Haiti Death Tolls Officially at 50,000 for Now

The Haiti death tolls have gone up non-stop since the earthquake days ago. The current Haiti death tolls are only in the tens of thousands, but unofficially, it may already be much more. At this current time, they have collected 50,000 dead, according to Haitian officials. But for days, estimates have been in the hundreds of thousands range, at the very least. For the moment, the Haiti death tolls have been estimated at 200,000, though that is down from the original 500,000 estimation.

Haiti's Interior Minister, Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, told Reuters that the death toll is at 50,000 for now. His estimation is that 100,000 to 200,000 people are actually dead. But sadly, that kind of estimate is actually good news, compared to early predictions of 500,000 killed.

If the total reaches the hundreds of thousands, it will be among the deadliest earthquakes of all time. But given how many may be buried underneath rubble, and how many may never be found, it could be impossible to get a final total. Even Bien-Aime admitted that they will probably never know the exact number.

The Pan American Health Organization has a conservative estimate of between 50,000 and 100,000. However, even they really don't have an accurate number. In any case, the Haiti death tolls may not take the aftermath into account.

No one will ever know how many people were directly killed by the earthquake, or from the horror afterward. With aid still slow to actually come in, virtually no authority in Haiti, and with the capital city practically destroyed, there is virtually nothing to stop further bloodshed.

Lawlessness, a lack of clean water, and disease could kill many more in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks to all of those factors, the true Haiti death tolls may take years to truly measure.

The earthquake was one thing, but the worst of it may come from the aftermath. Haiti was already one of the world's poorest countries, but the aftereffects of such a terrible earthquake could cripple what's left of the area. Short-term aid could help stem the immediate crisis, but it's long-term aid that will help determine Haiti's future.

Currently, the biggest headlines are how high the death tolls are, and how it ranks in the annuals of history. Yet the Haiti earthquake has already done all the damage it can do directly. There may indeed be hundreds of thousands dead, but if the numbers get higher than that, it will be because of human action - or inaction.

Sources

Comcast.net- "Haiti says 200,000 may be dead, tensions rise"

Washington Post- "Haiti death toll 50,000 to 100,000: PAHO"