Haiti Earthquake - US Citizens known, reported or presumed to be dead: 104 as of 03/08/2010, estimated 2000 missing

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On-The-Record Briefing: Remarks to the Press By Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P. J. Crowley


Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs

Washington, DC

January 15, 2010

Excerpt:

MR. CROWLEY: Well, on evacuees ?


QUESTION: Well, on casualties or fatalities first.



MR. CROWLEY: Okay. Right now, we have the one confirmed State Department employee.


QUESTION: Right.



MR. CROWLEY: I think ? we are aware of five other confirmed deaths.


QUESTION: So that?s six total.



MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. And that number is going to go up.


QUESTION: Where were the deaths? Do we know?


MR. CROWLEY: In Port-au-Prince. I mean that?s why ? we?ll announce these things as we can but we?re being very cautious for obvious reasons.



QUESTION: P.J., the five others are private citizens?


QUESTION: And so one is from the U.S. Government and the rest are private, right?



MR. CROWLEY: The five deaths are private and in addition to the one official. And we?re, I mean, working through this. There?s a larger number of those who are presumed to have perished. But we?re just very cautious.


QUESTION: And what about missing or serious injuries?



MR. CROWLEY: Serious injuries ? there were four serious injuries among the U.S. Government contingent. We still ? and about 19 serious injuries among private citizens. They have been evacuated. We have ?


QUESTION: All to Gitmo or ? various places?



QUESTION: Someone said Jackson Memorial.

Complete text at:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/01/135249.htm

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 6 as of 01/15/2010

Jan 14, 2010 9:50 pm US/Eastern
Diplomat Identified As 1st American Quake Victim


WASHINGTON (AP) ―

snip

Victoria DeLong, 57, of California, died Tuesday, said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. DeLong, a 27-year diplomat, was a cultural affairs officer and had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince since last year. No hometown was immediately available.

snip

http://wjz.com/national/haiti.american.death.2.1427196.html

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 6 as of 01/15/2010

Two Americans from Chicago-based nonprofit die in Haiti quake

<abbr class="published" title="2010-01-15T13:47:08-06:00">January 15, 2010 1:47 PM</abbr>

A Chicago-based nonprofit group said this afternoon that two Americans associated with volunteer efforts at an orphanage in Haiti were killed in this week's earthquake.

Friends of the Orphans said Molly Hightower, 22, of Port Orchard, Wash., and Ryan Kloos, 24, of Phoenix died after the Father Wasson Center, which housed a school for disabled children, collapsed in Petionville during the quake.

snip

-- Oscar Avila
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2...iti-quake.html

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 15 as of 01/16/2010

US death tollin Haiti quake rises to 15

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department says the U.S. death toll in the Haiti earthquake has risen to 15.

The total includes one State Department employee and 14 private American citizens.

snip

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=11833556

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 15 as of 01/16/2010

United Methodist Relief Executive Dies Before Rescue from Hotel Ruins in Haiti The Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon, head of the humanitarian relief agency of The United Methodist Church, died before he could be rescued from the rubble of a hotel destroyed by the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/umcor-...i/275275027007

Methodist Relief Worker Dies in Haiti

A United Methodist mission leader died of injuries received after being buried in the rubble of a collapsed hotel following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.

The Rev. Sam Dixon, top executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, died before rescuers could free him, contrary to earlier reports from church leaders that he was pulled out of the wreckage of the Hotel Montana alive.

A second staff member who was trapped with Dixon, the Rev. Clinton Rabb, was in critical condition in a Florida hospital Jan. 16. Family members of Rabb, who was trapped under earthquake rubble in Haiti for nearly three days, were making their way to be with him.

Rabb and Dixon were part of a group of six church-related aid workers trapped at the Hotel Montana. Four others ? the Rev. James Gulley, an UMCOR consultant; Sarla Chand, a United Methodist with IMA World Health, and two of her co-workers, Rick Santos and Ann Varghese, returned home on Jan. 15.

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 16 as of 01/17/2010

For 45,000 Americans in Haiti, the Quake Was ?a Nightmare That?s Not Ending? </NYT_HEADLINE>

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. and CATHARINE SKIPP
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: January 17, 2010

MIAMI ? One was a 22-year-old volunteer from Washington State who was teaching youngsters with mental handicaps. Another was a Dallas woman who was fitting impoverished Haitians for eyeglasses. A third was a California landscape architect who had just arrived with three other men to work on a project to build playgrounds and athletic fields.

