It has now been two weeks since a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on the afternoon of January 12th.
Over these past 14 days, we have seen pictures of the devastation of Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities. Estimates of the number of dead continue to rise; and the injured in the capital alone is already in the tens of thousands, many needing sophisticated medical care.
People live in the streets and open spaces, fearful of the daily aftershocks.
The very basics of life - water, food and shelter - are absent or in short supply.
We watch in anguish as we learn about the potential number of newly-orphaned children in a country that already had around 400,000 orphans. The Washington Post ran a story on Saturday about how 75% of the schools have been destroyed, and the deaths of so many teachers and students.
Nearly every Haitian family in the affected areas suffered the loss of at least one loved one, and nearly every UN, international agency, and NGO operating in the area suffered devastating losses among their Haitian and international staff. And while our own U.S. embassy staff and aid agencies work around the clock to respond to this crisis, each and every one of them are also dealing with their own shock and grief over lost family members and Haitian and U.S. colleagues.
In my congressional district, Britney Gengel, the daughter of Len and Cherylann Gengel from Rutland, Massachusetts, remains missing. She is among the approximately 200 Haitian and foreign nationals who were in the Hotel Montana when the earthquake struck. She was part of a student team from Florida's Lynn University in Haiti working with Food for the Poor. In the few days that she was in Haiti, she had already emailed her parents to tell them she felt that she had found her life's calling.
Hundreds of search and rescue workers have been active day and night at the Hotel Montana, including U.S. teams from Fairfax, Virginia and Miami-Dade and Los Angeles Counties. One rescue worker, talking with Britney's father, spoke movingly about how this was one of the worst sites he had ever worked on, and if his daughter were trapped here, he wouldn't give up on finding her either. The compassion and empathy of the rescue workers and every member of our U.S. embassy team are palpable, and their commitment to all the victims' families is total.
We see on our televisions and read in the papers and on-line of the generosity and resilience of the human spirit: People helping people, comforting one another, sacrificing for the well-being of another. We often forget how much the Haitian people are helping one another as we struggle to provide support and get aid to them.
Governments, international agencies, NGOs, corporations and individuals have responded and mobilized as never before. On Friday evening, I was in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts at an event entitled, -Worcester Cares for Haiti,- to mobilize donations from our local community. I'm sure many Members of this House have been at similar events in their own districts.
Aid is pouring into Haiti to reach the more than three million people directly affected by the earthquake. It is flying into Santo Domingo and Barahona airports in the Dominican Republic and being trucked overland in vast convoys. It's landing at the Port-au-Prince airport, which now receives over 100 flights day and night. And thanks to our Navy and Coast Guard, the destroyed Port-au-Prince docks are now 30 percent operational.
I want to thank all the nations of the world that have responded so generously. I especially want to thank our hemispheric neighbors, many of whom annually suffer from natural disasters and still struggle to overcome centuries of poverty. They have been particularly generous - from Argentina, Brazil and Chile to Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and so many others. And a very special thank you to the government and people of the Dominican Republic.
To my own government - Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates, Administrator Raj Shah, Secretary Napolitano, and all the agencies, officers and staff here in Washington and on-the-ground in Haiti, who when faced with a Herculean task have more than risen to the occasion - I want to say how grateful I am for all that you have done, are doing, and will be doing in the days, weeks and months to come. I have seen first-hand your commitment, compassion, expertise and professionalism. I'm sure mistakes have been made, but no one wants the aid to arrive more quickly and get to those who need it, more than the U.S. personnel on the ground in Haiti.
For myself, I have never been more proud of my government or more grateful for the people who serve in it.
