Donald M. Payne: “Haiti has been a longtime concern to many of us, and we certainly wish to express our concern for this disaster, this…”

“Haiti has been a longtime concern to many of us, and we certainly wish to express our concern for this disaster, this catastrophe that has stricken Haiti. As you know, Haiti was hit by four devastating hurricanes and tropical storms recently, a year and a half ago. And Haiti was recovering, recovering from the mudslides, recovering from the floods, working its way back for the past 15 months. Then of course last night we were just shocked when we heard that a 7.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, an earthquake that was only 5 miles from the surface of the Earth, therefore giving it a magnitude of strength that is rarely felt in an earthquake because many earthquakes go down 100 miles, 150 miles deep into the Earth. However, this being 5 miles from the surface meant that the shock and the aftershocks were as individual earthquakes would be because of the proximity to the surface. This was a tremendous setback again for Haiti. From reports, we have heard that few buildings are left standing in Port Au Prince.”