Earthquake Stories: Haiti Jan 2010
Times of London
Redjeson Hausteen Claude, 2
It was being described as a miracle. After two days trapped beneath the rubble, two-year-old Redjeson Hausteen Claude was plucked from the wreckage of a collapsed building against all the odds.
The shocked toddler´s face turned from fear to joy when he came face to face with his parents Daphnee Plaisin and Reginald Claude.
Dramatic photographs captured the moment when Félix del Amo, a Spanish mountain rescuer and diver, is seen pulling the terrorised child from a collapsed house. Óscar Vega Carrera, another Spanish firemen, was also helping to get Redjeson out of the rubble.
Salvador Blanco, a member of Fire Brigade Rescue Team from Castilla y Leon in northern Spain, told Spanish television Haiti was the Spanish team´s their first foreign mission.
The three-man team, which is specially trained to rescue people from collapsed buildings, arrived on Haiti on Wednesday. They took sniffer dogs to help ind people still hidden in the wreckage.
Mr Blanco said: "I spoke with them shortly before they left and they were very keen to help. Felix has worked for 14 years as a fireman. He is very nice but also discplined."
The Spanish team, from Valladolid, are part of Gebocyl, a professional firemen´s organisation which is on 24-hour standby to help with rescue missions around the world.
Report by Graham Keeley of The Times in Madrid
Susan Westwood, British nurse in an orphanage
“I was in the intensive-care room looking after a nine-month-old baby girl when the earthquake hit. The floor started shaking violently and the whole building shook from side to side. It lasted about 45 seconds.
“After that, there was a constant shuddering. The babies were really frightened and started to cry. Other staff and carers were screaming, they were so terrified. It was very upsetting.
“I was able to keep hold of the baby girl and I grabbed hold of another baby. Objects were falling from shelves, there was debris crashing all around. I clung on to the babies and shielded them as best I could. Then came the aftershocks. It was impossible to even move,” she told the BBC.
“We spent the whole night outside. It was chilly but we were OK. Some children are dehydrated now because we couldn’t get any medical supplies out of the building.
“Thank goodness our building is all right as is our other home up the road. I can’t believe there’s no damage and that we are all safe.
“We have 85 children under two years old here at the God’s Littlest Angels home. We also run another orphanage up the road. The age group there is from 2 to 11. There are 65 children there. Most of the children in our care aren’t orphans but they are here because their families can’t afford to look after them. Haiti is very poor. I see a lot of children who are malnourished. Often it is too late by the time they come to us.
“When I look around the area and see that other buildings have just crumbled to the ground, I know that soon we will have lots more babies and young children to care for.”
Told to the BBC website
Sophie Perez, Country Director of Care International Haiti
“It was terrifying. The quake lasted for more than a minute. We were at the office when it happened, and the whole office was shaking really hard. People were screaming, crying, running. Everything was moving. I saw a building of nine floors completely collapse right in front of me. A bank collapsed. Even if a building isn’t totally destroyed, you can’t access the area because of the danger.
“Last night, people were sleeping outside because they were afraid to go back inside their homes. Many of the houses are destroyed anyway. There were eight aftershocks last night. Thousands of people were sleeping in the streets.
“We’re particularly worried about the children, because so many schools seem to have collapsed. In Haiti, children go to school in the afternoon. Children were still in school when the earthquake hit, so there are many children trapped. It’s horrifying. The slums on the hills have also completely collapsed. We’ve heard of landslides, with entire communities being wiped out.”
Account released by Care International
Troy Livesay, American missionary who lives in Port au Prince with his family
There is no way to even begin to share the things we’ve heard and seen since 5pm yesterday. To do so would take hours that we don’t have to give right now. Some of them feel wrong to tell. Like only God should know these personal horrible tragedies.
The few things we can confirm – yes the four story Caribbean Market building is completely demolished. Yes it was open. Yes the National Palace collapsed. Yes Gov’t buildings nearby the Palace collapsed. Yes St Josephs Boys home is completely collapsed. Yes countless countless - countless other houses, churches, hospitals, schools, and businesses have collapsed. There are buildings that suffered almost no damage. Right next door will be a pile of rubble.
