ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
In Haiti this evening, people are searching for loved ones and digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings that follow in a major earthquake today. The 7.0 magnitude quake has caused an unknown number of deaths and injuries on the impoverished island. Haiti is appealing for international aid, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier today delivered this message.
Secretary Hillary Clinton (Department of State): United States is offering our full assistance to Haiti and to others in the region. We will be providing both civilian and military disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. And our prayers are with the people who have suffered, their families and their loved ones.
SIEGEL: Private aid organizations are also mustering relief efforts. Joining us now is Rachel Wolff, who works with World Vision, that's an international relief group based in the U.S. that has about 400 employees in Haiti, and she's spoken with some of them today, people who were in Haiti's capital when the earthquake hit. Rachel Wolff, what have your relief workers been telling you today?
Ms. RACHEL WOLFF (Communications Manager for Disaster Response, World Vision): Hi, Robert. Well, I spoke with World Vision's national director there in Port-au-Prince, Frank Williams(ph). He said the staff of World Vision all felt the quake quite severely. Our agency's building itself, which is quite a sturdy building, shook for about 35 seconds, and portions of the building actually fell off. He described the scene of panic, screaming in the capital there. And even in one of the better built areas where our office is, there were - roads were already blocked, significantly blocking traffic from buildings that had fallen down.
SIEGEL: What did you hear about how people in Haiti are dealing with the aftermath of the quake?
Ms. WOLFF: Well, I can only imagine - Frank, World Vision's national director, describes screaming, some panic. This is all in the capital, of course. I would expect, you know, that this frightening scene in the capital would be magnified all around the country. At the same time, Port-au-Prince being such a densely populated city, damage there, we would expect, would be quite significant.
SIEGEL: Does Haiti and its government have the capacity to handle a disaster like this?
Ms. WOLFF: This earthquake is a magnitude where, you know, World Vision would be concerned had it hit in any developing country.
Haiti, as we know, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. World Vision has worked there for 30 years. We remember the hurricanes that hit one after another a couple of summers ago. I was there just following that. People are still recovering from those hurricanes a year and a half ago. So I would imagine - I mean, we know that the government has requested international assistance. That will certainly speed things along. World Vision is certainly already taking donations. At this point, even though things are not confirmed, I think we have a good indication to believe that quite a bit of help will be needed and urgently.
SIEGEL: Rachel Wolff with the international aid group World Vision whose employees are in Haiti. Thank you very much for talking with us.
Ms. WOLFF: Thank you, Robert.
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
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