Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
February 16, 2010
Children killed as school collapses in Haiti
A school partially collapsed in north Haiti after a mudslide yesterday, killing four children and bringing further catastrophe to a country already devastated by last month's massive earthquake.
The collapse occurred in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city on the Atlantic Coast, which was largely unaffected by the 7.0-magnitude quake that left the capital Port-au-Prince in ruins and killed more than 200,000 people.
It came after a rare positive sign earlier in the day with news that commercial flights into the main Port-au-Prince airport were set to resume this week for the first time since the disaster.
The civil protection official said heavy rains were to blame for the mid-afternoon school collapse.
"The accident was caused by four days of rain that caused a mudslide," the official said.
The Government allowed schools outside areas hit by the earthquake to reopen at the start of February. Firefighters and UN rescue workers called off a search at the school after determining there was no one else inside.
The incident was a sign of the dangers that lie ahead as more rain arrives.
Haiti has begun to see downpours ahead of the heavy rainy season, which typically starts around May.
Read more at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7028596.ece
Children killed as school collapses in Haiti
A school partially collapsed in north Haiti after a mudslide yesterday, killing four children and bringing further catastrophe to a country already devastated by last month's massive earthquake.
The collapse occurred in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city on the Atlantic Coast, which was largely unaffected by the 7.0-magnitude quake that left the capital Port-au-Prince in ruins and killed more than 200,000 people.
It came after a rare positive sign earlier in the day with news that commercial flights into the main Port-au-Prince airport were set to resume this week for the first time since the disaster.
The civil protection official said heavy rains were to blame for the mid-afternoon school collapse.
"The accident was caused by four days of rain that caused a mudslide," the official said.
The Government allowed schools outside areas hit by the earthquake to reopen at the start of February. Firefighters and UN rescue workers called off a search at the school after determining there was no one else inside.
The incident was a sign of the dangers that lie ahead as more rain arrives.
Haiti has begun to see downpours ahead of the heavy rainy season, which typically starts around May.
Read more at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7028596.ece