Haitian families struggle to find, bury their dead

Washington Post
A man looks for a body among hundreds of earthquake victims at the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) (Ariana Cubillos - AP)

People carry a coffin next to the bodies of hundreds of earthquake victims at the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (Ramon Espinosa - AP)

Workers move the bodies of the victims of the earthquake onto a bulldozer at the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (Ramon Espinosa - AP)

The bodies of earthquake victims are moved to a truck by a bulldozer at the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (Ramon Espinosa - AP)

A woman covers the body of a relative who died during Tuesday's earthquake at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) (Ariana Cubillos - AP)

Workers unload bodies of earthquake victims from a pickup at a cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. An earthquake measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale hit Haiti on Tuesday leaving thousands dead and many displaced. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) (Julie Jacobson - AP)

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By TAMARA LUSH
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 14, 2010; 10:11 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Some of the dead in this shattered city line the roads, carefully placed garments shrouding their faces. Others are carried into the hills for quick burials. Hundreds are arrayed in a macabre tangle of limbs outside a morgue, just feet from the grievously wounded.

The living and the dead here share the same space - the sidewalks, the public plazas, the hospitals. The living are frightened of being inside in case another earthquake hits; the dead are everywhere.

On the doorstep of a pharmacy, six bodies were lined up shoulder to shoulder. On the body of one woman, covered in a sheet, rested a small bundle, the tiny leg of an infant sticking out of the wrap.

"It's beyond description. The disaster, the damage, is just so overwhelming," said Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Haiti. "Everyone has a scarf or something, because the smell is unbearable. ... You literally have bodies all over the place."

The international Red Cross estimates up to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's earthquake. For now, few know what to do with the bodies. People say they're being left on roadsides and doorsteps so relatives who may have survived can find them, or for families to find transportation for burials.

Some families wouldn't wait. Relatives of one woman who was killed in the earthquake dug her grave about 20 feet (6 meters) from the road, her body wrapped in a sheet and strapped to a door. Across the street, others dug graves and built a bonfire to keep away flies and ward off the stench.

While the odor can be overpowering, health officials sought to dispel worries about the spread of disease. Pan American Health Organization officials - speaking from Washington - stressed dead bodies are not a significant contagion danger, and cautioned against rapid mass burials or cremations.


"The management of dead bodies needs to be done with the highest regard to families, their wishes and their sensitivities," said Dr. Jon Kim Andrus, deputy director for the Pan American Health Organization.

In front of the morgue at the Hospital General downtown, family members come to stare over hundreds of bodies covering the parking lot. A woman described the clothes of her daughter to city workers, who moved a sheet to look closely at a body. The smell of death was so strong that everybody not wearing a mask held their hands to their faces.

Nearby, the injured sit on makeshift beds, awaiting medical assistance. The living and the piles of dead are only separated by about 20 feet.

As relief organizations struggle to get supplies and aid to the survivors, few plans were being made for the dead. The international Red Cross said it would ship 3,000 body bags along with tons of aid being sent from Geneva on Thursday night



Please give! These neighbors of ours need food, water, money, used clothing, baby bottles and accessories, baby food, shoes, personal hygiene items, used toys for the injured children in the hospitals, basically all our basic human needs.

Clean out your closet. Give your clothing to the Red Cross. They need blankets as well. We have to do what we can to help. 2010 and already a horrible disaster.

Thanks.