Thousands of people are currently trapped. To guess at a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean. Precious lives hang in the balance. When pulled from the rubble there is no place to take them for care Haiti has an almost non existent medical care system for her people.
I cannot imagine what the next few weeks and months will be like. I am afraid for everyone. Never in my life have I seen people stronger than Haitian people. But I am afraid for them. For us.
From his blog
Chris Rollings, Canadian director of the organisation Clean Water for Haiti
Yesterday was absolutely terrible. . . I think I’m going to have nightmares for a long time.
I’m ashamed of the first thought that went through my mind, which was “Cool, I’ve never been in a big earthquake before!” As the quake rolled on, though, I remembered the conversations I’ve had with the other missionaries about what an earthquake would mean for Haiti. Of course, it would be devastating. Construction materials and methods aren’t just shoddy, they’re suicidal, but now isn’t the time to rampage, just to tell you about my experiences.
I didn’t actually fall on the ground, but I stumbled around quite a bit. When the tremors ceased, a large dust cloud was rising from the building a few doors down. A 3 story [sic] school full of teenage girls had collapsed. I stood around looking stupid for longer than I’d like to admit. I looked at the truck from Toyota, tried to call my wife (the service was out) and looked around me at people’s reactions. Virtually everyone reacted in strange ways. Eventually, I went to the school and started working to pull trapped students from the wreckage.
The work was very hard because I was working by myself. People would come up and shout into the wreckage, “Is so-and-so inside?” at the top of their lungs repeatedly. I would ask for help in moving rubble and they would say they have to find their own people. One guy stayed and helped, on and off. I got one girl out, who was very frantic. I told her to stop shouting and pray for help. She was about 10 feet deep under the collapsed cement roof of the building. At one point I went and borrowed a hammer from someone to break up the large piece of cement that she was trapped behind. The aftershocks scared the crap out of me, and I really didn’t like being under that cement slab. There was an obviously dead woman under the slab with us.
From his blog
Cris Bierrenbach, Brazilian photographer
“We don’t know how long we’ll have the communication.
“The situation is delicate. We are feeling small tremors. A lot of people in the street, houses down, injured and dead people.
“Things are really bad here. The palace fell down, the hospital, the cathedral, everything. “The city is dark and the people keep singing for Jesus and saying ‘Hallelujah’.
“We are marooned in the house trying to find out what is happening and preparing to go out without putting people at risk. The news that we get is bad — neighbourhoods destroyed. It is a real catastrophe.
“The big problems and worries are of violence and looting, and the food and water beginning to run short.
“I went out in search of food and water. The situation is very tense. There is looting, everybody is very nervous. There is no food anywhere near. Luckily we managed to buy some bottles of water ... We need help.”
Writing on Facebook (In Portuguese)
Andre Davila Brazilian, aid co-ordinator
“Things are very crazy here. I arrived in Haiti one hour before the earthquake hit. I came home and I was starting to unpack my bag when the house starting dancing. I was thrown from one side of the room to the other. We went out on the street, there were so many people running, there was a big cloud of smoke, a gas station had exploded, it was like a movie scene. After that we stayed in the house to try and understand what was going on. Other small shocks happened, so we went outside. I started getting phone calls from Haitians, many problems, people that couldn’t get to their house, people whose family were stuck, even people that died.
“Right now I just came back home. I went to find some water. We need to stock up. There is a lot of chaos in this city. All the major buildings have collapsed, including the palace, the main church, the other churches, there is a university with more than 1,000 students, most of them dead or trapped.
“We don’t see anybody doing anything. The police don’t have enough men. What I saw was cars going in every direction, people stealing from stores, people walking with dead family members in their arms, people asking for help in the hospital, everywhere destroyed.
“Apparently the prison collapsed, so many bandits escaped and many are dead.
“For 20 minutes I was out, I saw four or five situations where looting was going on. One of them I was passing, because I am a foreigner, they became a little aggressive, and I had to drive away because they were coming after me.”
Told to Dom Philips of The Times via Skype
Marcus Antonio da Silva, UN peace mission worker
“I am here in Haiti on the UN peace mission. I arrived two days ago.
“After getting lost we decided to return to the military base. Arriving near there, at around 17.00 local time, the vehicle stopped at a traffic light. We heard an enormous noise and thought it must be a gas explosion or a car crash. When I looked to my right, I saw a building falling down. When I looked to my left, I saw the same scene.
