Haiti Quake Survivors Struggle While Awaiting Aid

Haiti Quake Survivors Struggle

While Awaiting Aid

海地地震生还者等待救援

Turning pickup trucks into ambulances and doors into stretchers, Haitians were frantically struggling to save those injured in the earthquake as desperately needed aid from around the world began arriving.

In the streets of the capital, survivors set up camps amid piles of salvaged goods, including food being scavenged from the rubble. The aid group Doctors Without Borders treated the wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere to replace its damaged facilities. Cuba, which already had hundreds of doctors in Haiti, treated the injured in field hospitals.

It has been estimated that up to 200,000 people were killed by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Taiwanese rescue teams arrived on Saturday, January 16 to help.

　　　　海地人民将小货车改装成救护车，而门板也作为担架使用，他们马不停蹄地努力救出在地震中受伤的民众，而来自全球各地的急迫救援也陆续抵达。

　　在海地首都的街头，幸存者在一堆堆抢救出来的物资，包括从瓦砾堆中翻找出的食物中，搭建起帐篷。无国界医生救援组织在两家躲过地震摧毁的医院中救治伤员，并在他处搭盖帐篷作为诊所以代替毁坏的设施。在海地已有数百名来自古巴的医师在野战医院中治疗伤员。

　　这场震度规模达 7 级的强震预估已夺走 20 多万条性命。台湾的搜救队伍也在 1 月 16日星期六抵达，替救援行动尽一份心力。

Residents to Be Given Vaccine Choice

民众可自行选择施打疫苗厂牌

Residents will be allowed to choose from both local and foreign H1N1 flu vaccines soon, said Taiwan's top health official yesterday.

In a move to encourage more people to receive inoculations ahead of another cold front, Health Minister Yang Chih-liang noted that the latest shipment from Novartis now brings the supply of foreign vaccine to essentially the same level as that of the local version.

In addition to announcing the discretion residents now have over which vaccine to choose from, Yang again took to underscoring the benefits of immunization during a press conference held in Taipei. The official assured that both vaccines are equally effective and that the chances of side effects from either one would be slim.

　　台湾卫生署署长在昨日表示，民众近期内将可自行选择要施打本土或是国外的疫苗。

　　为了在另一波冷气团来临前鼓励更多民众接种疫苗，卫生署署长杨志良表示，最新一批来自诺华药厂的疫苗将会使国外疫苗的数量与国内疫苗相当。

　　除了宣布民众现在可自行选择施打何种疫苗外，杨志良亦再度于台北举行的记者会中，强调施打疫苗所带来的免疫好处。他保证本土与国外的疫苗都同样有效，而两者产生副作用的机会亦非常渺茫。

For Your Information

世界卫生组织（WHO）指出，H1N1新型流感疫情似乎逐渐降温，但恐怕引爆第三波感染潮。

WHO 首席流感专家福田敬二（Keiji Fukuda）在执行委员会为期一周的会议开幕时表示：『许多国家仍有新流感感染病例，但整体疫情已趋缓。』但他警告，新一波感染可能在冬末或早春袭击北半球，他说：『这可能是最坏的预测，我们真的不清楚。』

曾经担任香港卫生署长的秘书长陈冯富珍表示，北半球新流感疫情似已趋缓，但也提醒说，现在对疫情下结论还太早，一旦南半球进入冬季，病毒也变得更强大的话，一切都很难说。

福田表示，大部分新流感病例都能在没有并发症或接受特殊治疗的情况下痊愈，但孩童住院率大约是成人的两倍。陈冯富珍指出，新流感去年 4 月在北美洲爆发以来，已有超过 200 个国家公布近 1 万 4 千名死亡病例。（数据源：中央社）