supplies. "They started praying right then and there," said project director Clement Belizaire.
Children and the elderly were asked to step first into line, and some 1,500 people got food, soap and rubber sandals until supplies ran out, he said.
The aid official was overcome by the tragic scene. "This was the darkest day of everybody living in Port-au-Prince," he said.
Let’s pray that the Haitians will be able to recover soon, with the help of the humanitarian people and that the Haitians seek refuge from God.
Please pray the following from Psalm 57:1
` Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,
for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
Until the disaster has passed.
However, violence erupted in some places, people fighting for goods.
As of last Saturday, search crew could still hear a survivor.
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman said that the damage done by the earthquake is worse than the 2004 tsunami.
For full story, read ...
msnbc.com news services
updated 11:52 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of the ruined Haitian capital, but the island's despair threatened to spark a frenzy in places.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, standing in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as U.S. military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
As desperation rose, looting turned violent in Port-au-Prince, when a mob of 1,000 people fought for goods in a central commercial street, a Reuters witness said.
Two Dominican men providing aid were shot in Port-au-Prince, WNBC reported, citing Dominican state police. Carlos Gattar and Melton Matos were giving out food when they were attacked by someone with a shotgun, police said. The severity of the injuries was unclear.
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians fled the capital to seek shelter with friends and relatives. Many simply walked with bags on their heads and shoulders; others packed cars and trucks with possessions, lining up for hours at gasoline stations to fill up.
Across the hilly, steamy city, people choked on the stench of death, and hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel.
But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor," search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on.
Elsewhere, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard deep in the ruins of a multistory supermarket that pancaked on top of them.
Nobody knew how many were dead. In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Associated Press that 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
'Everything is damaged'
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and U.N. capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Port-au-Price to pledge more American assistance, and President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to urge Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
As the day wore on, search teams recovered the body of Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, the United Nations chief of mission in Haiti, and other top U.N. officials who were killed when their headquarters collapsed.
Despite many obstacles, the pace of aid delivery was picking up.
The Haitian government had established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and U.S. Army helicopters were reconnoitering for more. With eight city hospitals destroyed or damaged, aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
Thousands lined up in the Cite Soleil slum as U.N. World Food Program workers distributed high-energy biscuits there for the first time. As the hot sun set, the crew was down to just a few dozen boxes left from six truckloads. Perhaps 10,000 people were still waiting patiently, futilely, in line.
Seven months' pregnant, and with two children, 29-year-old Florence Louis clutched her four packets. "It is enough, because I didn't have anything at all," she said.
50,000 in tent city
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital. Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division flew there Saturday to set up a base for handing out water and food.
After the initial frenzy among the waiting crowd, when helicopters could only hover and toss out their cargo, a second flight landed and soldiers passed out some 2,000 military-issue ready-to-eat meals to an orderly line of Haitians.
More American help was on the way: The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort steamed from the port of Baltimore on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive here Thursday. More than 2,000 Marines were set to sail from North Carolina to support aid delivery and provide security.
Nightly News
But for the estimated 300,000 newly homeless in the streets, plazas and parks of Port-au-Prince, help was far from assured.
"They're already starting to deliver food and water, but it's mayhem. People are hungry, everybody is asking for water," said Alain Denis, a resident of the Thomassin district.
Denis's home was intact, and he and his elderly parents have some reserves, but, he said, "in a week, I don't know."
Airport congestion
Aid delivery was still bogged down by congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport, quake damage at the seaport, poor roads and the fear of looters and robbers.
The problems at the overloaded airport forced a big Red Cross aid mission to strike out overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic. The convoy included up to 10 trucks carrying temporary shelters, a 50-bed field hospital and some 60 medical specialists.
"It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said from the Dominican capital.
Another convoy from the Dominican Republic steered toward a U.N. base in Port-au-Prince without stopping, its leaders fearful of sparking a riot if they handed out aid themselves.
The airport congestion touched off diplomatic rows between the U.S. military and other donor nations.
France and Brazil both lodged official complaints that the U.S. military, in control of the international airport, had denied landing permission to relief flights from their countries.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who has 7,000 Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti, warned against viewing the rescue effort as a unilateral American mission.
The squabbling prompted Haitian President Rene Preval, speaking with the AP, to urge all to "keep our cool and coordinate and not throw accusations."
At a simpler level, unending logistical difficulties dogged the relief effort.
A commercial-sized jet landed with rescue and medical teams from Qatar, only to find problems offloading food aid. They asked the U.S. military for help, surgeon Dr. Mootaz Aly said, and were told: "We're busy."
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, the U.S. leadership promised to step up aid efforts. In Washington, Obama joined with his two most recent White House predecessors to appeal for Americans to donate to the cause.
"We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience," he said.
Their resilience was truly being tested, however.
On a back street in Port-au-Prince, a half-dozen young men ripped water pipes off walls to suck out the few drops inside. "This is very, very bad, but I am too thirsty," said Pierre Louis Delmar.
Outside a warehouse, hundreds of desperate Haitians simply dropped to their knees when workers for the agency Food for the Poor announced they would distribute rice, beans and other supplies. "They started praying right then and there," said project director Clement Belizaire.
Children and the elderly were asked to step first into line, and some 1,500 people got food, soap and rubber sandals until supplies ran out, he said.
The aid official was overcome by the tragic scene. "This was the darkest day of everybody living in Port-au-Prince," he said.
Let’s pray that the Haitians will be able to recover soon, with the help of the humanitarian people and that the Haitians seek refuge from God.
Please pray the following from Psalm 57:1
` Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,
for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
Until the disaster has passed.
Haitians and the Humanitarian Aid
Haitian survivors are in despair, but hope is seen as aids come in.
However, violence erupted in some places, people fighting for goods.
As of last Saturday, search crew could still hear a survivor.
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman said that the damage done by the earthquake is worse than the 2004 tsunami.
For full story, read ...
msnbc.com news services
updated 11:52 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of the ruined Haitian capital, but the island's despair threatened to spark a frenzy in places.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, standing in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as U.S. military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
As desperation rose, looting turned violent in Port-au-Prince, when a mob of 1,000 people fought for goods in a central commercial street, a Reuters witness said.
Two Dominican men providing aid were shot in Port-au-Prince, WNBC reported, citing Dominican state police. Carlos Gattar and Melton Matos were giving out food when they were attacked by someone with a shotgun, police said. The severity of the injuries was unclear.
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians fled the capital to seek shelter with friends and relatives. Many simply walked with bags on their heads and shoulders; others packed cars and trucks with possessions, lining up for hours at gasoline stations to fill up.
Across the hilly, steamy city, people choked on the stench of death, and hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel.
But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor," search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on.
Elsewhere, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard deep in the ruins of a multistory supermarket that pancaked on top of them.
Nobody knew how many were dead. In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Associated Press that 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
'Everything is damaged'
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and U.N. capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Port-au-Price to pledge more American assistance, and President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to urge Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
As the day wore on, search teams recovered the body of Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, the United Nations chief of mission in Haiti, and other top U.N. officials who were killed when their headquarters collapsed.
Despite many obstacles, the pace of aid delivery was picking up.
The Haitian government had established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and U.S. Army helicopters were reconnoitering for more. With eight city hospitals destroyed or damaged, aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
Thousands lined up in the Cite Soleil slum as U.N. World Food Program workers distributed high-energy biscuits there for the first time. As the hot sun set, the crew was down to just a few dozen boxes left from six truckloads. Perhaps 10,000 people were still waiting patiently, futilely, in line.
Seven months' pregnant, and with two children, 29-year-old Florence Louis clutched her four packets. "It is enough, because I didn't have anything at all," she said.
50,000 in tent city
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital. Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division flew there Saturday to set up a base for handing out water and food.
After the initial frenzy among the waiting crowd, when helicopters could only hover and toss out their cargo, a second flight landed and soldiers passed out some 2,000 military-issue ready-to-eat meals to an orderly line of Haitians.
More American help was on the way: The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort steamed from the port of Baltimore on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive here Thursday. More than 2,000 Marines were set to sail from North Carolina to support aid delivery and provide security.
Nightly News
But for the estimated 300,000 newly homeless in the streets, plazas and parks of Port-au-Prince, help was far from assured.
"They're already starting to deliver food and water, but it's mayhem. People are hungry, everybody is asking for water," said Alain Denis, a resident of the Thomassin district.
Denis's home was intact, and he and his elderly parents have some reserves, but, he said, "in a week, I don't know."
Airport congestion
Aid delivery was still bogged down by congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport, quake damage at the seaport, poor roads and the fear of looters and robbers.
The problems at the overloaded airport forced a big Red Cross aid mission to strike out overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic. The convoy included up to 10 trucks carrying temporary shelters, a 50-bed field hospital and some 60 medical specialists.
"It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said from the Dominican capital.
Another convoy from the Dominican Republic steered toward a U.N. base in Port-au-Prince without stopping, its leaders fearful of sparking a riot if they handed out aid themselves.
The airport congestion touched off diplomatic rows between the U.S. military and other donor nations.
France and Brazil both lodged official complaints that the U.S. military, in control of the international airport, had denied landing permission to relief flights from their countries.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who has 7,000 Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti, warned against viewing the rescue effort as a unilateral American mission.
The squabbling prompted Haitian President Rene Preval, speaking with the AP, to urge all to "keep our cool and coordinate and not throw accusations."
At a simpler level, unending logistical difficulties dogged the relief effort.
