International News

A three-storey school building collapsed Friday in Petionville, Haiti killing at least 93 people — mostly children aged 10 to 20 — and injuring at least 150 others. But many more are still missing, and rescuers say there are no more signs of life after several days of rescue efforts.

From panic and hysteria, including agitation against authorities supervising the rescue operations, “a terrible silence” has fallen on the site as all hopes of finding more people alive dim, according to a staff member of Médicins Sans Frontières, the French medical aid organization.

Firefighters from the US, France and Haiti joined forces and used cameras, dogs and imaging equipment to look for survivors.

But they no longer expect anyone is still alive and rescue operations have shifted to recovery mode. The rescue teams want to clear away the rubble and start recovering bodies.

There is also a need to stabilize the remaining parts of the building and the surrounding structures, to prevent them from falling downhill onto other residential areas. This is expected to be an operation fraught with risks.

The cause of the collapse has not yet been established. Neighbors believe it was rebuilt in a substandard manner — the building had partially collapsed about eight years ago. At the time of this year’s collapse, the third storey was still being constructed, although the collapse appeared to have started on the first floor, which then pulled down the rest of the structure.

The mayor of Petionville said engineers suspect the collapse happened due to a structural defect. Nearby residents attributed it to poor construction.

The College La Promesse Evangelique is a church-run school located on the hills above the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The site of the collapse includes a primary and secondary school. Initial estimates said there were 500 people in or near the building when the incident occurred.

The building collapsed around 10 a.m. local time, Friday. According to a U.N. spokesman, there may only have been 250 people inside the building. Since 150 people have been accounted for as injured and 93 people so far are confirmed dead, the number of unaccounted persons may be fewer than previous estimates of 100-200 people.

The owner of the school has been arrested.

Workers of Médecins Sans Frontières, the French equivalent of Doctors Without Borders, have attended to more than half of the injured.

The president of Haiti has called for a review of construction guidelines in the country. The minister of education has also been asked to conduct an inspection of all schools.

More updates on the situation in Haiti can be found at the Médecins Sans Frontières website.

Tips on what to do in the event of building collapse are available at the government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration website.

Additional safety tips to follow in case of building collapse can be seen at the American Rescue Team International website. Or, Click on PDF file.

Safety Tip:

* Avoid the urge to “duck and cover” under desks. In collapsed building incidents, most dead victims are those who duck under objects (e.g. a desk or bed) that get squashed. It’s better to be between two desks (or two large objects).

* Avoid being in the doorway of a collapsing building.