Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/7656
TITANYEN, Haiti (MCT) — The view from the busy two-lane road is spectacular: tall limestone mountains rising to the east and the turquoise Caribbean shimmering to the west. But this is no tourist resort. It's the site of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mass graves where gov- ernment crews buried tens of thousands of people killed by January's 7.0- magnitude earthquake. While many of the mass graves are clearly marked with white wood- en crosses atop mounds of dirt, the precise number of people buried beneath them may never be known. That's because since the earthquake, the Haitian government has not provided a precise accounting of the number of victims. The disparate figures that government officials have provided over time cannot be verified. How- ever, accounts by truck drivers who transported many of the bodies and workers who helped bury the victims suggest that official figures may not be incorrect. Establishing a more precise death count is important for several rea- sons. It would help quanti- fy the human loss, add historic context to one of the Western Hemisphere's worst disasters and help clarify initial confusion over varying death fig- ures. Haitian government estimates ranged from 100,000 to 270,000 in the days following the earth- quake that crumbled thou- sands of buildings, includ- ing the presidential palace, government min- istries, schools, churches, businesses and homes. A government spokesman told The Miami Herald that more than 200,000 people have already been laid to rest in common graves, but that that figure does not include victims still under the rubble and victims buried privately by fami- lies or friends. At the same time, workers at the Port-au- Prince main cemetery said that dozens of private crypts were reopened for earthquake dead. Though some Haitian officials have talked of logbooks listing victims, two government drivers who carried bodies to mass graves in their dump trucks and one worker who helped bury them in Titanyen said they did not see anyone keeping tabs. The drivers and the worker said the main mass graves were in the Titanyen area, about 50 miles north of Port-au- Prince. Assad Volcy, a spokesman for the Nation- al Palace, said more than 200,000 Haitians have been buried in common graves. He explained that government experts devised a formula to esti- mate how many quake victims have been buried. But Volcy said he did not know what the formu- la was. He promised to obtain an explanation of the formula but he has not. Asked about multiple conflicting figures cited by the Haitian govern- ment in the days and weeks after the earth- quake, including one as high as 270,000, Volcy said the figures reflected estimates that rose as offi- cials continued to "count" victims. The figure of 270,000, according to the Haitian government, was cited by President Rene Preval during a meeting in Ecuador in mid-February with South American leaders. The number was much higher than the first spe- cific death toll of 111,481 issued on Jan. 23. The next official figure, issued Jan. 24, put the death toll at 150,000. On Feb. 6, the government raised the figure to 212,000. On Feb. 9, the official figure jumped to 230,000. The next day Preval was quoted as saying 270,000 dead in a commu- nique issued in Port-au- Prince, which his govern- ment withdrew a few hours later, citing a typo. A short time later, also on Feb.10, a second commu- nique was issued chang- ing the figure to 170,000. In an interview, Volcy said that the varying death tolls reflected rising esti- mates as officials "count- ed" more and more dead. But Volcy also could not account for the 60,000- body discrepancy between the Feb. 9 and Feb.10 esti- mates. Asked if Haitian offi- cials were confused, Volcy said no. "There has been no confusion," he said. "Per- haps there was an error, but our estimates have been based on a formula to estimate numbers." Volcy said that accord- ing to the formula, which he could not explain, the number of bodies buried in common graves was more than 200,000. The figure excludes bodies still under the rubble or buried in private funerals, he added. In an interview, a senior Haitian transporta- tion official said his agency transported at least 170,000 bodies to mass graves in the Titanyen area in the first three weeks after the earth- quake. Jean Gardy Ligonde, technical director of the government-run trans- portation and construction agency known as Centre National des Equipment or CNE, said that between 80 and 100 dump trucks carried the bodies, with each truck making several trips a day. "Some trucks carried as few as five bodies, others as many as 20 or 50 or 130," Ligonde said. Asked if CNE kept pre- cise logbooks listing each body picked up on the street, Ligonde said the agency did not. His state- ment contradicts that of his boss, Jude Celestin who told The Miami Her- ald in the days following the quake that CNE work- ers carried a log with them to keep track of the bodies as they were being loaded into dump trucks. After the interview, Ligonde called The Miami Herald and said he had been mistaken and that indeed logbooks were kept, but CNE officials said they didn't have them. Monday, March 8, 2010 – Daily News – 5A PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT Paid for by the committee to elect William Murphy WilliamMurphy4Judge.com For Judge Of The Superior Court Office Two, 2010 William Murphy in support of Wed., March 17th, 6pm-10pm St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef & Cabbage Fundraiser Tehama County Fairground Tickets $20 Call 529-6647, email skysong@msn.com or go to WilliamMurphy4Judge.com Tickets available at the door or from committee members before the event. Death toll from Haiti earthquake remains a mystery MCT photo The makeshift cemetery in Titanyen, Haiti, where many earthquake victims are now buried.