A commercial-sized jet landed with rescue and medical teams from Qatar, only to find problems offloading food aid. They asked the U.S. military for help, surgeon Dr. Mootaz Aly said, and were told: "We're busy."
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, the U.S. leadership promised to step up aid efforts. In Washington, Obama joined with his two most recent White House predecessors to appeal for Americans to donate to the cause.
"We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience," he said.
Their resilience was truly being tested, however.
On a back street in Port-au-Prince, a half-dozen young men ripped water pipes off walls to suck out the few drops inside. "This is very, very bad, but I am too thirsty," said Pierre Louis Delmar.
Outside a warehouse, hundreds of desperate Haitians simply dropped to their knees when workers for the agency Food for the Poor announced they would distribute rice, beans and other supplies. "They started praying right then and there," said project director Clement Belizaire.
Children and the elderly were asked to step first into line, and some 1,500 people got food, soap and rubber sandals until supplies ran out, he said.
The aid official was overcome by the tragic scene. "This was the darkest day of everybody living in Port-au-Prince," he said.
Let’s pray that the Haitians will be able to recover soon, with the help of the humanitarian people and that the Haitians seek refuge from God.
Please pray the following from Psalm 57:1
` Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,
for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
Until the disaster has passed.
However, violence erupted in some places, people fighting for goods.
As of last Saturday, search crew could still hear a survivor.
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman said that the damage done by the earthquake is worse than the 2004 tsunami.
For full story, read ...
msnbc.com news services
updated 11:52 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of the ruined Haitian capital, but the island's despair threatened to spark a frenzy in places.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, standing in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as U.S. military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
As desperation rose, looting turned violent in Port-au-Prince, when a mob of 1,000 people fought for goods in a central commercial street, a Reuters witness said.
Two Dominican men providing aid were shot in Port-au-Prince, WNBC reported, citing Dominican state police. Carlos Gattar and Melton Matos were giving out food when they were attacked by someone with a shotgun, police said. The severity of the injuries was unclear.
Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians fled the capital to seek shelter with friends and relatives. Many simply walked with bags on their heads and shoulders; others packed cars and trucks with possessions, lining up for hours at gasoline stations to fill up.
Across the hilly, steamy city, people choked on the stench of death, and hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel.
But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor," search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on.
Elsewhere, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew got water to three survivors whose shouts could be heard deep in the ruins of a multistory supermarket that pancaked on top of them.
Nobody knew how many were dead. In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Associated Press that 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
'Everything is damaged'
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and U.N. capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Port-au-Price to pledge more American assistance, and President Barack Obama met with former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to urge Americans to donate to Haiti relief efforts.
As the day wore on, search teams recovered the body of Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi, the United Nations chief of mission in Haiti, and other top U.N. officials who were killed when their headquarters collapsed.
Despite many obstacles, the pace of aid delivery was picking up.
The Haitian government had established 14 distribution points for food and other supplies, and U.S. Army helicopters were reconnoitering for more. With eight city hospitals destroyed or damaged, aid groups opened five emergency health centers. Vital gear, such as water-purification units, was arriving from abroad.
Thousands lined up in the Cite Soleil slum as U.N. World Food Program workers distributed high-energy biscuits there for the first time. As the hot sun set, the crew was down to just a few dozen boxes left from six truckloads. Perhaps 10,000 people were still waiting patiently, futilely, in line.
Seven months' pregnant, and with two children, 29-year-old Florence Louis clutched her four packets. "It is enough, because I didn't have anything at all," she said.
50,000 in tent city
On a hillside golf course, perhaps 50,000 people were sleeping in a makeshift tent city overlooking the stricken capital. Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division flew there Saturday to set up a base for handing out water and food.
After the initial frenzy among the waiting crowd, when helicopters could only hover and toss out their cargo, a second flight landed and soldiers passed out some 2,000 military-issue ready-to-eat meals to an orderly line of Haitians.
More American help was on the way: The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort steamed from the port of Baltimore on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive here Thursday. More than 2,000 Marines were set to sail from North Carolina to support aid delivery and provide security.
Nightly News
But for the estimated 300,000 newly homeless in the streets, plazas and parks of Port-au-Prince, help was far from assured.
"They're already starting to deliver food and water, but it's mayhem. People are hungry, everybody is asking for water," said Alain Denis, a resident of the Thomassin district.
Denis's home was intact, and he and his elderly parents have some reserves, but, he said, "in a week, I don't know."
Airport congestion
Aid delivery was still bogged down by congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport, quake damage at the seaport, poor roads and the fear of looters and robbers.
The problems at the overloaded airport forced a big Red Cross aid mission to strike out overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic. The convoy included up to 10 trucks carrying temporary shelters, a 50-bed field hospital and some 60 medical specialists.
"It's not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now. The airport is completely congested," Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said from the Dominican capital.
Another convoy from the Dominican Republic steered toward a U.N. base in Port-au-Prince without stopping, its leaders fearful of sparking a riot if they handed out aid themselves.
The airport congestion touched off diplomatic rows between the U.S. military and other donor nations.
France and Brazil both lodged official complaints that the U.S. military, in control of the international airport, had denied landing permission to relief flights from their countries.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who has 7,000 Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti, warned against viewing the rescue effort as a unilateral American mission.
The squabbling prompted Haitian President Rene Preval, speaking with the AP, to urge all to "keep our cool and coordinate and not throw accusations."
At a simpler level, unending logistical difficulties dogged the relief effort.
A commercial-sized jet landed with rescue and medical teams from Qatar, only to find problems offloading food aid. They asked the U.S. military for help, surgeon Dr. Mootaz Aly said, and were told: "We're busy."
As relief teams grappled with on-the-ground obstacles, the U.S. leadership promised to step up aid efforts. In Washington, Obama joined with his two most recent White House predecessors to appeal for Americans to donate to the cause.
"We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience," he said.
Their resilience was truly being tested, however.
On a back street in Port-au-Prince, a half-dozen young men ripped water pipes off walls to suck out the few drops inside. "This is very, very bad, but I am too thirsty," said Pierre Louis Delmar.
Outside a warehouse, hundreds of desperate Haitians simply dropped to their knees when workers for the agency Food for the Poor announced they would distribute rice, beans and other supplies. "They started praying right then and there," said project director Clement Belizaire.
Children and the elderly were asked to step first into line, and some 1,500 people got food, soap and rubber sandals until supplies ran out, he said.
The aid official was overcome by the tragic scene. "This was the darkest day of everybody living in Port-au-Prince," he said.
Let’s pray that the Haitians will be able to recover soon, with the help of the humanitarian people and that the Haitians seek refuge from God.
Please pray the following from Psalm 57:1
` Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,
for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
Until the disaster has passed.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Haiti Tragedy
Tens of thousands have died in the Haiti 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
One woman going home from work was not able to reach home when the earthquake hit. She was buried in rubble for two days. When she was rescued and interviewed, she said that she never stopped praying during the said two days.
She has her faith, and even before this tragedy, she is a prayerful person.
For more stories and video about Haiti earthquake, visit cnn.com
I always tell my sons and the people I have the chance to talk with, to pray in the morning and evening before going to bed, do ACTS (adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication).Offer the new day to God and SOS God in case of an urgent need.
One woman going home from work was not able to reach home when the earthquake hit. She was buried in rubble for two days. When she was rescued and interviewed, she said that she never stopped praying during the said two days.
She has her faith, and even before this tragedy, she is a prayerful person.
For more stories and video about Haiti earthquake, visit cnn.com
I always tell my sons and the people I have the chance to talk with, to pray in the morning and evening before going to bed, do ACTS (adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication).Offer the new day to God and SOS God in case of an urgent need.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Death Toll in Haiti Eathquake
The death toll in the Haiti earthquake may reach 100,000. Please send your help, material and prayer.
See story below:
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Rescue workers struggled to clear rubble and bodies Wednesday from the streets of Haiti's "flattened" capital, where a government official said the death toll from Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake may exceed 100,000.
Thousands of injured people waited for care outside badly damaged hospitals, while an unknown number remained trapped inside collapsed buildings. Basic services like water and electricity were out, and Haitian President Rene Preval said his government needs help clearing streets so rescuers can reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
"We need medicine. We need medical help in general," Preval told CNN. "Some of the hospitals, they collapsed."
People were digging though the rubble of leveled buildings with their hands Wednesday, looking for survivors or bodies, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported from Port-au-Prince. Other CNN correspondents in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs reported whole blocks of collapsed buildings, with dozens of bodies piled in the streets.
Video images captured just moments after the temblor show dust-covered survivors rushing through the streets, yelling in terror. Others trapped in buildings are seen punching out debris and bricks, and shouting for help and trying to squeeze themselves out through cracks in the structures.
Port-au-Prince "is flattened," said Haiti's consul general to the U.N., Felix Augustin, who said he believed more than 100,000 people were dead.
But Preval said other estimates ranged from 30,000 to 50,000.
"It's too early to give a number," Preval said.
Hear the prime minister describe the situation Video
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It could be felt strongly in eastern Cuba, more than 200 miles away.
The earthquake's power matched that of several nuclear bombs, said Roger Searle, a professor of geophysics in the Earth Sciences Department at Durham University in England. He said the combination of its magnitude and geographical shallowness made it particularly dangerous.
About 3 million people -- one-third of Haiti's population -- were affected by the quake, the Red Cross said. About 10 million people most likely felt shaking from the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
AC360 Blog: Anderson outside Haiti's National Cathedral
As night fell over the island Wednesday, gunshots sounded off in Port-au-Prince. Screams and wails could be heard with each aftershock. Some people who still had homes refused to go inside, fearing collapse. Scores huddled together in parks and sidewalks, trying to get rest.
