Limb loss a grim, growing global crisis

In an instant, the earthquake that rattled Haiti on Jan. 12 created as many as 6,000 amputees, people who lost limbs either from direct injury or the complications and infections that followed.

Aid experts said this ranks among the largest-ever loss of limbs in a single natural disaster, and propelled Haiti to the epicenter of an existing global amputation crisis.

"We've seen many amputees, but nowhere near the magnitude of this," said Ivan R. Sabel, chairman of Hanger Orthopedic Group, which launched the Haitian Amputee Coalition to respond to the problem.

The earthquake galvanized the international prosthetics community, prompting promises of limbs, supplies and staff to help rebuild bodies devastated by the temblor and its aftermath.

Already some two dozen prosthetics groups are setting up shop, and plans are in place to distribute rehabilitation services across the country, including Hanger's site at the Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, 60 miles outside Port-au-Prince, where msnbc.com is tracking the stories of amputees as they rebuild their lives.

But even as attention is riveted on those who've lost limbs in Haiti, experts warn that the tragedy there highlights a grim reality: the number of amputees worldwide is rising -- and fast.