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The death toll in Haiti is estimated to reach as high as 50,000, based on numerous press reports, and the American Red Cross is reporting that as many as three million people may be affected by the quake.
Aftershocks triggered by the huge Tuesday earthquake have continued to hit the region. By early Friday morning, approximately 43 quakes, ranging in size from 4.4 to 5.9 in magnitude, had occurred since Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey.
On Thursday President Barack Obama pledged $100 million in US aid and announced that he had deployed members of the US Armed Forces to help support recovery efforts.
Included in that deployment are several Coast Guard cutters providing basic services, members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the Navy's hospital ship, the Comfort, the White House reported on Thursday.
Assisting with the recovery efforts are a number of humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America and the American Red Cross.
Doctors Without Borders medical teams have reportedly given medical care to more than 1,000 earthquake victims in the four tented facilities that the organization set up,and are trying to get an operator theater or a major hospital opened.
On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders said one of its inflatable field hospitals, complete with two operating theaters, was expected to arrive in Haiti, and doctors and other medical personnel were on the way.
American Red Cross Disaster management specialists were set to arrive Thursday from the United States, Peru and Mexico to join local Red Cross staff already on the ground in Haiti's disaster zone. The International Committee of the Red Cross already head deployed medical supplies and medical staff.
Blood and blood products to help the injured already were shipped to Guantanamo Bay to help Haitian evacuees and patients, and other supplies are prepared for shipping once airports can receive relief shipments, the Red Cross reported.
The Red Cross said Thursday it has released $10 million so far to help Haiti, and was leading a text message campaign to draw donations.
The group said priority needs are food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support.
Donna Neu with the Yolo and Lake County Red Cross chapter, said they're primarily collecting financial donations for the effort.
“We're not sending any volunteers,” Neu said. “They are not asking for any at this time.”
They ask that contributions be mailed to the Red Cross office at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport, with a notation that the money be sent directly to the Red Cross International Response Fund.
Neu said people can make donations online at the Red Cross' Web site, www.redcross.org . The Red Cross also can be reached at 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767).
People also can donate money through their cell phones. Neu said they can text “Haiti” to 90999, which will send a $10 donation. The Red Cross reported that the mobile donations raised more than $3 million by Thursday morning.
Ellen Maremont Silver of the Sonoma and Mendocino County Red Cross chapter reported Thursday that their phones haven't stopped ringing.
That day, she said she sat with a propane tank installer as he counted out more than $127 – mostly in change – from his private piggy bank. “People's hearts are large,” she said.
The American Red Cross has seen an outpouring of support and concern from the public, both locally in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties and around the country, Silver said.
So far, more than $8,000 from more than 90 people has been donated through the Sonoma and Mendocino County Red Cross chapter, with people continuing to call, donate online, mail in donations and bring contributions directly to the Santa Rosa headquarters, Silver said. Residents of those counties also can donate online at www.arcsm.org/donate .
Other groups accepting donations include Doctors Without Borders, http://doctorswithoutborders.org/, Oxfam America, https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=main_donate_go and Yéle Haiti, www.yele.org/.
For those trying to contact friends and family in Haiti, they are urged to call the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-647-5225.
As the efforts continue, California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Thursday encouraged Californians to make charitable donations for victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, but warned them to avoid scam artists who may prey on the goodwill of California donors.
“After every tragedy, a wave of scam artists take advantage of generous individuals who want to help the victims of a tragedy,” Brown said. “It's important to thoroughly research charitable organizations before you write a check.”
He urged people to donate to charities they know and make sure they're in the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts at http://ag.ca.gov/charities.php . For additional tips on charitable giving, go to http://ag.ca.gov/charities/charit_giving.php .
Information on national charities is available from the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance at 800-575-4483 or www.give.org .
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Joseph Anthony Frank, 63, was arrested shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to Lt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Jensen's Truck Stop at 1460 Lover's Lane in Ukiah on a reported assault, Noe said.
When the deputies arrived they learned that Frank had entered the business and began making comments about the race of the victim, a 23-year-old employee, according to Noe. Frank then told the victim that he was going to kill him.
Noe said Frank allegedly removed his jacket and hit the victim in the side of the face. Frank then left in his truck.
The victim advised Frank's actions seemed to be purely motivated by the victim's race. Noe said the man also told deputies that the incident was captured on the stores video surveillance system.
Deputies issued a “be on the look out” for Frank's truck, and Noe said a California Highway Patrol officer located Frank in his truck on Kuki Lane.
The CHP subsequently placed Frank under arrest for drunk driving, Noe said. Once Frank arrived at the Mendocino County Jail, he was booked for the hate crime charge, with bail set at $20,000.
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NICE – A lit cigarette is believed to have caused a fire that destroyed a home in Nice on Wednesday.
The fire was reported in the older doublewide modular home on Hamilton Street shortly before 3 p.m., according to Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Jim Robbins.
The fire was accessed from Pyle Road, off of Highway 20, according to reports from the scene.
A young woman who was renting the home fell asleep while smoking, Robbins said. The cigarette caught a Christmas tree in the home on fire.
The woman awoke to a lot of heat and smoke, and she tried to throw water on the fire to put it out, said Robbins. However, by that time, the fire had moved to smaller couch.
Robbins said the woman then escaped from the home uninjured.
The call initially came in as a smoke check in the area. Robbins said as he drove to Nice from Lucerne with one engine, he could see a pillar of black smoke.
By the time firefighters arrived, the fire already was well under way, he said.
