Aftershock rattles Haiti: Relief workers continue to send supplies

A powerful aftershock rattled Haiti's capital again Wednesday morning, as relief workers continue to send supplies into the devastated country.

The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest aftershock yet to the apocalyptic Jan. 12 quake that shattered Haiti's capital. It was not immediately clear if it caused additional damage or injuries.haiti_hospital_aftershock.jpg

A team of about 80 firefighters and other first-responders from Broward and Palm Beach Counties who have been helping with rescue efforts in Port-au-Prince were at their base camp when the tremor struck. None were injured.

"We heard from our team, and they're all OK," Mike Jachles, spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, said Wednesday morning.

The team, though, entering its sixth day of the intensive search for survivors, is working through fatigue and exhaustion. There is also anguish over the people they could not reach in time.

"They've had some successful rescues, but they've also lost communication with some victims and had to move on," Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Capt. Mike Nugent said Tuesday.

As Haiti responds to the latest quake, relief flights are continuing to leave from South Florida.

A cargo plane left the Homestead Air Force Base early Wednesday morning and another is scheduled to fly out to Haiti sometime today. The Air Force plans to deliver 50,000 hand-held emergency radios to survivors this week. The radios are solar-powered and hand cranked.

In Fort Lauderdale Wednesday morning, a group of doctors and nurses from New York hoping to lend a hand were stranded at the airport. The plane that should have taken the crew to Haiti on Tuesday had to undergo repairs.

"It's just frustrating that we're left here without any idea when we'll be flying out, just waiting, when we're all so eager to be there helping," said Patricia Nicholas, a doctor from Long Island.

The rest of the group, nearly all Haitian-Americans with family in Haiti, stayed at a nearby hotel and a few workers stayed behind to guard the 60 boxes of medical supplies they had brought with them.

As supplies leave the area, an estimated 4,536 people have been evacuated to Florida so far, with 119 of them going to hospitals spread out between Jupiter and Key West, said Chuck Lanza, director of the Broward County Emergency Management Division.

The airlift was nothing short of chaotic in the first few days after the earthquake, but it has gradually grown more organized, Lanza said.

"In the first couple days, we would get 15 minutes' notice" that a plane was arriving with critically injured people, Lanza said. "In some cases, we didn't know until they were on the ground. There wasn't even an ambulance there for them."

"We've got it arranged so we're getting one or two hours' notice now, and that's a big help," Lanza said. "It's getting smoother by the day, but much busier by the day."

The majority of the evacuees have been citizens of the U.S. and other countries who are either unhurt or slightly injured. Some initially were brought by the Coast Guard to the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, then to Florida, officials said.

Those being returned to the U.S. or other countries have been funneled through Homestead Air Reserve Base and Orlando Sanford International Airport, which have been designated by federal and state officials as staging areas in disasters because they have strong U.S. Customs operations, Lanza said.

Victims with serious injuries and illnesses have been evacuated mostly through Homestead and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, which is a base for several privately run rescue operations that are using personal and corporate aircraft, Lanza said.

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