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Ambassador: Haitian president, First Lady unharmed

Other News Materials 13 January 2010 05:26 (UTC +04:00)
Haitian President Rene Preval and his wife were unharmed by the massive earthquake that hit Haiti earlier Tuesday, according to the Haitian ambassador to the US, dpa reported.
Ambassador: Haitian president, First Lady unharmed

Haitian President Rene Preval and his wife were unharmed by the massive earthquake that hit Haiti earlier Tuesday, according to the Haitian ambassador to the US, dpa reported.

The ambassador, Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN that First Lady Elisabeth Debrosse Delatour had spoken to his colleague in the US and reassured him that she and the president were OK.

But the presidential palace and ministry of commerce in Port au Prince, the capital, were damaged.

"If those buildings are damaged, can you imagine what has happened to all those flimsy abodes around Port au Prince on the hillsides?" Joseph asked.

He recalled his growing dismay over the unregulated building of shacks on the hillsides, and how he had written an article some years ago saying it was a "catastrophe waiting to happen."

"Sadly, it has happened," he said.

He said he expected the number of victims "to be quite high."

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