Older modulars burn quickly, Robbins said. “All they need is about 10 minutes.”
The trailer had a secondary roof built over it. “That caused us a lot of problems with collapsing,” said Robbins.
Three engines and 12 personnel from Northshore Fire's Nice, Lucerne and Upper Lake stations responded, Robbins said. By 5 p.m. they had extinguished the fire and mopped up the scene.
Robbins said the lost property is valued at about $80,000.
“It's a total loss,” said Robbins. “She lost everything she had in there.”
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The new codes, which will be enforced by Cal Fire's Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and fire and building departments throughout the state, bring California in line with the 2009 International Building, Fire, and Residential Code.
The new codes were adopted by the California Building Standards Commission.
“Providing an enhanced fire safe environment is important as we promote a sustainable living and working environment,” said Acting State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover. “The reduction of fire not only protects our residents but also enhances our environment and business community. These standards will increase fire safety and awareness in communities throughout California.”
Each year wildfires char thousands of acres and destroy hundreds, even thousands, of homes in California. A portion of the newly adopted codes focus on regulations for homes built in the wildland-urban interface in order to make them more ember resistant, increasing structure survivability.
Additional amendments relate to tire storage, dry cleaning, and automatic extinguishing systems.
A key component in the 2010 code adoption is the addition of residential fire sprinklers in all new one and two family and town-home construction.
For many years, installation of fire sprinkler systems has only been required in office buildings and multi-family dwellings like apartments. These sprinkler systems are proven to save lives and extinguish fires. More than 100 jurisdictions in California already have a local residential fire sprinkler ordinance.
For more information about fire and building codes in your community, contact your local fire department or building department.
Information concerning fire and panic safety can also be obtained by visiting the Cal Fire-OSFM Web site, http://osfm.fire.ca.gov .
To review all of the new codes to take effect in 2011, visit www.bsc.ca.gov .
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Jared Templeton, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash after being trapped underwater in a vehicle that went into Blue Lakes at about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP Officer Steve Tanguay said Heather Thompson, 22, of Lakeport was driving her 1988 Ford Thunderbird westbound on Highway 20, just west of Blue Lakes Road, with Templeton, 23-year-old Zachary Walston of Lakeport and 21-year-old Kathleen Riley of Kelseyville riding in the car with her.
The CHP reported that there was a light rain occurring at the time of the crash.
As Thompson's vehicle was coming out of a righthand curve in the roadway, she lost control of the Thunderbird, which veered to the left and went off of the roadway and struck a tree south of the roadway, according to the report. The vehicle continued out of control to the south and went into Blue Lakes.
As the vehicle began to submerge into the lake, Thompson, Walston and Riley – all of whom were wearing seat belts – were able to get out of the vehicle and made it safely to the shore, Tanguay reported.
However, for an unknown reason, Templeton – who was sitting in the front right seat of the vehicle and also was belted into his seat – couldn't escape, officials reported.
Walston and Riley attempted to dive down to the vehicle to get Templeton out, but due to the depth and temperature of the water, they were unsuccessful, Tanguay said.
Northshore Fire Protection District, assisted by Lakeport Fire, sent a large number of resources to the scene, according to Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Pat Brown.
He said the agency responded to the scene with its dive rescue team, three engines from its Upper Lake and Lucerne stations, three advanced life support ambulances from Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne, a rope/extrication rescue from Clearlake Oaks and two battalion chiefs. Lakeport Fire also sent a medic unit, for a total of 16 rescue personnel on scene.
Brown said when the rescue teams arrived, the vehicle was submerged 15 feet below the surface of the water, just before the narrow section of Upper Blue Lakes.
Northshore Fire crews conducted a low angle rope system down the embankment, which required using chainsaws to remove trees and brush and establish lights, Brown said.
The Northshore Dive Team got into the water and reached the vehicle at 3:30 a.m., said Brown. The CHP's report on the collision stated that rescuers couldn't reach Templeton's body while the car was submerged.
Brown said dive team members attached tow cables and begun the process of removing the vehicle. A tow truck was used to pull the Thunderbird up out of the lake, Tanguay said.
Fire officials pronounced Templeton dead at the scene, according to the report.
Brown said Northshore Fire transported Thompson, Walston and Riley to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by Upper Lake Fire ambulance for minor to moderate injuries sustained in the collision.
Tanguay said alcohol is not considered to be a factor in the crash.
Northshore Fire Incident Command contacted the state Department of Fish and Game, Lake County Environmental Health, the Office of Emergency Services and worked with the Lake County Sheriff's Office for a possible hazardous materials spill into Blue Lakes, Brown said.
The Lake County Sheriff's Patrol and booms were ready if a film was present at daylight, he said.
The Department of Fish and Game, which took the lead on the hazmat operation, cleared Northshore Fire at 7:15 a.m., Brown reported.
CHP Officer Josh Dye is investigating the collision, according to the report.
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Officer Steve Tanguay of the Clear Lake Office of the California Highway Patrol confirmed that a death had resulted from the crash, which was reported shortly after 2:45 a.m. Wednesday.
A vehicle was reported off the roadway, with two subjects reportedly coming out of it, according to the CHP's initial reports.
Names of those involved was not yet available shortly before 10 a.m.
Traffic was blocked in both directions and Caltrans put a highway closure in place, according to the CHP.
A blood draw was conducted on one individual who was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment, the report stated.
Tow companies were called to tow vehicles for evidence, officials said.
Tanguay said the CHP will issue a full account of the crash shortly.
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