“Two weeks ago I saw the film 2012. I simply felt that I was in the middle of that scene. People shouting, and running desperately to save themselves. I felt the ground moving in waves. A lot of dust came up. We got back in the car and rapidly went back to the base around 2km (1.2 miles) away. On the way, we saw houses coming down, people coming out in desperation, cars stopped, people in the street, totally lost.
“It was an experience I will never forget.”
Translated from Globo website by Dom Philips
David Wimhurst, the UN spokesman in Haiti
“I was in my office [at the UN building] and the event happened. It accelerated with extreme violence. The entire building was shaking violently and I was hanging on to furniture just to stop myself being thrown around the room and praying that the big concrete pillar in the middle of my office would not break and bring the whole building down on me."
“When it subsided the hotel had collapsed and had blocked off access to the outside from my office. So all of the people in my office had to get out of my window and go down three storeys on a rather rickety ladder.
“It was being propped up on a wall. We were being guided by staff down below. I think we got about 15 staff out on that ladder.”
Told by video link to James Bone of The Times
Kim Bolduc, acting head of the UN mission
“I was in my office, sitting on the second floor of the UNDP main building. I didn’t have time to seek cover. I was sitting on my chair and holding on to the table.
“Everything collapsed around me. I saw the wall in front of me opening up with a very large crack. I was just hoping it would stop. It lasted a long time.
“The moment it stopped, I came out of the room and saw my staff all around and got out. The UNDP main building is still standing, although no longer operational and extremely damaged. Then I saw across the street the other UNDP building. It had gone down completely. We spent the night sitting in a parking lot, as there were many aftershocks.”
Told by video link to James Bone of The Times
Tweets from Port-au-Prince
I see bodies in the street, I see bodies buried in rubble
RAMhaiti
Please don’t be the end of the world
IsabelleMORSE
People on the street asking for help — but no one knows who’s supposed to give it
bhatiap
Dead bodies are everywhere. I haven’t seen one ambulance
Fredodupoux
Thanks for the prayers! It’s crazy here
MarkStuart
It was being described as a miracle. After two days trapped beneath the rubble, two-year-old Redjeson Hausteen Claude was plucked from the wreckage of a collapsed building against all the odds.
The shocked toddler´s face turned from fear to joy when he came face to face with his parents Daphnee Plaisin and Reginald Claude.
Dramatic photographs captured the moment when Félix del Amo, a Spanish mountain rescuer and diver, is seen pulling the terrorised child from a collapsed house. Óscar Vega Carrera, another Spanish firemen, was also helping to get Redjeson out of the rubble.
Salvador Blanco, a member of Fire Brigade Rescue Team from Castilla y Leon in northern Spain, told Spanish television Haiti was the Spanish team´s their first foreign mission.
The three-man team, which is specially trained to rescue people from collapsed buildings, arrived on Haiti on Wednesday. They took sniffer dogs to help ind people still hidden in the wreckage.
Mr Blanco said: "I spoke with them shortly before they left and they were very keen to help. Felix has worked for 14 years as a fireman. He is very nice but also discplined."
The Spanish team, from Valladolid, are part of Gebocyl, a professional firemen´s organisation which is on 24-hour standby to help with rescue missions around the world.
Report by Graham Keeley of The Times in Madrid
Susan Westwood, British nurse in an orphanage
“I was in the intensive-care room looking after a nine-month-old baby girl when the earthquake hit. The floor started shaking violently and the whole building shook from side to side. It lasted about 45 seconds.
“After that, there was a constant shuddering. The babies were really frightened and started to cry. Other staff and carers were screaming, they were so terrified. It was very upsetting.
“I was able to keep hold of the baby girl and I grabbed hold of another baby. Objects were falling from shelves, there was debris crashing all around. I clung on to the babies and shielded them as best I could. Then came the aftershocks. It was impossible to even move,” she told the BBC.
“We spent the whole night outside. It was chilly but we were OK. Some children are dehydrated now because we couldn’t get any medical supplies out of the building.
“Thank goodness our building is all right as is our other home up the road. I can’t believe there’s no damage and that we are all safe.
