In what has been a devastating week in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, a second school has collapsed in Haiti. This time no children died, but it only adds to the horror that befell Haiti last Friday, when the La Promesse school in Petion-ville collapsed, killing (at current count) 93, most of them children.
Nine children were hurt in the second collapse, at Grace Divine Primary and
Secondary School in Port-au-Prince, and two children were injured at another nearby school, when they panicked because they thought their building was shaking and about to collapse.
The minister who owned and built Grace Divine will no doubt be prosecuted for his criminally shoddy construction practices, but there's no bringing back those kids. For a country crippled by poverty and ravaged this year by storms and flooding, Haiti has just suffered its cruelest blow yet. Americans are justifiably freaking out as we enter what looks like it'll be a sustained recession, but I hope those of us who still have a buck or two to spare will consider spreading it around. Red Cross International is a good place to start.
