Haiti: School Collapses in Port au Prince OCHA Situation Report No. 2

On Friday 07 November 2008, around 10:00am (1500 GMT) the upper storey of La Promesse College situated in Petion Ville (Port au Prince) collapsed during morning classes, crushing all of the classrooms on the ground level leaving many students and teachers dead and some wounded under blocks of concrete.

The International Red Cross, the Haitian Red Cross, members of the UN Haiti peacekeeping force (MINUSTAH), other humanitarian organizations including Doctors without Borders and the United Nations System in Haiti joined in the rescue, in support to the Haitian authorities.

Rescue operations are pursuing with the support of a French Civil Protection search and rescue team with equipment and dogs that joined the operations on the night from 7 to 8 November. About 1:00am on the 8th November was rescued one more survivor.

An American rescue team is expected to arrive today by 11:00am.

So far, information provided by the Haitian Civil Protection shows that:

68 victims are reported dead;
107 wounded persons have been transferred to hospitals;
About 200 persons are still missing.

As many as 700 students aged from three to 20 attend the school, but an accurate count of how many had been inside when it crumbled remains unknown.

The school did not meet normal construction standards and the owner is currently under custody.

OCHA Haiti in support to DPC continues to monitor the situation very closely.