“We have 85 children under two years old here at the God’s Littlest Angels home. We also run another orphanage up the road. The age group there is from 2 to 11. There are 65 children there. Most of the children in our care aren’t orphans but they are here because their families can’t afford to look after them. Haiti is very poor. I see a lot of children who are malnourished. Often it is too late by the time they come to us.
“When I look around the area and see that other buildings have just crumbled to the ground, I know that soon we will have lots more babies and young children to care for.”
Told to the BBC website
Sophie Perez, Country Director of Care International Haiti
“It was terrifying. The quake lasted for more than a minute. We were at the office when it happened, and the whole office was shaking really hard. People were screaming, crying, running. Everything was moving. I saw a building of nine floors completely collapse right in front of me. A bank collapsed. Even if a building isn’t totally destroyed, you can’t access the area because of the danger.
“Last night, people were sleeping outside because they were afraid to go back inside their homes. Many of the houses are destroyed anyway. There were eight aftershocks last night. Thousands of people were sleeping in the streets.
“We’re particularly worried about the children, because so many schools seem to have collapsed. In Haiti, children go to school in the afternoon. Children were still in school when the earthquake hit, so there are many children trapped. It’s horrifying. The slums on the hills have also completely collapsed. We’ve heard of landslides, with entire communities being wiped out.”
Account released by Care International
Troy Livesay, American missionary who lives in Port au Prince with his family
There is no way to even begin to share the things we’ve heard and seen since 5pm yesterday. To do so would take hours that we don’t have to give right now. Some of them feel wrong to tell. Like only God should know these personal horrible tragedies.
The few things we can confirm – yes the four story Caribbean Market building is completely demolished. Yes it was open. Yes the National Palace collapsed. Yes Gov’t buildings nearby the Palace collapsed. Yes St Josephs Boys home is completely collapsed. Yes countless countless - countless other houses, churches, hospitals, schools, and businesses have collapsed. There are buildings that suffered almost no damage. Right next door will be a pile of rubble.
Thousands of people are currently trapped. To guess at a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean. Precious lives hang in the balance. When pulled from the rubble there is no place to take them for care Haiti has an almost non existent medical care system for her people.
I cannot imagine what the next few weeks and months will be like. I am afraid for everyone. Never in my life have I seen people stronger than Haitian people. But I am afraid for them. For us.
From his blog
Chris Rollings, Canadian director of the organisation Clean Water for Haiti
Yesterday was absolutely terrible. . . I think I’m going to have nightmares for a long time.
I’m ashamed of the first thought that went through my mind, which was “Cool, I’ve never been in a big earthquake before!” As the quake rolled on, though, I remembered the conversations I’ve had with the other missionaries about what an earthquake would mean for Haiti. Of course, it would be devastating. Construction materials and methods aren’t just shoddy, they’re suicidal, but now isn’t the time to rampage, just to tell you about my experiences.
I didn’t actually fall on the ground, but I stumbled around quite a bit. When the tremors ceased, a large dust cloud was rising from the building a few doors down. A 3 story [sic] school full of teenage girls had collapsed. I stood around looking stupid for longer than I’d like to admit. I looked at the truck from Toyota, tried to call my wife (the service was out) and looked around me at people’s reactions. Virtually everyone reacted in strange ways. Eventually, I went to the school and started working to pull trapped students from the wreckage.
The work was very hard because I was working by myself. People would come up and shout into the wreckage, “Is so-and-so inside?” at the top of their lungs repeatedly. I would ask for help in moving rubble and they would say they have to find their own people. One guy stayed and helped, on and off. I got one girl out, who was very frantic. I told her to stop shouting and pray for help. She was about 10 feet deep under the collapsed cement roof of the building. At one point I went and borrowed a hammer from someone to break up the large piece of cement that she was trapped behind. The aftershocks scared the crap out of me, and I really didn’t like being under that cement slab. There was an obviously dead woman under the slab with us.
From his blog
Cris Bierrenbach, Brazilian photographer
“We don’t know how long we’ll have the communication.
“The situation is delicate. We are feeling small tremors. A lot of people in the street, houses down, injured and dead people.
“Things are really bad here. The palace fell down, the hospital, the cathedral, everything. “The city is dark and the people keep singing for Jesus and saying ‘Hallelujah’.