Though planes carrying aid began arriving Wednesday, humanitarian groups struggled to get the supplies to victims due to the poor roads and debris.
There was no clear system for clearing debris, removing bodies and treating the injured, officials and journalists reported.
"Simply getting through the streets to collect the dead bodies is seemingly an impossible task," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported from the capital, where shooting could be heard in the background. "There's hardly any heavy machinery to try and dig through the rubble -- people are doing it by hand.
"The hospitals themselves -- the destination of those patients who might survive -- they're nonexistent or have a terrible infrastructure," Gupta said.
Haiti native and "Heroes" cast member Jimmy Jean-Louis was searching for his elderly parents in Haiti on Wednesday. He said the Haitian government is not up to addressing the overwhelming nature of the disaster.
"Just as an example ... we had one school that collapsed -- one school, and we were unable to take care of that," he said, referring to a November 2008 incident that killed 90 people in Petionville, Haiti. "This year, we have the entire city [of Port-au-Prince] that collapsed, including the major points such as hospitals, hotels and even the presidential palace."
Former President Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, appealed to the public to support programs that will provide food, water, shelter and medical supplies to the impoverished country.
"The most important thing you can do is not to send those supplies, but to send cash" to relief agencies, Clinton said.
Governments and agencies across the globe geared up to help, including rescue teams from China, Iceland and France, Haiti's onetime colonial ruler; aid flights and 3 million euros ($4.35 million) from Spain; doctors from Cuba; and a field hospital from Russia.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations plans to release $10 million in aid immediately, while the World Bank pledged another $100 million Wednesday afternoon.
President Obama promised a "swift, coordinated and aggressive" response from the United States.
"The reports and images that we've seen of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching," Obama said.
Watch survivors describe what they saw Video
Clinton also urged international leaders to fulfill their previous donor commitments to Haiti.
"Most countries are way behind on fulfilling it. ... If you can provide any emergency help, if you can give us helicopters or basic medical supplies -- we need that," Clinton said.
The U.S. military is working to get ground and air assessments of the damage, with Coast Guard cutters, airplanes and choppers deploying to the scene, and Navy ships preparing to leave.
Death is like a thief in the night. To console the mourners, please read the following verse from the Bible:
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 1 "A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
See story below:
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Rescue workers struggled to clear rubble and bodies Wednesday from the streets of Haiti's "flattened" capital, where a government official said the death toll from Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake may exceed 100,000.
Thousands of injured people waited for care outside badly damaged hospitals, while an unknown number remained trapped inside collapsed buildings. Basic services like water and electricity were out, and Haitian President Rene Preval said his government needs help clearing streets so rescuers can reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
"We need medicine. We need medical help in general," Preval told CNN. "Some of the hospitals, they collapsed."
People were digging though the rubble of leveled buildings with their hands Wednesday, looking for survivors or bodies, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported from Port-au-Prince. Other CNN correspondents in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs reported whole blocks of collapsed buildings, with dozens of bodies piled in the streets.
Video images captured just moments after the temblor show dust-covered survivors rushing through the streets, yelling in terror. Others trapped in buildings are seen punching out debris and bricks, and shouting for help and trying to squeeze themselves out through cracks in the structures.
Port-au-Prince "is flattened," said Haiti's consul general to the U.N., Felix Augustin, who said he believed more than 100,000 people were dead.
But Preval said other estimates ranged from 30,000 to 50,000.
"It's too early to give a number," Preval said.
Hear the prime minister describe the situation Video
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It could be felt strongly in eastern Cuba, more than 200 miles away.
The earthquake's power matched that of several nuclear bombs, said Roger Searle, a professor of geophysics in the Earth Sciences Department at Durham University in England. He said the combination of its magnitude and geographical shallowness made it particularly dangerous.
About 3 million people -- one-third of Haiti's population -- were affected by the quake, the Red Cross said. About 10 million people most likely felt shaking from the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
AC360 Blog: Anderson outside Haiti's National Cathedral
As night fell over the island Wednesday, gunshots sounded off in Port-au-Prince. Screams and wails could be heard with each aftershock. Some people who still had homes refused to go inside, fearing collapse. Scores huddled together in parks and sidewalks, trying to get rest.
Though planes carrying aid began arriving Wednesday, humanitarian groups struggled to get the supplies to victims due to the poor roads and debris.
There was no clear system for clearing debris, removing bodies and treating the injured, officials and journalists reported.
"Simply getting through the streets to collect the dead bodies is seemingly an impossible task," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported from the capital, where shooting could be heard in the background. "There's hardly any heavy machinery to try and dig through the rubble -- people are doing it by hand.
"The hospitals themselves -- the destination of those patients who might survive -- they're nonexistent or have a terrible infrastructure," Gupta said.
Haiti native and "Heroes" cast member Jimmy Jean-Louis was searching for his elderly parents in Haiti on Wednesday. He said the Haitian government is not up to addressing the overwhelming nature of the disaster.
"Just as an example ... we had one school that collapsed -- one school, and we were unable to take care of that," he said, referring to a November 2008 incident that killed 90 people in Petionville, Haiti. "This year, we have the entire city [of Port-au-Prince] that collapsed, including the major points such as hospitals, hotels and even the presidential palace."
Former President Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, appealed to the public to support programs that will provide food, water, shelter and medical supplies to the impoverished country.
"The most important thing you can do is not to send those supplies, but to send cash" to relief agencies, Clinton said.
Governments and agencies across the globe geared up to help, including rescue teams from China, Iceland and France, Haiti's onetime colonial ruler; aid flights and 3 million euros ($4.35 million) from Spain; doctors from Cuba; and a field hospital from Russia.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations plans to release $10 million in aid immediately, while the World Bank pledged another $100 million Wednesday afternoon.
President Obama promised a "swift, coordinated and aggressive" response from the United States.
"The reports and images that we've seen of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching," Obama said.
Watch survivors describe what they saw Video
Clinton also urged international leaders to fulfill their previous donor commitments to Haiti.
"Most countries are way behind on fulfilling it. ... If you can provide any emergency help, if you can give us helicopters or basic medical supplies -- we need that," Clinton said.
The U.S. military is working to get ground and air assessments of the damage, with Coast Guard cutters, airplanes and choppers deploying to the scene, and Navy ships preparing to leave.
Death is like a thief in the night. To console the mourners, please read the following verse from the Bible:
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 1 "A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
Haiti Earthquake
After last week's California earthquake, Haiti was hit by an earthquake of 7.00 magnitude.
For full story see below:
Injured Haitians plead for help after quake
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Gravely injured Haitians pleaded for help Wednesday after the strongest earthquake to hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from humble shacks to the National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers.
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 the collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital of about 2 million people. Among the missing was the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.
International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said an estimated 3 million people may have been affected by the quake and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge. Clouds of dust thrown up by falling buildings choked Port-au-Prince for hours.
The United States and other nations began organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.
Associated Press journalists based in Port-au-Prince found the damage staggering even for a country long accustomed to tragedy and disaster.
Aftershocks rattled the city as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares long after nightfall, singing hymns.
It was clear tens of thousands lost their homes and many perished in collapsed buildings that were flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions.
"The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles, a former senator, said as he helped survivors. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together."
An Associated Press videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside Port-au-Prince district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as the poor.
At a destroyed four-story apartment building, a girl of about 16 stood atop a car, trying to peer inside while several men pulled at a foot sticking from rubble. She said her family was inside.
U.N. peacekeepers, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
At least four Brazilian soldiers were killed and five injured, Brazil's army said. Jordan's official news agency said three of its peacekeepers were killed and 21 were injured. A state newspaper in China said eight Chinese peacekeepers were known dead and 10 were missing — though officials later said the information was not confirmed.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said late Tuesday that the missing included mission chief Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, who was in the building when the quake struck. Some 9,000 peacekeepers have been in Haiti since 2004, including 1,266 Brazilians.
Much of the National Palace pancaked on itself, but Haiti's ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said President Rene Preval and his wife survived the earthquake. He had no details.
The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
Most of Haiti's 9 million people are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of buildings were shoddily built and unsafe in normal circumstances.
Tuesday's quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place.
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.
"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official visiting Port-au-Prince. "The sky is just gray with dust."
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that U.S. Embassy personnel were "literally in the dark" after power failed.
"They reported structures down. They reported a lot of walls down. They did see a number of bodies in the street and on the sidewalk that had been hit by debris. So clearly, there's going to be serious loss of life in this," he said.
President Barack Obama offered prayers for the people of Haiti and said the U.S. stood ready to help. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was offering full assistance — civilian and military — and a national organization of registered nurses called for nurse volunteers to provide care in Haiti.
Elizabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s humanitarian office, said it was working with independent aid agency Telecoms Sans Frontieres to get phone lines working again — a key element in organizing relief efforts.
Venezuela's government said it would send a military plane with canned foods, medicine and drinking water and provide 50 rescue workers. Mexico, which suffered an earthquake in 1985 that killed some 10,000 people, planned to send doctors, search and rescue dogs and infrastructure damage experts.
Italy said it was sending a C-130 cargo plane Wednesday with a field hospital and emergency medical personnel as well as a team to assess aid needs. France said 65 clearing specialists, with six sniffer dogs, and two doctors and two nurses were leaving.
Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the Internet and watching TV news reports.
"You want to go there, but you just have to wait," she said. "Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it's unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this."
