Ontario nurse first confirmed Canadian fatality in Haiti

Thousands of bodies were pulled from the rubble in Haiti on Wednesday as international disaster relief began pouring into the small Caribbean nation following the strongest earthquake to strike there in two centuries.

Early estimates on the number of dead ranged from 100,000 to half a million, according to various Haitian government sources. Many were still believed to be trapped under crumbled buildings and thousands more have been left homeless.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman in Ottawa said there are reports of Canadian casualties. Among them is Yvonne Martin, a Canadian nurse from Elmira, Ont., who was killed in the earthquake, making her the first Canadian fatality reported.

Martin had arrived in the country Tuesday, the same day as the earthquake.

Among the thousands missing are two RCMP officers – Supt. Doug Coates, the acting commissioner of MINUSTAH, the UN Mission, and Sgt. Mark Gallagher, a media relations officer previously stationed in Halifax. The two were part of a group of 82 police officers working with the United Nations stabilization team in Haiti.

Former Quebec Liberal MP Serge Mercil, in his 60s, who was working in the West Indies country for an engineering firm, was also unaccounted for Wednesday, according to his employer, Montreal-based SM Group International.

The one-term MP had only arrived in Haiti on Tuesday.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday near Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished nation, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Tremors were felt in neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica, although little to no damage occurred outside the Haitian capital, which has been left largely without water, electricity and communications infrastructure.

The earthquake appears to have occurred along the Enriquillo Fault Zone, which runs east-west along Haiti’s southwest peninsula, Reuters reported.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, who was born in Haiti, said Wednesday she’s had a long and difficult night after hearing news about the earthquake.

"It’s as if an atomic bomb has fallen on Port-au-Prince," she said.

A Canadian medical and assessment team was expected to land in Haiti later Wednesday to provide urgent relief.

The Red Cross estimated that about three million people had been affected by the disaster. Haiti’s population is approximately nine million.

As part of the Canadian response, a small assessment team of 20 military members, and those with engineering and technical backgrounds, was to arrive in the country to be Canada’s "eyes on the ground."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the frigate HMCS Halifax is returning to port to prepare to deploy to Haiti as soon as possible. It will be equipped with a Sea King helicopter and medical equipment before it departs as early as late Wednesday. Another ship will be ready to go if needed, he said.

The federal government has allocated up to $5 million for immediate disaster relief, which will be made available to non-government relief agencies to provide shelter, medical services, food, relief items, water, sanitation and protection.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the Disaster Assistance Response Team, a unit that provides emergency medical care and clean water, will be deployed after he received an unofficial request from the Caribbean country’s government.

"It goes without saying that there is a need and Canada will come to the aid of the Haitian people," he said.

About 6,000 Canadian citizens live in Haiti, said Cannon, about 700 of whom have registered with the embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Seventy-five Canadian Embassy personnel – a combination of Canadians and locals – were ordered to evacuate the building. Cannon one Canadian has been slightly injured by the earthquake. Twenty-four Canadian-based staff working with Foreign Affairs in Haiti had been accounted for.

Cannon said about 80 Canadian citizens in Haiti had come to the embassy compound, where tents, food and water have been made available.

Buildings, from the thousands of tin-roofed shacks lining Haitian streets to the presidential palace and the luxury Montana Hotel, have been damaged or destroyed.

Jeff Bultje, 44, a Chatham, Ont., contractor who is going to Haiti on Thursday to help rebuild his cousin’s orphanage, said that he believes his cousin is OK after communicating with her. He said Karen Bultje is sleeping outdoors after the earthquake knocked part of her house down.

"She is alive and doing well. She is not injured. I am not really too worried. She has been there for so long she knows her way around," said Bultje. "We are going to try to get her set up again, to get a roof over her head and clean up her compound. I am sure there is going to be no trouble finding things to do. It there ever was a time to go, it is probably now."

Eyewitnesses to Tuesday’s disaster described the chaos that swept the capital.

Elodie Cajuste, executive director of the Haitian Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said she heard screaming from the people who live in a shanty town on a hill in the city.

"The earth (up there) is not very firm . . . you could hear people screaming," said Cajuste, speaking on her cellphone. "I just spoke to my driver and he was up in the mountains and a couple of his neighbours died.

"I’m in a very residential area and it’s dark. There (are) no street lights. My neighbour’s wall is completely gone."

A five-storey UN building also collapsed in the earthquake, described as the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years.

Three soldiers from Jordan, four from Brazil, and eight from China who had been stationed at the UN headquarters were confirmed to have died, according to Reuters.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Wednesday morning the chaos amid the rubble had made it difficult to get a complete accounting of the number of people killed or injured in the disaster.

Irina Bokova, UN cultural agency director, said Wednesday from Geneva that 14 UNESCO staff members were unaccounted for.

Ban said the UN will immediately use $10 million from its emergency disaster fund to help with relief efforts. There are 3,000 UN troops and police officers in the country maintaining order.

He urged other nations to send aid Wednesday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Nathalie Gissel-Menos, the head of Haiti’s mission in Canada, early Wednesday to reinforce that Haiti can "count on our solidarity" during this time of need.

"The government of Canada will deploy all necessary assistance to the people of Haiti during this time of need," Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said in a statement.

There are an estimated 100,000 people of Haitian origin living in Canada, most of whom live in Quebec.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday morning promised a "swift, co-ordinated and aggressive" American response to the Haitian earthquake, saying the first U.S. government civilian assistance will begin to arrive in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday afternoon.

The U.S. military has already begun overflight assessments of the damage and additional disaster assistance teams from Virginia, Florida and California are expected to be on the ground as early as Thursday afternoon.

As many as 10 strong aftershocks followed quickly, most measuring between four and five on the Richter scale.

The Canadian Red Cross has pledged $200,000 from its disaster relief fund to provide aid in Haiti.

Donations can be made by calling 1-800-418-1111 or by going to its website at http://www.redcross.ca.

Haiti was gripped by a tense political standoff in April 2008 amid riots over skyrocketing food prices.

Seventy per cent of Haiti’s population lives on less than two dollars per day and half of its adult population is unemployed.

Canadians worried about their friends or relatives in Haiti can contact the Foreign Affairs emergency operations centre at 1-800-387-3124.

With a file from Mike Barber, Linda Nguyen and the Montreal Gazette