“We are marooned in the house trying to find out what is happening and preparing to go out without putting people at risk. The news that we get is bad — neighbourhoods destroyed. It is a real catastrophe.
“The big problems and worries are of violence and looting, and the food and water beginning to run short.
“I went out in search of food and water. The situation is very tense. There is looting, everybody is very nervous. There is no food anywhere near. Luckily we managed to buy some bottles of water ... We need help.”
Writing on Facebook (In Portuguese)
Andre Davila Brazilian, aid co-ordinator
“Things are very crazy here. I arrived in Haiti one hour before the earthquake hit. I came home and I was starting to unpack my bag when the house starting dancing. I was thrown from one side of the room to the other. We went out on the street, there were so many people running, there was a big cloud of smoke, a gas station had exploded, it was like a movie scene. After that we stayed in the house to try and understand what was going on. Other small shocks happened, so we went outside. I started getting phone calls from Haitians, many problems, people that couldn’t get to their house, people whose family were stuck, even people that died.
“Right now I just came back home. I went to find some water. We need to stock up. There is a lot of chaos in this city. All the major buildings have collapsed, including the palace, the main church, the other churches, there is a university with more than 1,000 students, most of them dead or trapped.
“We don’t see anybody doing anything. The police don’t have enough men. What I saw was cars going in every direction, people stealing from stores, people walking with dead family members in their arms, people asking for help in the hospital, everywhere destroyed.
“Apparently the prison collapsed, so many bandits escaped and many are dead.
“For 20 minutes I was out, I saw four or five situations where looting was going on. One of them I was passing, because I am a foreigner, they became a little aggressive, and I had to drive away because they were coming after me.”
Told to Dom Philips of The Times via Skype
Marcus Antonio da Silva, UN peace mission worker
“I am here in Haiti on the UN peace mission. I arrived two days ago.
“After getting lost we decided to return to the military base. Arriving near there, at around 17.00 local time, the vehicle stopped at a traffic light. We heard an enormous noise and thought it must be a gas explosion or a car crash. When I looked to my right, I saw a building falling down. When I looked to my left, I saw the same scene.
“Two weeks ago I saw the film 2012. I simply felt that I was in the middle of that scene. People shouting, and running desperately to save themselves. I felt the ground moving in waves. A lot of dust came up. We got back in the car and rapidly went back to the base around 2km (1.2 miles) away. On the way, we saw houses coming down, people coming out in desperation, cars stopped, people in the street, totally lost.
“It was an experience I will never forget.”
Translated from Globo website by Dom Philips
David Wimhurst, the UN spokesman in Haiti
“I was in my office [at the UN building] and the event happened. It accelerated with extreme violence. The entire building was shaking violently and I was hanging on to furniture just to stop myself being thrown around the room and praying that the big concrete pillar in the middle of my office would not break and bring the whole building down on me."
“When it subsided the hotel had collapsed and had blocked off access to the outside from my office. So all of the people in my office had to get out of my window and go down three storeys on a rather rickety ladder.
“It was being propped up on a wall. We were being guided by staff down below. I think we got about 15 staff out on that ladder.”
Told by video link to James Bone of The Times
Kim Bolduc, acting head of the UN mission
“I was in my office, sitting on the second floor of the UNDP main building. I didn’t have time to seek cover. I was sitting on my chair and holding on to the table.
“Everything collapsed around me. I saw the wall in front of me opening up with a very large crack. I was just hoping it would stop. It lasted a long time.
“The moment it stopped, I came out of the room and saw my staff all around and got out. The UNDP main building is still standing, although no longer operational and extremely damaged. Then I saw across the street the other UNDP building. It had gone down completely. We spent the night sitting in a parking lot, as there were many aftershocks.”
Told by video link to James Bone of The Times
Tweets from Port-au-Prince
I see bodies in the street, I see bodies buried in rubble
RAMhaiti
Please don’t be the end of the world
IsabelleMORSE
People on the street asking for help — but no one knows who’s supposed to give it
bhatiap
Dead bodies are everywhere. I haven’t seen one ambulance
Fredodupoux
Thanks for the prayers! It’s crazy here
MarkStuart
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