My World Earth: 150 U.N. staff members remain trapped under rubble in Haiti-Haiti quake is devastating blow to UN-Head of UN, and other key employees, missing

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

150 U.N. staff members remain trapped under rubble in Haiti-Haiti quake is devastating blow to UN-Head of UN, and other key employees, missing

UN staffs being rescued in the collapsed UN building.

This United Nations TV video grab handout shows rescue efforts in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

This United Nations TV video grab handout shows UN rescue efforts in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) building lies in ruin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Residents search for survivors among the debris Wednesday, after an earthquake hit Haiti Tuesday evening in Port-au-Prince.

The United Nations appears to have suffered its greatest loss of life in a single incident as about 150 of its employees in Haiti, including the mission's leader, remained trapped Wednesday under the rubble of their headquarters and other U.N. facilities after Tuesday's massive earthquake.

As rescue crews dug through the wreckage of the Christopher Hotel, which houses the mission's headquarters in Port-au-Prince, the world body confirmed the deaths of 16 officials, including 13 Brazilian and Jordanian peacekeepers. However, it said it expected that most of those still missing would not survive.

"It's clear a high number of them might be dead," said Alain Le Roy, the top U.N. peacekeeping official.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his top advisers said the Haitian earthquake would probably mark the worst day in the organization's 64-year history. They said the death toll was likely to exceed the 44 Ghanaian peacekeepers killed in Congo in 1961, as well as the 22 officials and guests who perished in a suicide bombing at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003.

This is a very difficult moment for all of us," said Susana Malcorra, the head of U.N. field operations. Malcorra said she had been taking calls throughout Wednesday from relatives of the missing. "It's not an easy conversation," she said.

The crisis cast a pall over the U.N. headquarters, where staff members sought information about friends, some breaking down in tears. Hundreds of other staff members from around the world volunteered to travel to Haiti to help the survivors, Le Roy said. Edmond Mulet, a Guatemalan who had previously led the Haiti mission, was sent back to Port-au-Prince late Wednesday to take charge of the mission until the fate of his successor, Hédi Annabi, could be determined.

After trying all day, U.N. media officials finally located Michèle Montas, a former spokeswoman for the organization, who had returned to Haiti after her recent retirement. In an e-mail, Montas said that she was unhurt but that 80 percent of the city was destroyed. "I saw hundreds of bodies in the street this morning," she wrote.

Also Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, visited the New York headquarters, where he met with Ban and urged General Assembly members to contribute money to help rebuild the island nation.

Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Program, said 38 of her staff members are missing.

"About 10 were in an adjacent building to our main building, and that adjacent building collapsed," she said.

The devastating earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday has cost hundreds of Haitian lives, based on reports so far, and destroyed thousands of homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the capital city. But it may also have killed some of the most experienced aid workers in the impoverished country, which could slow assistance efforts in the days ahead.

Speaking late Wednesday morning, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the organization's chief representative in Haiti, Hédi Annabi, and Mr. Annabi's deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa remain unaccounted for since the UN headquarters at the Christopher Hotel were destroyed yesterday. France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Annabi had been killed, but the UN said that has not been confirmed.

"The UN headquarters at the Christopher Hotel collapsed in the quake. Many people are still trapped inside," Mr. Ban said. "Minustah troops have been working through the night to reach those trapped under the rubble. So far, several badly injured casualties have been retrieved and transported to the Minustah logistics base, which thankfully remains intact." Minustah is the acronym for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Mr. Annabi, a Tunisian national, was meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in the Christopher Hotel at the time the earthquake struck. The Chinese officials were still missing in the early afternoon.

A massive aid effort for Haiti is currently gearing up, with Brazilian Air Force planes scheduled to land in Port-au-Prince with food and medical supplies later this afternoon. US President Barack Obama promised swift US action to deliver aid to the stricken capital.

"It is now clear that the earthquake has had a devastating impact on the capital, Port-au-Prince,'' Ban said. "The remaining areas of Haiti appear to be largely unaffected."

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