___
Associated Press videographer Pierre Richard Luxama in Haiti and AP writers David Koop and Olga R. Rodriguez in Mexico City; David McFadden and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Matthew Lee in Washington; Alicia Chang in Los Angeles; Andrea Rodriguez in Havana; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Fla.; and Jennifer Kay and Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this report.
We have seen the signs of the end time, let's call on our Lord Jesus for mercy, through our mediatrix, Mama Mary.
http://globalbreaking news-zeny.blogspot.com
For full story see below:
Injured Haitians plead for help after quake
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Gravely injured Haitians pleaded for help Wednesday after the strongest earthquake to hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from humble shacks to the National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers.
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 the collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital of about 2 million people. Among the missing was the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.
International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said an estimated 3 million people may have been affected by the quake and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge. Clouds of dust thrown up by falling buildings choked Port-au-Prince for hours.
The United States and other nations began organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.
Associated Press journalists based in Port-au-Prince found the damage staggering even for a country long accustomed to tragedy and disaster.
Aftershocks rattled the city as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares long after nightfall, singing hymns.
It was clear tens of thousands lost their homes and many perished in collapsed buildings that were flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions.
"The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles, a former senator, said as he helped survivors. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together."
An Associated Press videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside Port-au-Prince district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as the poor.
At a destroyed four-story apartment building, a girl of about 16 stood atop a car, trying to peer inside while several men pulled at a foot sticking from rubble. She said her family was inside.
U.N. peacekeepers, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
At least four Brazilian soldiers were killed and five injured, Brazil's army said. Jordan's official news agency said three of its peacekeepers were killed and 21 were injured. A state newspaper in China said eight Chinese peacekeepers were known dead and 10 were missing — though officials later said the information was not confirmed.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said late Tuesday that the missing included mission chief Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, who was in the building when the quake struck. Some 9,000 peacekeepers have been in Haiti since 2004, including 1,266 Brazilians.
Much of the National Palace pancaked on itself, but Haiti's ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said President Rene Preval and his wife survived the earthquake. He had no details.
The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
Most of Haiti's 9 million people are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of buildings were shoddily built and unsafe in normal circumstances.
Tuesday's quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place.
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.
"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official visiting Port-au-Prince. "The sky is just gray with dust."
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that U.S. Embassy personnel were "literally in the dark" after power failed.
"They reported structures down. They reported a lot of walls down. They did see a number of bodies in the street and on the sidewalk that had been hit by debris. So clearly, there's going to be serious loss of life in this," he said.
President Barack Obama offered prayers for the people of Haiti and said the U.S. stood ready to help. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was offering full assistance — civilian and military — and a national organization of registered nurses called for nurse volunteers to provide care in Haiti.
Elizabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s humanitarian office, said it was working with independent aid agency Telecoms Sans Frontieres to get phone lines working again — a key element in organizing relief efforts.
Venezuela's government said it would send a military plane with canned foods, medicine and drinking water and provide 50 rescue workers. Mexico, which suffered an earthquake in 1985 that killed some 10,000 people, planned to send doctors, search and rescue dogs and infrastructure damage experts.
Italy said it was sending a C-130 cargo plane Wednesday with a field hospital and emergency medical personnel as well as a team to assess aid needs. France said 65 clearing specialists, with six sniffer dogs, and two doctors and two nurses were leaving.
Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the Internet and watching TV news reports.
"You want to go there, but you just have to wait," she said. "Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it's unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this."
___
Associated Press videographer Pierre Richard Luxama in Haiti and AP writers David Koop and Olga R. Rodriguez in Mexico City; David McFadden and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Matthew Lee in Washington; Alicia Chang in Los Angeles; Andrea Rodriguez in Havana; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Fla.; and Jennifer Kay and Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this report.
We have seen the signs of the end time, let's call on our Lord Jesus for mercy, through our mediatrix, Mama Mary.
http://globalbreaking news-zeny.blogspot.com
Monday, January 11, 2010
Our Lord Jesus' message on Dec 14 09
This our Lord Jesus Christ's message to us through Vassula Ryden of Tlig.org on December 14, 2009.
Take heed!
Testify my child on My behalf and in My Name, and speak and tell this generation:
do not listen anymore to false prophets who keep stroking you with caresses telling you that all is well and that you have improved when you, at the same time who call yourself a Christian do not behave like one, for you hardly act on My Words in the Gospel; for I tell you, if your virtue in being a Christian goes no deeper than the godless ones, My Father, not recognizing Me in you will never allow you to enter in Our Kingdom! My Father’s wrath will unleash on you; have you not learnt that My severity is as great as My Mercy? You who sell yourself to your surrounding as a good Christian, giving them this false image of Christianity, when you are just the opposite, you will be uncovered and your sin as well; and you, you whose tongue never stopped judging unjustly, your sin will recoil on your own head; My anger rages against your sort and I will judge you for your conduct as it deserves;
you who cannot forgive and forget as I forgive and forget, My Father too will hold that sin against you! Yahweh is near, coming with all speed, so tell Me, where will you hide? To lead a sinful life is to belong to the devil; you have learnt in which manner you will be judged when you are unwilling to reconcile with the one you still hold a grudge against him; I tell you, this sin of unwillingness to come to terms with the one you hold responsible, will be bitterly paid by you till the last penny; have I not said: you must love your neighbour as yourself and even more that you must learn to love your enemies? Well, what have My Eyes been witnessing? I have been witnessing a meager lot who truly follow My ways, but the majority are in sin and doing Satan’s work; do not deceive yourselves, for in these coming days you are bound for destruction because you are not following My Word*1; if anyone refuses to this day to obey My principles My Father too will refuse him an abode in heaven; and you who have taken My Name*2, yet act in violence, anger and pride, that same scourge your sharp tongue used on your brothers, you will receive likewise and your sin will condemn you; and you who still sleep in your apathy and lethargy do not think that I have not noticed you, you will be ranked among the pagans and you will be reaping what you have sown;
as for the apostates, they will taste the fire of hell! My Father’s wrath is lit up with this evil and pervert generation; how can I hold back His Arm furthermore from lashing on you? Turn back from your evil ways was Our constant theme, but good and bad have been refusing to abandon their ways of life; the good for not taking My Words seriously in these messages and acting on them, the bad for refusing to be saved, refusing My Mercy, refusing My Hand; tell Me what will you do when you realize that Day that you are mere clay and that clay without My Presence within you, you are nothing but dust?
disaster is just around the corner and the foliage will turn dry; amend all of you your conduct and actions, let not destruction overtake you; take the right course and stop your abominations and your perversions; set your heart on Me your Lord, if not you will crumble down in ashes like a burnt city;
now, even if I distressed you, even for a mere moment, it was out of the greatness of the love I have for you; I want to lead you to repentance and save you; I want lips that are clean to invoke My Holy Name, especially in these days where My Holy Name will be profaned and mean nothing to many while they celebrate My birth without honour and praise; repent all of you and focus on Me; and pray that this generation’s guilt will not be the cause of your destruction; otherwise the Father’s wrath will lead Him to cry out: enough! And His fiery rage will cover many nations and the world will disintegrate; happy the man who listens to Me now and purifies himself; I will support him;
I am Jesus Christ and am the Author of these Messages and I am known to govern you with lenience; I am known to flower you if you are willing and if need I water you with My Tears; I am known as the Good Shepherd who never abandons His sheep; I lead you into green pastures, but when treaties are broken, witnesses that I am sending despised and rejected, could I keep silent? When I know you are heading to a fatal destruction, would I not react? On that Day of the Father’s wrath those who had forgotten Me, will remember Me; and they will be treated accordingly;
Many indeed ask, what sins? sins that I have mentioned and sins of your blasphemy against My Holy Spirit, sins of your rebellion and of your division, sins of perversion that are an abomination in My Eyes, sins of prejudice, sins of contempt, of corruption, of haughtiness, of pride, sins of degradation and of lethargy, the world is polluted with sin; understand now how My Sacred Heart is offended and is in pain; master your thoughts and sin no more; never forget Me, Vassula, and let My people know of My warnings; I am here; ic
*1 Holy Bible
*2 Christians
Then our Lady said:
Follow and write down all that My Son has given you, never fear
Take heed!