Tens of thousands of Haitians died in crumbling buildings when an earthquake struck last week. But there were also more than 45,000 United States citizens on the island when the catastrophe occurred, from missionaries and aid workers to businessmen and tourists.

The State Department says at least 16 Americans have been confirmed dead, among them the cultural attach? at the embassy, Victoria J. DeLong, 57, who was at home when the temblor struck. Thousands of Americans are missing, and their families are trapped in painful limbo, waiting for a telephone call that could bring elation or loss.

?It?s a nightmare that?s not ending,? said Lisa Birch of Salida, Calif., whose husband, Jim Birch, a 50-year-old landscaper, is among the missing. ?We are running out of time. They are running out of time.?

Full text at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18americans.html

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at US death toll at 16 as of 01/17/2010

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>NY missionary dies from Haiti earthquake injuries </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--startclickprintexclude--><TABLE style="FLOAT: left" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>



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Posted 1/18/2010 12:15 PM ET<SCRIPT language=javascript>swapContent('firstHeader','app lyHeader');</SCRIPT><!--endclickprintexclude-->
By Ula Ilnytzky, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK ? A relative says a clergyman for a New York-based mission group has died after being trapped under Haiti's earthquake rubble for more than two days.

His sister-in-law said the Rev. Clinton Raab of Hawthorne, N.Y., died at a Florida hospital on Sunday.

Mayapriya Long says Raab worked for the United Methodist Church's Global Ministries. He was entering the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince on Thursday when the earthquake struck, leveling the building.

She says rescuers had to amputate Raab's legs to get him out.


Full text at:

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=pressconnects&sParam=32561849.story

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at US death toll at 24 as of 01/18/2010

On-the-Record Briefing on Consular Services Being Provided to American Citizens in Haiti and in the United States in the Aftermath of the Earthquake

Office of the Spokesman

Washington, DC

January 18, 2010

Excerpts:

As of 8 o'clock this morning, we had evacuated just over 2,900 citizens aboard 44 flights. We currently have 525 citizens at the Embassy compound who will be transported to the airport today for evacuation. And as of 8 o'clock this morning, there were 136 Americans at the airport or boarding planes.


I also am sorry to report that we have so far confirmed the deaths of 24 American citizens and there are reports of additional deaths that have not yet been confirmed.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/01/135306.htm

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at US death toll at 24 as of 01/18/2010

Two Michigan men believed dead in Haiti earthquake

January 18, 2010 9:11 PM

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) ? Two Michigan men are believed to be among the victims of the recent 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.

The men are missionaries from Clio's New Covenant Church in Genesee County.

The church says the men arrived in Haiti just one hour before the earthquake hit. They were scheduled for two weeks of missionary work on the island nation.

Merle West and Gene Dufour were staying in a guest house that was destroyed during the quake.



Gene Dufour




Merle West

Read more at:

http://www.wwmt.com/articles/michigan-1371540-haiti-0in.html

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Re: Earthquake Haiti - US death toll at 24 as of 01/18/2010

American Deaths in Haiti Rise to 26

Tuesday, January 19, 2010
By Adam Housley

The Department of State reports 26 American citizen fatalities in Haiti.

U.S. Search and Rescue teams have rescued 39 individuals and evacuated approximately 3,325 Americans with an additional 1,570 awaiting evacuation, the Department of State tells Fox News.

International teams have rescued another 31.

The United Nations reports 100 percent of Port-au-Prince has been searched with teams beginning to identify and search priority target areas outside the city.

Read more at:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583318,00.html

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Re: Haiti Earthquake - US death toll at 28 as of 01/19/2010

Philip J. Crowley

Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 19, 2010


Excerpt:


27 confirmed U.S. private citizen fatalities; 1 U.S. Government fatality / Continue efforts to determine status of 45,000 U.S. citizens / Most are dual citizens of the U.S. and Haiti / 4,500 U.S citizens evacuated so far

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/01/135394.htm

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Re: Haiti Earthquake - US death toll at 33 as of 01/20/2010

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 20, 2010

Excerpt:

As of eight o?clock this morning, a total of 6,174 Americans have departed Haiti. We continue to track and have files opened on roughly 12,300 Americans for whom we have information that they were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. And we have accounted for roughly 7,500 of those so far. We have a total of 33 confirmed American fatalities to date, including one member of our State Department family.

Read more at:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/01/135454.htm

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Re: Haiti Earthquake - US death toll - 46 confirmed , 24 unconfirmed as of 01/22/2010

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 22, 2010


Excerpt:

"MR. CROWLEY: As of 5 o?clock this morning, just under 9,300 ? 9,288, to be exact ? Americans and family members have departed Haiti. And we are doing them by --

QUESTION: What does Americans and family members mean?

