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Haiti School Disaster Sparks Anger, Concern

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The Associated Press

Published: November 10, 2008

PETIONVILLE, Haiti - Angry Haitians stormed the twisted wreckage of a collapsed school on Sunday to demand rescuers speed up a search for victims, while officials worried about the stability of other buildings across this desperately poor country.

The collapse, which crushed at least 88 students and adults, has brought global attention to a country where building codes are widely ignored.

President Rene Preval, who has made several visits to the disaster site, blamed continual government turnover and a lack of respect for the law for the deadly collapse at the College La Promesse.

"There is a code already, but they don't follow it. What we need is political stability," Preval said.
Rescuers including a U.S. crew from Fairfax County, Va., and French firefighters from Martinique continued searching for survivors and the dead for a third day Sunday, using pole-mounted digital cameras and cutting through concrete with saws. They were aided by an eight-person military team from the U.S. Southern Command.

But anger boiled over as thousands of Haitians looked on in the blazing sun, with the stench of rotting bodies beginning to rise from the rubble.

About 100 men rushed the unstable pile at one point, hammering at the debris and trying to pull down a massive concrete slab that firefighters worry could trigger a second collapse.

"Everybody is frustrated. We smell the bodies," said 25-year-old Emmane Petitehomme.

Some have reported hearing voices from the pile or receiving cell phone calls from trapped survivors. Rescuers say they investigated those claims but could not confirm them.

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