Testify my child on My behalf and in My Name, and speak and tell this generation:
do not listen anymore to false prophets who keep stroking you with caresses telling you that all is well and that you have improved when you, at the same time who call yourself a Christian do not behave like one, for you hardly act on My Words in the Gospel; for I tell you, if your virtue in being a Christian goes no deeper than the godless ones, My Father, not recognizing Me in you will never allow you to enter in Our Kingdom! My Father’s wrath will unleash on you; have you not learnt that My severity is as great as My Mercy? You who sell yourself to your surrounding as a good Christian, giving them this false image of Christianity, when you are just the opposite, you will be uncovered and your sin as well; and you, you whose tongue never stopped judging unjustly, your sin will recoil on your own head; My anger rages against your sort and I will judge you for your conduct as it deserves;
you who cannot forgive and forget as I forgive and forget, My Father too will hold that sin against you! Yahweh is near, coming with all speed, so tell Me, where will you hide? To lead a sinful life is to belong to the devil; you have learnt in which manner you will be judged when you are unwilling to reconcile with the one you still hold a grudge against him; I tell you, this sin of unwillingness to come to terms with the one you hold responsible, will be bitterly paid by you till the last penny; have I not said: you must love your neighbour as yourself and even more that you must learn to love your enemies? Well, what have My Eyes been witnessing? I have been witnessing a meager lot who truly follow My ways, but the majority are in sin and doing Satan’s work; do not deceive yourselves, for in these coming days you are bound for destruction because you are not following My Word*1; if anyone refuses to this day to obey My principles My Father too will refuse him an abode in heaven; and you who have taken My Name*2, yet act in violence, anger and pride, that same scourge your sharp tongue used on your brothers, you will receive likewise and your sin will condemn you; and you who still sleep in your apathy and lethargy do not think that I have not noticed you, you will be ranked among the pagans and you will be reaping what you have sown;
as for the apostates, they will taste the fire of hell! My Father’s wrath is lit up with this evil and pervert generation; how can I hold back His Arm furthermore from lashing on you? Turn back from your evil ways was Our constant theme, but good and bad have been refusing to abandon their ways of life; the good for not taking My Words seriously in these messages and acting on them, the bad for refusing to be saved, refusing My Mercy, refusing My Hand; tell Me what will you do when you realize that Day that you are mere clay and that clay without My Presence within you, you are nothing but dust?
disaster is just around the corner and the foliage will turn dry; amend all of you your conduct and actions, let not destruction overtake you; take the right course and stop your abominations and your perversions; set your heart on Me your Lord, if not you will crumble down in ashes like a burnt city;
now, even if I distressed you, even for a mere moment, it was out of the greatness of the love I have for you; I want to lead you to repentance and save you; I want lips that are clean to invoke My Holy Name, especially in these days where My Holy Name will be profaned and mean nothing to many while they celebrate My birth without honour and praise; repent all of you and focus on Me; and pray that this generation’s guilt will not be the cause of your destruction; otherwise the Father’s wrath will lead Him to cry out: enough! And His fiery rage will cover many nations and the world will disintegrate; happy the man who listens to Me now and purifies himself; I will support him;
I am Jesus Christ and am the Author of these Messages and I am known to govern you with lenience; I am known to flower you if you are willing and if need I water you with My Tears; I am known as the Good Shepherd who never abandons His sheep; I lead you into green pastures, but when treaties are broken, witnesses that I am sending despised and rejected, could I keep silent? When I know you are heading to a fatal destruction, would I not react? On that Day of the Father’s wrath those who had forgotten Me, will remember Me; and they will be treated accordingly;
Many indeed ask, what sins? sins that I have mentioned and sins of your blasphemy against My Holy Spirit, sins of your rebellion and of your division, sins of perversion that are an abomination in My Eyes, sins of prejudice, sins of contempt, of corruption, of haughtiness, of pride, sins of degradation and of lethargy, the world is polluted with sin; understand now how My Sacred Heart is offended and is in pain; master your thoughts and sin no more; never forget Me, Vassula, and let My people know of My warnings; I am here; ic
*1 Holy Bible
*2 Christians
Then our Lady said:
Follow and write down all that My Son has given you, never fear
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Separation Killing
Why do we have to resort to killing if confronted by a spouse who is having an affair?
It is really heartbreaking for a spouse finding the partner having an affair, especially if you are working in a foreign country, simply to have a better financial life for the family.
There are many broken families in the Philippines because either one of the spouses finds another mate. Loneliness and exposure to temptation could be the cause of the affair, if you are alone, that is, without God in your midst. Our hearts should be clean to avoid succumbing to temptation. Be guided by this:
Matthew 15:19-20
19 "For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony,slander.
20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating
with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
But why resort to killing, God allows separation if one partner commits adultery or cuncubinage.
Read the tragic story of the spouses killed...
Tanod shot dead by wife who kills self
By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines – A couple were found dead inside their house in Quezon City Sunday morning, with the police saying the woman probably killed her husband and then took her life.
Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry Abad of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit identified the victims as Maximo Arafiles and his wife, Merlinda. Both were 47 years old.
Arafiles was a barangay tanod (watchman) while Merlinda, who worked in Canada, was in the country on vacation.
The police said the bodies were discovered by the couple’s 14-year-old daughter in their house on Bayanihan Street, Barangay Commonwealth, at around 8 a.m. yesterday.
Arafiles was found sprawled on the bed in the master bedroom with a gunshot wound in the back. Beside him was his wife’s pillow and underneath it was his .38 cal. revolver.
Merlinda, on the other hand, was found in the living room with a knife beside her. Her wrists had been slashed.
Abad said that based on their initial investigation, Merlinda probably shot her husband and then killed herself due to rumors that Arafiles was having an affair
It is really heartbreaking for a spouse finding the partner having an affair, especially if you are working in a foreign country, simply to have a better financial life for the family.
There are many broken families in the Philippines because either one of the spouses finds another mate. Loneliness and exposure to temptation could be the cause of the affair, if you are alone, that is, without God in your midst. Our hearts should be clean to avoid succumbing to temptation. Be guided by this:
Matthew 15:19-20
19 "For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony,slander.
20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating
with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
But why resort to killing, God allows separation if one partner commits adultery or cuncubinage.
Read the tragic story of the spouses killed...
Tanod shot dead by wife who kills self
By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines – A couple were found dead inside their house in Quezon City Sunday morning, with the police saying the woman probably killed her husband and then took her life.
Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry Abad of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit identified the victims as Maximo Arafiles and his wife, Merlinda. Both were 47 years old.
Arafiles was a barangay tanod (watchman) while Merlinda, who worked in Canada, was in the country on vacation.
The police said the bodies were discovered by the couple’s 14-year-old daughter in their house on Bayanihan Street, Barangay Commonwealth, at around 8 a.m. yesterday.
Arafiles was found sprawled on the bed in the master bedroom with a gunshot wound in the back. Beside him was his wife’s pillow and underneath it was his .38 cal. revolver.
Merlinda, on the other hand, was found in the living room with a knife beside her. Her wrists had been slashed.
Abad said that based on their initial investigation, Merlinda probably shot her husband and then killed herself due to rumors that Arafiles was having an affair
Saturday, January 9, 2010
California Quake
Disasters are all around us, the latest is the California quake which registered at 6.5. We can only pray that no one is injured.
For more info, read...
6.5 earthquake reported off of Eureka, Calif. [Updated]
Los Angeles Times -
Preliminary reports indicate the earthquake, along the Russ fault, was felt as far away as San Francisco. [Updated: 5 pm: Sandra Hall, owner of Antiques and Goodies in Eureka, said the quake moved her shop in all directions.
For more info, read...
6.5 earthquake reported off of Eureka, Calif. [Updated]
Los Angeles Times -
Preliminary reports indicate the earthquake, along the Russ fault, was felt as far away as San Francisco. [Updated: 5 pm: Sandra Hall, owner of Antiques and Goodies in Eureka, said the quake moved her shop in all directions.
SWS Survey on Aquino and Villar
Image from philippinecandidacy.blogspot.com/2009/11/sen-.The upcoming election is fast approaching. At this time, do you have the right candidate for the positions, the candidates that are vying for? It is difficult to discern on who is the rightul one. It is not only the candidate we have to consider, we also have to consider ourselves.
Be guided by 1 Samuel 12:13-15 "Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king for you. 14 If you fear the Lord and serve and obey Him and do not rebel against His commandments, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God-good! 15But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers."
Noynoy Aquino has been leading in the SWS survey, but his lead has been narrowing in favor of Manny Villar.
Who should it be for President, a very responsible position that should be given to a God-fearing person so he could lead the country to greatness!
For news on SWS survey, read on...
Villar cuts Aquino lead
NP camp solicited latest SWS survey
By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The lead of Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno Aquino III over his nearest rival, Sen. Manny Villar, of the Nacionalista Party has been narrowed to 11 percent, according to a recent Social Weather Stations survey commissioned by a Villar ally.
Aquino was the choice of 44 percent of 2,100 respondents across the country in the SWS special yearend survey conducted from Dec. 27 to 28, 2009.
Villar obtained 33 percent, narrowing the gap with Aquino to 11 percent, and improving his ratings from the 27 percent he got in the earlier Dec. 5-10 SWS survey.
The survey was privately commissioned by House Minority Leader San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, a Villar ally, and was released to Senate reporters by Villar’s office.
A statement issued by Villar’s office said the senator “seems to have benefited from the shift in voting preference over the last three weeks in December as respondents start to put a premium on proven competence, leadership and accomplishments.”
A comparison of the two surveys showed that Villar had added six percentage points in the three weeks between the two survey dates.
Aquino obtained 46 percent in the earlier survey, leading Villar by 19 percentage points.
Deposed president Joseph Estrada remained in third place but shed one percentage point in the new SWS survey to 15 percent, from his previous 16 percent.
Laggards
In fourth place was Lakas-Kampi-CMD candidate Gilbert Teodoro, Aquino’s cousin, whose performance remained at 5 percent, similar to his December 5-10 rating.
Evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva’s ratings also did not move at 1 percent.
The independent candidates continued to lag behind.
Sen. Richard Gordon scored 0.5 percent from his earlier 0.9 percent, while Sen. Jamby Madrigal and John Carlos de los Reyes of Kapatiran tied with 0.4 percent each from their previous 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
From four percent in the earlier survey, only 1 percent of the respondents in the Dec. 27-28 survey were undecided.
The national survey titled “presidential preference for the 2010 elections,” had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percent.
The respondents were asked this question in Filipino: “From the following list of names, who are you likely to vote for as President of the Philippines, if elections were held today?”
Unfazed front runner
Contacted for comment, Aquino was unfazed, saying he knew his closest rival for the presidency was not gaining at his expense.
“I have not seen the survey but if it is true that his ratings jumped and mine stayed the same, I’m not worried about that,’’ said Aquino in a phone interview.
