Being a photographer, I almost think I’m a professional traveler. In January, Haiti became country 31 on my list.
Navy divers work to move sunken containers so landing craft can begin unloading at the beach.
After the earthquake, I had the chance to go help. Something a lot of people would like to have done. I was assigned to the team working to get the port open so large quantities of material could begin flowing into the country. The steady stream of aircraft coming in was a precious trickle that kept the country alive, but couldn’t provide what was needed for the long term. We had to open the port. Regrettably, most of it had collapsed. Not only had the cranes fallen into the water but the few precious docks were unstable. The only dock that was declared stable, was damaged severely in a 6.2 aftershock.
The US Navy, always high on my list, impressed the hell out of me. The Seabees and divers were working all the time. But everyone there, military, civilian, emergency response workers, were working on a few hours sleep each day and daylight was not wasted.
A hotel completely collapsed, crushing everything around it. Not just cars.
While, obviously, I am a great philosophical supporter of photography, still images and video just didn’t prepare me for the devastation. Maybe if I had been watching TV around the clock, I would have heard the stories and soaked in the imagery. But when you get down there and the smoke and dirt get in your eyes and see how many buildings are crumbled, how it has affected every single thread of their society, then it surrounds you and you begin to see what that tiny nation has ahead of it.
Making it all worse for me is that I’m a relatively new father. My daughter is not quite two years old. Seeing things like a small girl sound asleep, laying on a coat on the sidewalk, alone, made it all very personal. When you picture yourself in that situation, it becomes crushingly real.
No caption needed.
I can’t say anything here that you haven’t heard before. I’m not the only one who will be haunted by what I saw and better writers than I have articulated what they saw. Just take a moment and say thank God for what you have. It could all be gone in a moment.
You can see a few more photos, including some of a resilient people picking up and rebuilding, at www.MarkDuehmig.com.
Mark