Earthquake Reflections-After shocks

Yes we knew that Haiti had been formed by volcanoes. We point out to folks the Limbe valley, ringed with mountains that we were told were the walls of an ancient volcano. We stood in the ruins of King Henry Christoph's Northern palace which fell to a earthquake in 1843. We felt small tremors both on LaGonave and in the North. But nothing can prepare you for a 7.0 earthquake hitting a capital city of 2 million people.

Now every rumble causes the mind to quickly run though the possibilities-a noisy truck, a airplane, thunder or the sound that tin roofs and buildings make when the earth is shaking. The heart beats a bit faster, muscles tense, the mind checks the locations of the kids and family members.

The mind took a bit to recognize what was happening with the first big earthquake but it quickly learns. Your response becomes automatic. Get out! One sleeps in clothes. Clear the path to the door. Move items off shelves that are easily broken. Keep house doors unlocked.

We left the house a couple times the first night. The second night I slept at the Villa guest house. Many of the other guests pulled their mattresses outside on the lawn. After a big aftershock during supper one night that cause panic and a few minor injuries due to people pushing for the door-the team ate outside.

Our first nights at TiGoave we slept in a dorm. January 20th at 6 a.m. TiGoave had a 6.o tremor that woke us all up. You don't really think about getting out you just do. One doctor ran his head right into the closed door and injured his neck. I left without my glasses-I can only see about 4 inches in front of my face without them and normally I put them on before getting out of bed. One of the ladies in our room had trouble getting out of her mosquito net. Additional damage occurred to already damaged buildings. Scary stuff.

After that word came to us that the risk of a second large quake was significant. Thankfully the US military offered a couple large tents so we moved our sleeping quarters. One for the guys and one for the gals. Our bunk beds and beds worked well other than rooming with some pesky fire ants. Others chose to sleep under the stars. I did sleep better in the tent than any night before-knowing that nothing hard could clobber me.

Every day we felt small tremors-you'd kind of stop and wait to see if the duration and intensity was going to build or not. Not a very relaxing way to live. I don't know how many people in Port will ever be comfortable in a brick building again, especially those who were trapped for a time. And yet tents do not provide the needed protection from storms and hurricanes. One of many issues that will be struggled with before rebuilding.

A 'new normal' I think we'll adjust a little bit too but never fully. It is similar to being the on-call doctor. While you can make plans for your day you never can forget that any minute or second some emergency can claim your attention and you'll need to drop whatever you were doing. Even simple decisions like when to shower take on a new layer of complexity.

Please remember to pray for the Haitian people. Life was complex and difficult before but now many additional layers of complexity and difficulty exist.