Haiti Earthquake

Ah, it's been a while since I blogged. I missed it, but simply couldn't do it: I was trapped between my writing classes, running and work. In the meantime there was a horrific earthquake in Haiti, which kept us all glued to the news - about 200,000 dead and 1 million homeless in the quake magnitude 7 on Richter scale.

I remember working at the photo desk on the morning of the Asian tsunami on Dec 26, 2004 and being completely overwhelmed by the images of devastation and death. It seemed like the dead were everywhere, in every corner of every picture. Even being half a planet away wasn't far enough to hide from the horror of the brute force of nature.

On January 12 this year it was deja vu - pictures of the dead bodies piled on the streets, in parks and on the courtyards of crumbling public buildings. Only, now it was in Haiti, not in the Indian ocean area. It is strange how Mother Nature always seem to strike the poorest, the most vulnerable, as if it wants to clear the misery from its bosom. Or, maybe under such a force even the rich are reduced to paupers. Rich or poor, people of Haiti look the same now, hungry, thirsty, desperate, covered with dust, homeless and scared to death. The poorest nation on this part of the planet just got much poorer.

On the positive note, the international aid effort was amazing - so quick and efficient, it clogged the airport in Port au Prince. It took two days to organize things. There were more planes coming in than there was space to land and unload them. Some aid planes had to turn back and wait until the runway was clear. Yet, with all the speed and might of international help, food and water reached only 1/8 of the population of the capital Port au Prince.

As always, pictures of the children cut the deepest. Not the crying little ones, but the silent, bandaged kids silently staring from the picture. The unvoiced pain in their eyes penetrates straight to the heart. Meg and I made a small donation through the text message charity donation service, set up by our cell phone provider.