Exhausted Canadians Caught In Haitian Earthquake Arrive Home

Dozens of disaster-weary Canadians arrived in Montreal early Friday, overcome with emotion as they were greeted by Red Cross personnel and waiting politicians.

Most expressed relief to be home after surviving an earthquake that devastated the impoverished nation of Haiti, but some were just as eager to get back to the island having seen first-hand the amount of help needed.

They were the first group evacuated by the Canadian Embassy since the quake struck on Tuesday afternoon. All told, the military has flown 272 people home, with 100 waiting their turn back in Haiti.

“Thank you,” said one of the first men on the ground. “Thank you for bringing us home.”

However, many more Canadians remain in Haiti.

“A total of 1,415 Canadians are missing in the affected area,” Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Friday.

Haitian-born Novelist Dany Laferriere described hearing “an extraordinary noise” followed by people running into the streets to escape collapsing buildings.

Many praised relief workers and ordinary Haitian citizens, who did their best to help anyone they could.

“So many people saved people they didn’t know,” Laferriere said. “It was a time of courage in Haiti.”

Four Canadians have been confirmed dead: RCMP Sgt. Mark Gallagher, Montreal professor Georges Anglade and his wife Mireille as well as Yvonne Martin, a nurse from Elmira, Ontario who arrived in the country less than two hours before the tremor.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says 13 Canadians have been injured and another 1,415 are still missing.

The full extent of the quake’s damage is still not known, but some estimates suggest 50,000 people may have died and as many as three million may need emergency relief.

Many more remain trapped in the rubble. One man who could only move one hand and one foot was interviewed by CNN.

“I say to myself, Jesus, Jesus, my life is in your hands,” he told reporters.

Thankfully, he was later freed.

And as foreign aid has failed to make it past destroyed roads, the rising desperation has reportedly led to protests and looting at the warehouses of the UN’s World Food Programme.

Without water, food and medical treatment, many will likely perish in the aftermath.

With files from the Canadian Press