MR. CROWLEY: In some cases, you have a family that might have one parent and child who is an American citizen, a parent or child who are Haitian citizens. As we do at any consulate or any embassy, we work through and evaluate on a case-by-case basis visas, and have granted visas so that we can, to the extent possible, keep families together.

We have opened files on or we have accounted for roughly 11,000 Americans at this point. We have 46 confirmed American fatalities, one U.S. Government officer, as you know, and 45 private. At this point, we estimate that there perhaps are 24 other cases, unconfirmed fatalities that we are still investigating.

QUESTION: Including those three Embassy employees that were suggested earlier in the week?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we still have ? we have four U.S. Government individuals who aren?t accounted for at this point.

QUESTION: Four?

MR. CROWLEY: Four.

QUESTION: And that?s included in those 24?

MR. CROWLEY: I don?t think so. They?re unaccounted for. But I think ? in other words, I think there are 24 cases where we are aware that there?s been a death, and we are trying to make sure to kind of match up identity and citizenship.

QUESTION: How many ? you said you have resolved 11,000 cases. How many are unresolved?

MR. CROWLEY: That?s a good question. Maybe we?ll try to find out what?s the broad universe before we end the briefing.

QUESTION: Okay. Can you ?

MR. CROWLEY: I think we still are running at about 4- to 5,000 that are kind of still looking at ? you know, evaluating information.

QUESTION: Okay. About these fatalities, a couple of things: First of all, if you have 4- to 5-, 6.000 ? and I know that doesn?t mean that you ? that that means 4- to 5-, 6,000 --

MR. CROWLEY: Thank you. Right.

QUESTION: -- Americans are ? were killed. At some point, what do you ? you know, you have 20 ? you have 45 that ? or 24 more that are presumed dead, but presumably at least some of those 4,500 possibly could be, you know, also deceased.

MR. CROWLEY: Hang on a second. Where did you get the 4,500? I said 4- to 5,000, so you?re ?

QUESTION: No, you said you have ? you said that ? we were talking about the unresolved cases and you said --

MR. CROWLEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- you still have 4- to 5,000 unresolved cases --

MR. CROWLEY: Correct.

QUESTION: -- I?m saying. So presumably, some of those people might have also died even if you haven?t been ?

MR. CROWLEY: I think we don?t doubt tragically that ?

QUESTION: No, I know.

MR. CROWLEY: -- at this point we are aware, we believe, of up to 70 Americans who have died in the earthquake ? that that number is going to go up. And once we are in the recovery phase and begin to deal with the rubble on the ground, no ?

QUESTION: Probably won?t even ?

MR. CROWLEY: -- no doubt that we?re going to find more bodies than have already been discovered in Haiti and a number of those will be Americans.

QUESTION: I guess we can ? I mean, I don?t know what is ? once you have the recovery phase, it doesn?t sound like there is as much attention to specific bodies, and they?re just taking up the rubble and people are just being dumped into mass graves and not being identified.

MR. CROWLEY: I ? Elise, I wouldn?t characterize it that way.

QUESTION: Well, that isn?t ?

MR. CROWLEY: Clearly, in the recovery phase we are ? we will be looking to recover remains. That is ? will be important as we go through Port-au-Prince. And that is ? that will be the next phase and it will be something that we will do with ? in a broader scale and with urgency and sensitivity.

I mean, this is the next stage in terms of helping Haiti rebuild, but the recovery phase means, among other things, that we will change our ? we?ll change our methodologies. But obviously, we think this is important to families in Haiti, families in the United States, and families in other countries that they ultimately understand and know, to the extent that we can, what happened to their loved ones.

QUESTION: Can you walk us through, please, these confirmed fatalities ? how you go about confirming an American fatality, and what ? once you confirm them, do you only confirm them once you actually have found their remains? And what happens to their remains? Are you sending them home to the United States? Are you ? what are you doing with them?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, it?s very, very difficult to make a general statement. I mean, in terms of confirmation that an American has died overseas, we seek ? obviously, we need to be aware that there is a body, and we take every effort to match that to identity papers, including a passport, that would allow us to verify citizenship.

As to ? we will obviously work with families of those who are deceased. In some cases, they have family members who are in Haiti, and in some cases, we have helped to facilitate the return of remains. In some cases, families have gone ahead and brought remains back to the United States through private efforts. So it is a combination of those. But I think we recognize that part of our responsibility here is to try to help and determine as best we can the disposition of Americans who are in Port-au-Prince, and we will continue to do that.