Aquino said that his ratings stayed virtually unchanged from a survey made by the SWS in the same month was proof of his “staying power.’’
“Look, they’ve thrown all the black propaganda that they could muster against me and still my ratings remain high. He (Villar) has poured billions into the campaign while I have spent just a trickle,” said Aquino.
Catching up by March
Gilbert Remulla, the NP spokesperson, said the campaign expected Villar’s ratings to be on par with Aquino’s by March, “as we can see the trending of surveys and [candidates’] popularity.”
“The NP is really confident that that will happen. We are happy because we can see that every time Senator Villar goes around the country, the support for him is increasing,” Remulla told a press conference.
Remulla, who is also running for the Senate, credited the boost in Villar’s ratings to the latter’s advertising drive in television and radio.
“But it’s not just advertising, it’s the message that you are trying to get across. What’s his message, his vision? He wants the people to prosper,” Remulla said.
Villar said he is the genuine rags-to-riches presidential candidate, said Remulla.
“The NP with the leadership of Senator Villar will be able to save (people) from poverty,” he said.
Villar’s campaign has anchored his bid on his promise—supposedly backed by experience and accomplishments—to lift the Filipino people from poverty.
Methodology questioned
Ernesto Maceda, Estrada’s campaign manager, dismissed the SWS survey, saying it was biased for Villar and the methodology used was questionable.
Maceda noted that the survey was comissioned by the Villar campaign.
“As far as we are concerned, we take this with a grain of salt... If you total the scores, it comes to 99 plus percent. I have never seen a survey where you don’t have 2 to 3 percent of undecided votes,” he said.
Maceda said some voters were not yet supporting Estrada, who was ousted in 2001 and convicted for plunder in 2007, because of disqualification cases filed against him.
“Once we get a favorable decision, we expect an increase. We are happy where we are right now,” he said.
At least three lawyers have filed petitions with the Commission on Elections to disqualify Estrada on the ground that as a former president he was banned from running for office again.
Beauty, Brains, Strength
I would like to begin this post with the verses from
Proverbs 15:11-4
1
Kimberly Jul Luna was very young, beautiful, brainy. She was an AB English student at the Mindanao State University before she joined the NPA.
Why do we have to use harsh force for reform? Let's not rely on our own strength to battle the evil. Let's rely on God. Call Him for support and guidance.
Read more...
Brainy beauty joins NPA, dies in Bukidnon
By Jeffrey M. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—Hers was a campus life spent mostly at late night parties and drinking sprees, waking up the next day with a nasty hangover. Still, she got good grades.
Kemberly Jul Luna’s binges seemed normal for someone studying at a state university, living alone but often surrounded by friends drawn by her natural charm and intelligence, who fondly called her “Kimay.”
The 21-year-old Kemberly, however, traded her little comforts for the cold and the unknown world in the mountains of Bukidnon. There, her small joys and miseries were easily swallowed up by the people’s wretchedness; it became easy for her to redeem herself from old habits that were slowly causing her decay.
She was doing well with the peasants of Bukidnon, her friends thought, until that fateful day when a bullet pierced her right breast and went through her nape in Sitio Bulacao, Barangay Concepcion, City of Valencia. It was 10 days before Christmas.
Gun battle lasted for days
Army Maj. Michelle Anayron, spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, said Kemberly was killed in an encounter with soldiers belonging to the 8th Infantry Battalion.
“The soldiers were on foot patrol when they chanced upon the NPA encampment,” Anayron said. The gun battle, which started at 10 a.m., lasted for days, he added.
Kemberly died a member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA). She was Adriane, Joshua, or Ma’am Nurse to the people she had worked with in the highlands.
Her body, already rotting, was found dumped, along with seven other guerrillas, deep in the forest of Concepcion, days after the Dec. 15 encounter.
Kemberly was an AB English student at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) before she joined the communist movement in early 2009.
A mix of charm, bravery
Mark Jason Tan Cesar, spokesperson of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights (Stand-MSU-IIT), remembers Kemberly as a merry mixture of charm and bravery.
“She was really beautiful and surprisingly brave and determined. She was not scared to speak her mind out. She was a risk-taker,” Cesar said of Kemberly, a former ad hoc chair of the university’s student opposition party.
Kemberly was popular on campus not only because of her physical attributes and intelligence, but also because of her flair for music and dance. She was once a member of the university’s cultural dance group Kalimulan.
She was doing well in her studies. She was a high school valedictorian back in her hometown of Tubod, Surigao del Norte.
“But her ultimate dream was to serve the people—the poor … the masses,” Cesar said.
Friendster account
In her Friendster account “shoutout” last updated on Dec. 12, 2008, Kemberly quoted Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong: “It is man’s social being that determines his thinking—once the correct ideas and characteristics of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force which changes society and the world.”
Her heart for the poor and the oppressed could have been influenced by her involvement with the Catholic Center Campus Ministry as a leader of its educational committee.
“There, amidst the daily Masses, boarding house meetings and other activities, she concluded that faith without action is dead. She always sought ways to show that her Christian faith will not be confined to empty words and prayers, but will be brought out to the real world and be coupled with relevant action based on concrete conditions,” said a statement by Stand-MSU-IIT.
“She believed that faith should not be a lifeless dogma. She believed that just like Jesus, one must bring faith to serving the people—without thought of oneself. And just like Jesus, to die in service of the poor and oppressed,” the group added.
Political awakening
But even when she was active with the ministry, she still lived a happy-go-lucky life. Not that she was not serious in her involvement, but because she was not really that “politically awakened.”
Kemberly’s ministry work helped her see the realities surrounding the poor and the oppressed, but her political maturity started when she became involved with the League of Filipino Students (LFS). She joined the militant group in February 2008.
“Kimay’s remolding inside the LFS was different. It was so fast that it surprised many of those who knew her. The drinking and the parties were replaced by her attendance at meetings and discussions on the political situation in the country,” said Gary Ben Villocino, LFS MSU-IIT chair.
“Inside the organization, she was able to realize many things and most of her time she already devoted to going to communities and living with the people. And we were all surprised that the things that she used to do she suddenly was not doing … no more nights out and drinks for her,” he said.
Her exposure to the plight of the poor and victims of human rights violations took a more serious turn when she joined the National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission in October.
Her decision came shortly after fresh fighting broke out between government soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels following the failed signing of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).
Opposition to US presence
“She was part of the local secretariat and headed the area preparation committee in Poona Piagapo, one of the target municipalities for the mission. Daring as always, Kimay did not hesitate entering the war-torn village of Tagoranao to uncover the effects of indiscriminate aerial bombing and militarization in the area,” Villocino said.
Kemberly also convinced one of the victims to testify on what had happened in the conflict areas in Lanao, Villocino said.
She became active in opposing the government’s war policy and the intervention and presence of American troops in farmers’ and Moro communities in Mindanao.
“Kemberly was a very good example to her comrades and to the people around her. She showed youthful fervor and gave her heart to everything she did inside the organization,” Villocino said.
Helping peasants big time
During the second semester of 2008, Kemberly informed her friends that she was resigning from Stand-MSU-IIT for a full-time work organizing peasants with Kasama-Bukidnon.
“There was no stopping her,” Cesar said.
And in January last year, after a short Christmas visit to her family, she went straight to Bukidnon.
“In August 2009, we received a letter from her saying that she left Kasama-Bukidnon, but did not say where she went to and that she was happy where she was at that time, and that she had learned to love the peasant masses more with each day she lived with them,” Villocino said.
Kemberly, he said, shared her experiences with the communities “from helping the peasants harvest corn to teaching them to read and write and do a little arithmetic, since literacy in the area is extremely low.”
“She was also known to the people in the community as a health worker, often called as Ma’am Nurse,” Villocino said.
For the LFS, Kemberly died an honorable death.
“She died because she fought for what she believes in until the very last minute of her life. She chose the path of armed struggle, firmly believing that there is no greater form of struggle to advance the interests of the toiling masses,” the group said.
Facebook notes
A Facebook note on her death is filled with comments that both honored her and her war—both from people who knew her and also for those who believed in what she fought for.
“It’s painful to know that yet another freedom fighter has fallen while fighting for the people. But no matter how painful this is, I will not shed a tear because there is time for that. And it is history that will end the chain of bullets … and as we grieve, we continue the struggle toward victory,” one said.
Another said: “She has not died. She will continue to live among us who relentlessly continue the revolution.”
And still another said that the blood of Kemberly “will nurture the burning passion in us to serve the poor and the oppressed.”
Proverbs 15:11-4
1
A mild answer calms wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise purs out knowledge,
but the mouth of fools spurts forth folly.
3 the eyes of the Lord are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and good.
4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life,
but a perverse one crushes the spirit.
Kimberly Jul Luna was very young, beautiful, brainy. She was an AB English student at the Mindanao State University before she joined the NPA.
Why do we have to use harsh force for reform? Let's not rely on our own strength to battle the evil. Let's rely on God. Call Him for support and guidance.
Read more...
Brainy beauty joins NPA, dies in Bukidnon
By Jeffrey M. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—Hers was a campus life spent mostly at late night parties and drinking sprees, waking up the next day with a nasty hangover. Still, she got good grades.
Kemberly Jul Luna’s binges seemed normal for someone studying at a state university, living alone but often surrounded by friends drawn by her natural charm and intelligence, who fondly called her “Kimay.”
The 21-year-old Kemberly, however, traded her little comforts for the cold and the unknown world in the mountains of Bukidnon. There, her small joys and miseries were easily swallowed up by the people’s wretchedness; it became easy for her to redeem herself from old habits that were slowly causing her decay.
