Haiti Carnival Tragedy on Tuesday Morning, February 17

Every year Haitians enjoy Carnival, a month-long celebration leading up to Mardi-Gras ("Fat Tuesday").  Carnival celebrations can get especially raucous on the Sunday and Monday before Mardi-Gras and on Mardi-Gras itself.  This year, the Haitian government declared that the official celebrations would occur in Port-au-Prince (though every community in Haiti organizes its own celebrations).  Mardi-Gras is more or less defined by loud music (produced by chars, or giant speaker and amplifier-packed trailers like the one pictured above), parades of revelers in thematic costumes, and a lot of binge drinking.  

Mardi-Gras can be a beautiful cultural event in Haiti, but it also can be very dangerous.  Quite often tragedies occur when hastily constructed grand-stands collapse, inebriated people get robbed, or buses collide going to and from Carnival events. News organizations around the world are reporting on last night's accident which occurred when a singer on one of the floats came into contact with a high-voltage line.  The ensuing flash triggered a stampede in which somewhere between 15 and 20 people lost their lives.

Unfortunately, there are many electrical accidents in Haiti because termite-eaten electrical poles are not replaced or are simply too low.  Since the electricity comes and goes, people don't even know when downed lines are live.  Furthermore, because the old land-line telephone system and coaxial cable system is defunct, many people are unconcerned cables laying across streets and sidewalks.

Please pray for Haiti as it mourns the death of these victims.