D Thursday, January 14, 2010 News Screams and panic, it was a war zone...By Miles Erwin Plea for 5m emergency aid for Haiti AID agencies last night made a plea for 5million to provide food, shelter, water and medicine for tens of thousands injured and those left homeless by the earthquake. Concern and Goal each offered 250,000 emergency funding as Concerns Tom Arnold urged help for Haitians still recovering from hurricanes. Trcaire said it would help the response through partner Caritas Haiti which runs more than 200 hospitals and medical centres in the country. Mdecins San Frontires, The Irish Red Cross and Christian Aid Ireland have also launched appeals. Lay missionaries with Viatores Christi, Maeve Bracken, from Offaly, and Gena Heraty, from Mayo, were not injured in the quake, it was reported. In a statement yesterday, Irish company Digicel said two of its 900 staff died but no Irish staff were injured in the quake. Charity says funds more critical now HAVEN is launching an urgent appeal for funds in the wake of Haitis devastating earthquake. The the quake struck the capital, Port-au-Prince just a day before the house building charity was to begin recruiting volunteers to head to the Caribbean country in April and October. Now the charity needs volunteers and donations more urgently than ever to provide aid desperately needed by the poorest country in the western hemisphere. While our people on the ground and in head office are very much concentrating on the emergency response to the earthquake, in terms of the mid to longer term outlook, Haiti more than ever will need houses to be built, and indeed houses to be rebuilt, said spokeswoman Deirdre Grant. If anything this has hardened our resolve, she added. THE Haitian earthquake felt like a truck slam- ming into a building and the air filled with screams of panicking people, an aid worker told Metro Herald yesterday. World Vision worker Maggie Boyer, who was in her office when the earthquake struck in Port-au-Prince, described the horror that sur- rounded her The noise was muffled and then the building shook and we realised it was an earthquake, she said. I thought a truck had hit the wall. We all ran downstairs as the offices shook and papers flew everywhere. It lasted about 45 seconds but we managed to get out and into the courtyard. Our building was OK but everywhere around us there was serious damage. All of the buildings in Port-au-Prince are surrounded by big walls and they had collapsed, leaving cement and barbed wire strewn across the roads. Some of the buildings were flattened like car parks. It was like a war zone where a huge bomb had gone off. Ms Boyer, 44, said most people appeared to be in shock as they walked around trying to find relatives and salvage their possessions. The aftershocks were particularly hard to take. They kept going throughout the evening and eve- ry time there was a collective scream across the city like a manic football crowd. Ms Boyer said as she walked around the city her team tried to find survivors but couldnt hear anything. We would call out to people but hear nothing. Each time we left we would say we would be back and to keep breathing but I dont know if anyone was alive. Many people had serious injuries from falling rubble. But others jumped out of buildings to get away from the quake, injuring themselves upon landing. During the night people were too afraid to stay home and slept on the streets. Miracle escape: An earthquake survivor, who was covered by rubble, is dug out by other survivors in a Port-au-Prince building Picture: AFP index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html