She was doing well with the peasants of Bukidnon, her friends thought, until that fateful day when a bullet pierced her right breast and went through her nape in Sitio Bulacao, Barangay Concepcion, City of Valencia. It was 10 days before Christmas.
Gun battle lasted for days
Army Maj. Michelle Anayron, spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, said Kemberly was killed in an encounter with soldiers belonging to the 8th Infantry Battalion.
“The soldiers were on foot patrol when they chanced upon the NPA encampment,” Anayron said. The gun battle, which started at 10 a.m., lasted for days, he added.
Kemberly died a member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA). She was Adriane, Joshua, or Ma’am Nurse to the people she had worked with in the highlands.
Her body, already rotting, was found dumped, along with seven other guerrillas, deep in the forest of Concepcion, days after the Dec. 15 encounter.
Kemberly was an AB English student at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) before she joined the communist movement in early 2009.
A mix of charm, bravery
Mark Jason Tan Cesar, spokesperson of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights (Stand-MSU-IIT), remembers Kemberly as a merry mixture of charm and bravery.
“She was really beautiful and surprisingly brave and determined. She was not scared to speak her mind out. She was a risk-taker,” Cesar said of Kemberly, a former ad hoc chair of the university’s student opposition party.
Kemberly was popular on campus not only because of her physical attributes and intelligence, but also because of her flair for music and dance. She was once a member of the university’s cultural dance group Kalimulan.
She was doing well in her studies. She was a high school valedictorian back in her hometown of Tubod, Surigao del Norte.
“But her ultimate dream was to serve the people—the poor … the masses,” Cesar said.
Friendster account
In her Friendster account “shoutout” last updated on Dec. 12, 2008, Kemberly quoted Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong: “It is man’s social being that determines his thinking—once the correct ideas and characteristics of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force which changes society and the world.”
Her heart for the poor and the oppressed could have been influenced by her involvement with the Catholic Center Campus Ministry as a leader of its educational committee.
“There, amidst the daily Masses, boarding house meetings and other activities, she concluded that faith without action is dead. She always sought ways to show that her Christian faith will not be confined to empty words and prayers, but will be brought out to the real world and be coupled with relevant action based on concrete conditions,” said a statement by Stand-MSU-IIT.
“She believed that faith should not be a lifeless dogma. She believed that just like Jesus, one must bring faith to serving the people—without thought of oneself. And just like Jesus, to die in service of the poor and oppressed,” the group added.
Political awakening
But even when she was active with the ministry, she still lived a happy-go-lucky life. Not that she was not serious in her involvement, but because she was not really that “politically awakened.”
Kemberly’s ministry work helped her see the realities surrounding the poor and the oppressed, but her political maturity started when she became involved with the League of Filipino Students (LFS). She joined the militant group in February 2008.
“Kimay’s remolding inside the LFS was different. It was so fast that it surprised many of those who knew her. The drinking and the parties were replaced by her attendance at meetings and discussions on the political situation in the country,” said Gary Ben Villocino, LFS MSU-IIT chair.
“Inside the organization, she was able to realize many things and most of her time she already devoted to going to communities and living with the people. And we were all surprised that the things that she used to do she suddenly was not doing … no more nights out and drinks for her,” he said.
Her exposure to the plight of the poor and victims of human rights violations took a more serious turn when she joined the National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission in October.
Her decision came shortly after fresh fighting broke out between government soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels following the failed signing of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).
Opposition to US presence
“She was part of the local secretariat and headed the area preparation committee in Poona Piagapo, one of the target municipalities for the mission. Daring as always, Kimay did not hesitate entering the war-torn village of Tagoranao to uncover the effects of indiscriminate aerial bombing and militarization in the area,” Villocino said.
Kemberly also convinced one of the victims to testify on what had happened in the conflict areas in Lanao, Villocino said.
She became active in opposing the government’s war policy and the intervention and presence of American troops in farmers’ and Moro communities in Mindanao.
“Kemberly was a very good example to her comrades and to the people around her. She showed youthful fervor and gave her heart to everything she did inside the organization,” Villocino said.
Helping peasants big time
During the second semester of 2008, Kemberly informed her friends that she was resigning from Stand-MSU-IIT for a full-time work organizing peasants with Kasama-Bukidnon.
“There was no stopping her,” Cesar said.
And in January last year, after a short Christmas visit to her family, she went straight to Bukidnon.
“In August 2009, we received a letter from her saying that she left Kasama-Bukidnon, but did not say where she went to and that she was happy where she was at that time, and that she had learned to love the peasant masses more with each day she lived with them,” Villocino said.
Kemberly, he said, shared her experiences with the communities “from helping the peasants harvest corn to teaching them to read and write and do a little arithmetic, since literacy in the area is extremely low.”
“She was also known to the people in the community as a health worker, often called as Ma’am Nurse,” Villocino said.
For the LFS, Kemberly died an honorable death.
“She died because she fought for what she believes in until the very last minute of her life. She chose the path of armed struggle, firmly believing that there is no greater form of struggle to advance the interests of the toiling masses,” the group said.
Facebook notes
A Facebook note on her death is filled with comments that both honored her and her war—both from people who knew her and also for those who believed in what she fought for.
“It’s painful to know that yet another freedom fighter has fallen while fighting for the people. But no matter how painful this is, I will not shed a tear because there is time for that. And it is history that will end the chain of bullets … and as we grieve, we continue the struggle toward victory,” one said.
Another said: “She has not died. She will continue to live among us who relentlessly continue the revolution.”
And still another said that the blood of Kemberly “will nurture the burning passion in us to serve the poor and the oppressed.”
Friday, January 8, 2010
Quiapo Black Nazarene Feast
Tomorrow, Saturday, January 9, is the feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo. Large throngs of devotees are expected to attend the procession.
Read more...
The Black Nazarene is a life-sized, dark-colored , wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ held to be miraculous by many people, especially its Filipino devotees. Its original carver is an anonymous Mexican carpenter, and the image was transported by galleon from Mexico. The image is currently enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines where novena celebrations are held every Friday throughout the whole year. Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Black Nazarene came from a boat that caught fire, turning it from its original white into black or charred complexion. The Black Nazarene is carried into the streets for procession in a "Caroza" or carriage.
The feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene is celebrated every 9th of January while novena masses begin on the first Friday day of the year, in honor of its weekly novena mass held every Friday. During the annual public procession, only the body of the Black Nazarene is displayed in procession to the public, while the original head portion of the statue is retained in the Basilica of the Black Nazarene within the high altars of the church. The Black Nazarene is also famously noted for its devotees who walk the procession streets barefoot, without shoes or sandals as to imitate Jesus Christ on his way to Mount Calvary.
The image was brought to the Philippines by the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries in May 31, 1606. It was initially enshrined in the first Recollect church in Bagumbayan (now part of Rizal Park). In September 10, 1606, the church was inaugurated and placed under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. In 1608, the Nazarene image was transferred to the second bigger Recollect church of San Nicolas de Tolentino built inside the fortress of Intramuros. Between the years 1767 and 1790, the Archbishop of Manila, Basilio Sancho de Santas Justa y Rufina, ordered the transfer of the image of the Nazareno to the church in Quiapo under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. The intensity of the devotion to the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno flourished and spread throughout the Philippines.
Today, the head portion of the Black Nazarene is retained in the high altars of the Quiapo church while the body is used for public procession. In the 2007 Black Nazarene feast, both the original head and the body were combined together in celebration of the Black Nazarene's 400 year old history.
The veneration of the Black Nazarene is very popular among Filipinos because of their religious piety and devotion to the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Many devotees of the Black Nazarene attribute their poverty and struggles in the daily society to the wounds and tribulations of Jesus Christ, as represented by the Black Nazarene. Although the patron saint of the Minor Basilica of Black Nazarene is originally Saint John the Baptist, the consecration of the Black Nazarene has gained more popular because Jesus Christ is the center of piety and devotion, which may or may not be interceded through a saint.
[edit] National Hymn
Below is the National Hymn composed by Lucio San Pedro, which is used by the Quiapo church as the main hymn to the Black Nazarene.
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno
Lyrics: Lucio San Pedro
I
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Sinasamba ka namin (We worship you)
Pinipintuho ka namin (we admire you)"
Aral mo ang aming buhay (Your lessons are our life)
at Kaligtasan (and our salvation)
II
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Iligtas mo kami sa Kasalanan (Please save us from our sins)
Ang Krus mong Kinamatayan ay (Your cross from which you died on)
Sagisag ng aming Kaligtasan (is the sign of our Salvation)
Chorus:
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Dinarangal ka namin (We honor you)
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Nilul'walhati ka namin (We glorify you)
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Dinarangal ka namin (We honor you)
Tomorrow is the feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo. Expect a large throng of devotees during the procession.
The uniquely Filipino devotion to the Black Nazarene merited the sanction and encouragement of two popes. In 1650, Pope Innocent X gave his pontifical blessing with a Papal Bull that canonically established the Confraternity of the Most Holy Black Christ Nazarene (Cofradia de Santo Cristo Jesús Nazareno) and Pope Pius VII gave his second blessing in the 19th century, by granting plenary indulgence to those who piously pray before the image of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo.
In addition to this, devotees pay homage to the Santo Cristo Jesus Nazareno by clapping their hands in praise at the end of every Mass
Despite the rough-and-tumble that usually accompanies the thrice-yearly procession of the image, the Filipino people's devotion to God in the special appellation of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno continues to flourish and shows no sign of waning; death, wounds, bodily pains and physical discomfort notwithstanding.
