Earthquake Silences Haitian Olympic Committee

Displaced people at Petion-ville, the town where the HOC is located. The Red Cross estimates 3 million people were affected by the earthquake. (Getty Images) (ATR) No communication has been established with the Haitian Olympic Committee following an earthquake in Haiti that may have killed hundreds of thousands.

Olympic officials throughout the region say they are not able to make contact since the disaster Thursday. Calls by Around the Rings to the HOC headquarters were unsuccessful, as all circuits to Haiti were busy.

The prime minister of Haiti tells CNN Tuesday’s earthquake off the coast of Haiti measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale. (Getty Images) fatalities could reach into the hundreds of thousands. The International Red Cross says three million people -- one-third of the population -- are affected by the quake, the strongest in 200 years.

ATR is told that Luis Mejia Oviedo, president of the Dominican Republic NOC is traveling to Haiti now to assess the damage and that the Olympic committee is launching a food and clothing drive to help with relief efforts.

Michael Fennell, president of the Jamaican Olympic Association, tells ATR he tried to reach the Haitians, but had only been able to reach fellow member of the Rotary Club. The capitals of Jamaica and Haiti are less than 300 miles apart. Fennell said the Haitians are Jamaica’s “close neighbors” and “our brothers”.

He also said his Rotarian friends told him the most pressing need was for “necessities, they need foodHaiti sent seven Olympians to Beijing. Judoka Joel Brutus was the flag bearer. (Getty Images) and shelter” not money.

A staff member with the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee tells ATR their office in Santo Domingo is undamaged.

Haiti sent seven athletes to Beijing. Haiti’s first Olympian competed at the 1900 Olympics for France. Its first Olympics as a sovereign country came in 1924. The country’s first medal, a bronze in team shooting, came at the Paris Olympics. The 1928 Games were the best for Haiti, when Silvio Cantor won silver in the long jump. No other Haitians have medalled at an Olympics.

The president of the HOC Is Jean-Edouard Baker.

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Written by Ed Hula III.