smithjam04

To be honest, initially I had no idea what had happened. I was sitting on an upper-deck/roof of a building when the ground began to tremble. I did not notice the movement at first, but rather heard the sound.

The structure that I was on began to sway back and forth. It was probably about 6-7 meters in height, and moved back and forth maybe 1 meter. I have no idea how long it actually lasted, but it felt like an eternity. In reality, I would assume that it was no more than 30 seconds due to the fact that I think anything greater than that would have caused the structure to collapse completely (we were in a structure that actually contained reinforced construction (rebar), so floors, walls, tile, etc cracked and were damage, but the building itself did not collapse.

When the event was over, I had no idea what had actually happened. It seems like it would be obvious -- but it wasn't. I looked out over Port-au-Prince and saw several large smoke clouds, that looked similar to stereotypical descriptions of bombs. I had honestly wondered to myself whether or not someone had bombed Port-au-Prince, or there had been some kind of attack. I later found out that it was the primary hospital and schools that had collapsed.

For several hours we had no idea how severe things were. Keep in mind that this event caused incredible damage to the only international airport, sea port, and land transportation to the city itself was not an immediate reality. The guest house in which I was staying had a somewhat reasonable quantity of medical supplies (bandages, pain medication (advil/tylenol), a few suture kits, and some gloves. We also had an open field next to the guest house.

As I said before, we had no clue. Eventually, as darkness began to fall, a man, woman, and their child walked up to the fence of the guest house. They spoke no English or Spanish, but held their swaddled daughter out to us to reveal her crushed hand below the wrist. There was little that we could really do, but tried to clean the wound. At this point, one of the people that I was there with and I ventured out to see how we could help. It was incredible. The number of collapsed buildings all around us that we had no idea, people organizing groups to try to get people out of danger. We tried the best that we could for 90-120 minutes, then realized how severe the situation was, and how much worse it would get.

We both returned to the guest house to speak with everyone about what we had seen. Remember, we had a reasonable supply of bandages, a still working diesel generator, and a bit of food. We ate some food with everyone, and helped to organize supplies that hadn't been broken.

Food, water, shelter, and power/communication were some of the immediate issues, as you might think. At the time, I wasn't sure what had happened yet. We didn't realize the extent of damage. We were very fortunate to have several days supply of water, some dry goods, and an area to sleep outside. Everyone at this point was sleeping outside away from the structure because we were not sure if it would collapse. The water treatment facility was damage beyond operation. People were injured. The sense of urgency didn't really kick in until the next day.

On the initial night of the disaster, people were orderly and calm. Everyone was trying to help. Once a few hours passed, we established a primary care area in the open field next to the structure. The number of injuries were staggering. There were only three of us (myself included) with any kind of first air or medical training, so we set up on a small table in the middle of the field and tried to see people one at a time. It was incredibly hectic, and as word spread that we were trying to help, we saw more patients than I can count through the night (I became exhausted and tried to rest around 7 a.m. (we began to treat people roughly around 7-8 p.m. the night before). I didn't sleep a wink.

This is a great question, thank you. It is hard to look at the best route for helping and donating. Getting involved with organizations is a great way to do so. After the initial response from the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, things have been out of the spotlight.

One of the major issues has been inadequate medical care and problems pertaining to the ongoing cholera outbreak. The J/P HRO is an organization that has been working with some of the temporary cities to provide jobs, care, and permanent shelter to those in need. Keeping up on some of the news from help organizations is actually a great way to help. They are working the most closely to the current issues, and can help to direct some of your questions.

This is a question that is hard for me to answer.

I do not live in Haiti; I was there initially to help a small community assess/build its primary education program, to build good will, and to deliver school supplies. I maintain contact with those that we stayed with, and folks that work more intensely with them from the United States.

One of the major problems in Port-au-Prince was the lack of reinforced building construction, that led to an estimated 200,000+ residences and other buildings to collapse. I saw this first-hand, but was lucky enough that the structure that I was in only cracked (floors buckled, walls cracked, interior contents were destroyed, but the building itself did not collapse). We were also lucky enough that there were no structures immediately adjacent to our guest house.

This caused a domino effect. Streets became blocked with concrete, heavy machinery was either not present, or hard to get to Port-au-Prince (the only major port able to accommodate large ships also was severely damaged, so it became hard to get immediate aid to the city). The major infrastructure damage made initial response very complicated.

Removal of debris was and continues to be a challenge. There are still estimates of more than 225,000 people that are displaced and living in temporary shelters.

As I said before, it is hard for me to answer. I have not been back to Haiti since 2010. I am able to follow through newsletters, world news, and personal communication, but would like to continue to try to help how I can. There have been several organizations that have had a major impact in trying to help, but I believe the majority of funding was exhausted by the end of 2013.

Wyclef Jean is a pretty divisive political figure, as is his post-earthquake charity and his political statements. I'd prefer to avoid that topic as I don't think that it adds to the discussion.

No, I am not originally from there. I met a priest who was visiting two friends of mine near where I worked (a small college in Pennsylvania). One of them asked me if I would be interested in helping during our winter semester break.

I thought: "Tropical island in the middle of January... sign me up!" Whew.

Though it seems like an eternity, we were actually only in Port-au-Prince for a couple days after the earthquake. We were advised to try to get to the airport as things began to get desperate and we were not there on an official aid mission. I was in the Dominican Republic longer than I was in Haiti after the earthquake (we were evacuated to the DR and flights arranged home by the US government, at our expense).

I have not returned since. I would love to continue to help, and try to continue to raise awareness.