For more than 200 years, the statue has been placed on a golden red carriage every January 9th and pulled through the streets of Quiapo by male devotees clad in maroon. People who have touched the Nazarene are reported to have sometimes been healed of their diseases. Catholics come from all over Manila for the chance that they will be able to get close enough to touch the image and perhaps even receive a miracle. They also throw towels or handkerchiefs to the people guarding the statue and ask them to rub them on the statue in hopes of carrying some of that power away with them.
2008 Celebration of the Black Nazareno Procession
On January 9, 2008, the number of devotees who joined the procession swelled to 80,000 in Quiapo, Manila. One-and-a-half to three million people can be accommodated around Plaza Miranda and Quezon Boulevard. Two people died and around 50 injured devotees were rushed to 2 hospitals and a makeshift clinic of the Philippine National Red Cross for first aid treatment, as the procession proceeded. Vice President Noli de Castro, a known devotee of the statue, also joined the big procession. MPD District Director Senior Supt. Roberto Rosales stated that the crowd swelled to 2.2 to 2.6 million "when others, including local residents, joined the procession along the 4.7-km route.” The procession ended at 9:45 p.m. In 2006, 2 devotees also died and 20 others only were injured during the procession.
On the 402nd year celebration of the Black Nazarene, the Minor Basilica of Quiapo decided to change the route of the procession of the Black Nazarene. Instead of beginning the procession at 3 pm from the Quiapo Church, the procession was scheduled to begin from the Quirino Grandstand near Dr. Jose Rizal's national hero monument in Luneta at 8:30AM, therefore going through wider roads and streets towards the Quiapo Church. The Quiapo Church Rectory has decided to change routes to prevent injuries and deaths that has happened in the previous years due to the large crowds and stampede during the procession. A healing mass is also celebrated preceding the 8:30 am procession, officiated by his eminence, the Roman Catholic Manila Archbishop, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. Philippines' Vice-President Noli De Castro, a known devotee of the Black Nazarene was present in the Eucharistic mass and procession as well with City of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.
However, on the day of the procession of the Black Nazarene, upon reaching almost the end of the new route, the older route was still followed due to many devotees who has decided to pull the ropes of the carriage towards the original route which encircles the Quiapo church. The new route was followed only up till Arlegui street, after which many of the Quiapo devotees took charge of the carriage and pulled the carriage ropes towards the original route of the procession. Many of these devotees has recently complained to the police officials because they believe that the Black Nazarene's passing towards their area results in their numerous blessings and good luck, many of whom are financiers and patrons of the Quiapo church.
The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo has also decided to move the replica statue of the Black Nazarene to San Agustin's Cathedral in Cagayan De Oro, in the Mindanao island, so that Nazarene devotees from Mindanao may not have to travel to Quiapo, Manila for their annual pilgrimage.
Read more...
The Black Nazarene is a life-sized, dark-colored , wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ held to be miraculous by many people, especially its Filipino devotees. Its original carver is an anonymous Mexican carpenter, and the image was transported by galleon from Mexico. The image is currently enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines where novena celebrations are held every Friday throughout the whole year. Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Black Nazarene came from a boat that caught fire, turning it from its original white into black or charred complexion. The Black Nazarene is carried into the streets for procession in a "Caroza" or carriage.
The feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene is celebrated every 9th of January while novena masses begin on the first Friday day of the year, in honor of its weekly novena mass held every Friday. During the annual public procession, only the body of the Black Nazarene is displayed in procession to the public, while the original head portion of the statue is retained in the Basilica of the Black Nazarene within the high altars of the church. The Black Nazarene is also famously noted for its devotees who walk the procession streets barefoot, without shoes or sandals as to imitate Jesus Christ on his way to Mount Calvary.
The image was brought to the Philippines by the Augustinian Recollect Missionaries in May 31, 1606. It was initially enshrined in the first Recollect church in Bagumbayan (now part of Rizal Park). In September 10, 1606, the church was inaugurated and placed under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. In 1608, the Nazarene image was transferred to the second bigger Recollect church of San Nicolas de Tolentino built inside the fortress of Intramuros. Between the years 1767 and 1790, the Archbishop of Manila, Basilio Sancho de Santas Justa y Rufina, ordered the transfer of the image of the Nazareno to the church in Quiapo under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. The intensity of the devotion to the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno flourished and spread throughout the Philippines.
Today, the head portion of the Black Nazarene is retained in the high altars of the Quiapo church while the body is used for public procession. In the 2007 Black Nazarene feast, both the original head and the body were combined together in celebration of the Black Nazarene's 400 year old history.
The veneration of the Black Nazarene is very popular among Filipinos because of their religious piety and devotion to the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Many devotees of the Black Nazarene attribute their poverty and struggles in the daily society to the wounds and tribulations of Jesus Christ, as represented by the Black Nazarene. Although the patron saint of the Minor Basilica of Black Nazarene is originally Saint John the Baptist, the consecration of the Black Nazarene has gained more popular because Jesus Christ is the center of piety and devotion, which may or may not be interceded through a saint.
[edit] National Hymn
Below is the National Hymn composed by Lucio San Pedro, which is used by the Quiapo church as the main hymn to the Black Nazarene.
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno
Lyrics: Lucio San Pedro
I
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Sinasamba ka namin (We worship you)
Pinipintuho ka namin (we admire you)"
Aral mo ang aming buhay (Your lessons are our life)
at Kaligtasan (and our salvation)
II
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Iligtas mo kami sa Kasalanan (Please save us from our sins)
Ang Krus mong Kinamatayan ay (Your cross from which you died on)
Sagisag ng aming Kaligtasan (is the sign of our Salvation)
Chorus:
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Dinarangal ka namin (We honor you)
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Nilul'walhati ka namin (We glorify you)
Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Our Father Jesus Nazarene)
Dinarangal ka namin (We honor you)
Tomorrow is the feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo. Expect a large throng of devotees during the procession.
The uniquely Filipino devotion to the Black Nazarene merited the sanction and encouragement of two popes. In 1650, Pope Innocent X gave his pontifical blessing with a Papal Bull that canonically established the Confraternity of the Most Holy Black Christ Nazarene (Cofradia de Santo Cristo Jesús Nazareno) and Pope Pius VII gave his second blessing in the 19th century, by granting plenary indulgence to those who piously pray before the image of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo.
In addition to this, devotees pay homage to the Santo Cristo Jesus Nazareno by clapping their hands in praise at the end of every Mass
Despite the rough-and-tumble that usually accompanies the thrice-yearly procession of the image, the Filipino people's devotion to God in the special appellation of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno continues to flourish and shows no sign of waning; death, wounds, bodily pains and physical discomfort notwithstanding.
For more than 200 years, the statue has been placed on a golden red carriage every January 9th and pulled through the streets of Quiapo by male devotees clad in maroon. People who have touched the Nazarene are reported to have sometimes been healed of their diseases. Catholics come from all over Manila for the chance that they will be able to get close enough to touch the image and perhaps even receive a miracle. They also throw towels or handkerchiefs to the people guarding the statue and ask them to rub them on the statue in hopes of carrying some of that power away with them.
2008 Celebration of the Black Nazareno Procession
On January 9, 2008, the number of devotees who joined the procession swelled to 80,000 in Quiapo, Manila. One-and-a-half to three million people can be accommodated around Plaza Miranda and Quezon Boulevard. Two people died and around 50 injured devotees were rushed to 2 hospitals and a makeshift clinic of the Philippine National Red Cross for first aid treatment, as the procession proceeded. Vice President Noli de Castro, a known devotee of the statue, also joined the big procession. MPD District Director Senior Supt. Roberto Rosales stated that the crowd swelled to 2.2 to 2.6 million "when others, including local residents, joined the procession along the 4.7-km route.” The procession ended at 9:45 p.m. In 2006, 2 devotees also died and 20 others only were injured during the procession.
On the 402nd year celebration of the Black Nazarene, the Minor Basilica of Quiapo decided to change the route of the procession of the Black Nazarene. Instead of beginning the procession at 3 pm from the Quiapo Church, the procession was scheduled to begin from the Quirino Grandstand near Dr. Jose Rizal's national hero monument in Luneta at 8:30AM, therefore going through wider roads and streets towards the Quiapo Church. The Quiapo Church Rectory has decided to change routes to prevent injuries and deaths that has happened in the previous years due to the large crowds and stampede during the procession. A healing mass is also celebrated preceding the 8:30 am procession, officiated by his eminence, the Roman Catholic Manila Archbishop, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. Philippines' Vice-President Noli De Castro, a known devotee of the Black Nazarene was present in the Eucharistic mass and procession as well with City of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.
However, on the day of the procession of the Black Nazarene, upon reaching almost the end of the new route, the older route was still followed due to many devotees who has decided to pull the ropes of the carriage towards the original route which encircles the Quiapo church. The new route was followed only up till Arlegui street, after which many of the Quiapo devotees took charge of the carriage and pulled the carriage ropes towards the original route of the procession. Many of these devotees has recently complained to the police officials because they believe that the Black Nazarene's passing towards their area results in their numerous blessings and good luck, many of whom are financiers and patrons of the Quiapo church.
The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo has also decided to move the replica statue of the Black Nazarene to San Agustin's Cathedral in Cagayan De Oro, in the Mindanao island, so that Nazarene devotees from Mindanao may not have to travel to Quiapo, Manila for their annual pilgrimage.
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