PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The children with no names lay mute in a corner of the General Hospital grounds Tuesday, three among thousands of boys and girls set adrift in the wake of Haiti’s earthquake.
“Hi, Joe, how are you?” the American doctor tried, using a pet name the staff had given a boy of about 11.
There was no response.
“Joe,” “Baby Sebastian” and the girl who didn’t even have a nickname hadn’t spoken or cried since they were brought in over the previous 48 hours — by neighbors, passers-by, no one knows who.
“Sebastian,” only a week old, was said to have been taken from the arms of his dead mother.
Hundreds of thousands of hungry and thirsty children are scattered among Port-au- Prince’s squatter camps of survivors, without protection against disease or child predators — often with nobody to care for them.
Special camps for kids
“There’s an estimated 1 million unaccompanied or orphaned children or children who lost one parent,” said Kate Conradt, a spokeswoman for the aid group Save the Children. “They are extremely vulnerable.”
The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, has established a special tent camp for girls and boys who, one way or another, were separated from their parents in the Jan. 12 quake and who are in danger of falling prey to child traffickers and other abusers. The Connecticut-based Save the Children has set up “Child Spaces” in 13 makeshift settlements. The Red Cross and others are working to reunite families.
The post-quake needs of Haiti’s children were nonetheless outrunning the available help. Some youngsters were even being released from hospitals with no one to care for them — there just aren’t enough beds for them.
“Health workers are being advised to monitor and send separated/unaccompanied children to child-friendly spaces,” the U.N. humanitarian office said in its latest situation report.
The plight of the young is especially poignant even in a country where the U.N. estimates 3 million out of a population of 9 million need international assistance in the quake’s aftermath.
Heavy demands
“We still have a huge distance to go,” said John Holmes, the U.N. relief coordinator.
The monumental scale of the Haiti disaster — perhaps 200,000 dead, a capital city on its knees — has severely strained the world’s ability to get relief supplies through Port-au-Prince’s overloaded airport and crippled seaport.
Eight hundred to 1,000 aid flights were still awaiting permission to land, a seven-day backlog, U.N. and European officials reported Tuesday. On top of that, “trucks are needed,” U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva — especially small trucks because “the streets are extremely congested.” The U.N.’s Holmes estimated that 2 million people need food, but only 500,000 have received some so far.
The medical picture has improved but remains critical. World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood said more medical staffers were still needed, especially rehabilitation specialists, to help with postoperative recovery of 200,000 people who have had amputations or other surgery.
Haitian and volunteer staff from dozens of countries worked around the clock. In some hospitals, they were still performing up to 100 amputations a day.
By the numbers
150,000
Bodies recovered (includes 54 Americans, 44 Europeans)
200,000
Estimated dead
194,000
Injured
1 million
Homeless
2 million
People who need food aid
500,000
People receiving food aid
How to help
Want to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti? Aid organizations say cash donations are best. Here are some of the many that are accepting contributions:
American Friends Service Committee: 888-588-2372
American Red Cross: 800-HELP-NOW
CARE: 800-521-CARE
Catholic Relief Services: 877-HELP-CRS
Habitat for Humanity: 800-422-4828
Operation Blessing: 800-730-2537
Oxfam America: 800-778-9326
Project CURE: 303-792-0729
Save the Children: 800-728-3843
United Way: 703-836-7112
UNICEF: 800-4UNICEF
For a list of many other agencies, go to