QUESTION: Just specifically on kind of notification of next of kin, have you notified the next of kin of all of these Americans? And just to ?

MR. CROWLEY: If we have that confirmation, then we reach out to families, and/or we could reach out to those who have contacted us and then as to the ? I would say probably in some cases, the United States Government has directly notified people that their loved ones have been lost in Haiti. In other cases, we have notified family or friends and they have in turn notified next of kin. So again, we have been and continue to be in contact with anyone who has asked us for assistance with determining what has happened to people that we have reason to believe were in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck.

Read more at:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/01/135694.htm

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Re: Haiti Earthquake - US death toll at 59 as of 01/25/2010

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 25, 2010


Excerpt:

On the broader effort, as of 8 o?clock this morning, more than 11,500 Americans and family members have departed Haiti. We have 59 confirmed American fatalities, 55 private citizens, and four U.S. Government official deaths. And that includes, in addition to the State Department employee we previously announced, three dependents of U.S. Government employees that ? we have confirmed their deaths, tragically, in the last couple of days.

To date, we have ? we still have operations continuing with the teams from Fairfax and Los Angeles County, but to date, there have been 134 people rescued in the search-and-rescue effort, including 47 of those by the various U.S. teams that have been on the ground.

QUESTION: Can I ask you ? just going back to that death toll --

MR. CROWLEY: Sure.

QUESTION: -- four U.S. official deaths, meaning the three were dependents?

MR. CROWLEY: Three were dependents.

QUESTION: Well, they actually ? so they ? but they count as official? I mean, I?m not sure --

MR. CROWLEY: Yeah, they?re part of the official ? they were there in an official status as accompanying family members in Haiti.

QUESTION: From the --

MR. CROWLEY: But they?re not ? obviously, they?re not U.S. employees.

QUESTION: Okay. But ? okay, but ? and the --

MR. CROWLEY: They?re children or spouses of.

QUESTION: Four Embassy workers, State Department people?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes, yes.

QUESTION: P.J., could you also talk about if you have any update on the number of welfare whereabouts cases were resolved versus how many are still open about family members or --

MR. CROWLEY: I think we still have files on roughly 17,000 and it?s still a moving number, but I think we?ve resolved roughly two-thirds of those. So I would say we still have that kind of 4,000 or so that are open.

QUESTION: Okay. And then --

QUESTION: Can we say all the numbers real quick?

QUESTION: Four thousand and what?

MR. CROWLEY: Four thousand or so ? in other words, of the 17,000 files that we?ve opened in our crisis database, about two-thirds of those have been resolved, Americans accounted for. We still have roughly 4,000, give or take, that we still have yet to resolve.

Read more at:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/01/135793.htm

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Re: Haiti Earthquake - US death toll at 59 as of 01/25/2010

Statement on State Department Family Members Killed in Earthquake

<!-- END TITLE -->Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC

January 26, 2010



<HR class=separator>
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today paid tribute to members of the State Department family killed in the earthquake in Haiti. Speaking to State Department and USAID staff at a town hall meeting, the Secretary honored the memories of Victoria DeLong, a Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and the family of Andrew Wyllie, a decorated State Department officer working for the United Nations in Haiti. He lost his wife Laurence and his two young sons Evan and Baptiste in the disaster. A transcript of her remarks follows:
"I thank all of you from throughout the Department, our colleagues from AID who have been working literally around the clock since January 12th.

The needs are overwhelming. We are trying to meet the humanitarian needs in this period, while at the same time working with the Haitian Government, the UN, and other countries and organizations to plan for the longer term. When I spoke to family members who had lost loved ones ? Victoria DeLong ? and then I spoke with Andrew Wyllie ? they both thanked me as Secretary for the outpouring of support that they had received from colleagues. In Victoria?s case, from people who had served with her, who knew her, who had reached out to the family, who had really demonstrated the closeness of community that exists among us.

And for Andrew Wyllie, who inconceivably, unimaginably lost his wife on her birthday and his seven-and-a-half and five-year-old children, he mentioned specifically the names of those who had been working with him in these very difficult days to recover the bodies of his wife and children.

And again, the sense that it was not even just a community, but a large and extended family came through in everything he said to me. That certainly is the way I feel after a year here, working with many of you, but of course, many, many more with whom I do not work on a daily or a weekly basis, but who I know are toiling in offices and posts and missions and projects across the world on behalf of our country, our values, our interests, our security, to build that better future that we think every person deserves and to create the opportunity for every child to live up to his or her God-given potential."

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135878.htm