At 4:53 pm on Tuesday January 12, 2010 I was at work getting ready to wrap it up for the day. Specifically I was finishing up my monthly purchase order audit. At that very moment, and unbeknownst to me, Port-au-Prince was being leveled by a 7.1 magnituted earthquake.
At 5:00 pm as I was locking the door to my office, a 5.9 aftershock was rocking that very same area.
Strike three, a 5.5 aftershock occurred at 5:12 pm.
By the time I arrived home, the first accounts of this calamity were streaming in on TV. My first reaction was one of scientific curiosity. I watched the news intently while begrudgingly adhering to one of my News Year's resolutions - more time on the excercise bike. As I petaled I watched newscasters interview various geological experts who all attributed the severity of the quake and aftershocks to their source's relative closeness of just 6.2 miles beneath the earth's surface.
At 5:00 pm as I was locking the door to my office, a 5.9 aftershock was rocking that very same area.
Strike three, a 5.5 aftershock occurred at 5:12 pm.
By the time I arrived home, the first accounts of this calamity were streaming in on TV. My first reaction was one of scientific curiosity. I watched the news intently while begrudgingly adhering to one of my News Year's resolutions - more time on the excercise bike. As I petaled I watched newscasters interview various geological experts who all attributed the severity of the quake and aftershocks to their source's relative closeness of just 6.2 miles beneath the earth's surface.
Port-au-Prince, the Capital of Haiti is located 10 miles from the quake's epicenter.
In the hours and days to follow, my curiosity gave way to a measure of sorrow and even a feeling of helplessness.
By Thursday evening, after hearing of the remarks made by both Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, two more emotions were added to the mix. Anger and disgust.
Before I go any further, I feel it incumbent to share these remarks. You may have already read them but you ought to read them again.
Let's start with Pat Robertson while he was conducting an interview on The 700 Club:
In the hours and days to follow, my curiosity gave way to a measure of sorrow and even a feeling of helplessness.
By Thursday evening, after hearing of the remarks made by both Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, two more emotions were added to the mix. Anger and disgust.
Before I go any further, I feel it incumbent to share these remarks. You may have already read them but you ought to read them again.
Let's start with Pat Robertson while he was conducting an interview on The 700 Club:
"And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.
“They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.
“They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'
“True story.
“And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.’
“And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
“But ever since they have been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor.
“That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti on the other side is the Dominican Republican. Dominican Republic is, is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etcetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island."
“They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.
“They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'
“True story.
“And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.’
“And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
“But ever since they have been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor.
“That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti on the other side is the Dominican Republican. Dominican Republic is, is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etcetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island."
Now it's Rush Limbaugh's turn:
"This will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, 'credibility' with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made-to-order for them."
"Would you trust that the money is going to go to Haiti? Would you trust that your name is going to end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?"
"Besides, we've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax."
How these gentlemen (hardly) could exhibit such crass thoughtlessness and cruelty in the wake of Tuesday's tragedy is beyond my comprehension.
Both are men of priveledge who know nothing of economic struggle. Not only do they fail to appreciate their own fortune, they are so ignorant that they default to a "blame the victim" approach when expaining the misfortune of others.
Haiti, a nation already beleagered with chronic poverty and political urest suffered an earthquake that its people certainly did nothing to deserve.
I can only attempt to imagine the horror that was experienced by these people. A day gone from bad to worse by the sudden onset of violent shaking and tumbling structures. You're overcome by an explosive surge of fear and excruciating pain. Your screams translate to muffles audible to those (only slightly less injured) trying to dig you out with only their bare hands. As you lie trapped, with perhaps crushed limbs and against a backdrop of unrelenting pain you become confronted with the reality that you're chances of survival are nill. Night is approaching. You have no food or water.
You are rescued the nex day, but you're first sight upon being pulled from the rubble is a street littered with bodies. There are no hospitals, no doctors. You gaze at the bodies and realize that you will soon be among them.
Imagine now what it must be like for the survivors. These individuals are suffering the grief of losing some or perhaps all of their family and friends. They may have lost their homes and al of their posessions. Add to that now having to make do with a very limited amount of resources and then having to contend with the constant threat of lawlessness.
This isn't shock value. It's just my attempt to forgo my own preoccupations for a moment and put myself in someone else's shoes.
It's time to put beliefs and ideologies aside and just focus on how we can help people in need.
If you can, here are just a few sites where donations can be made.
American Red Cross • CARE • United Nations Foundation/CERF • World Vision • UNICEF USA • International Relief Teams • Save the Children
