Many people have asked me "are you guys getting ready to head down there?", and my reply is crisply, "no".
There is a fundamental difference between the 8.8 earthquake in Chile, and the 7.0 quake earthquake in Haiti, and it has little to do with the difference in magnitude between the earthquakes themselves.
Chile, an industrious 2nd to 1st world country with political and economical stability was the site of the largest earthquake in recorded history, which occured there in the middle of the 20th century (9.5 magnitude). Because of this, buildings were designed to withstand substantial earthquake damage. The major cities in Chile have well-developed emergency response teams and high quality hospitals available. And the nature of this quake itself is significant- it was of large magnitude but happened deep into the Earth, and it occurred in the early morning and on a weekend- when most businesses and large buildings were largely unoccupied.
The January 12th Haiti Earthquake occurred in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, one that has faced nearly a century of political upheaval, persistent aid embargoes, and other sources of instability and persistent poverty. The earthquake occurred during the peak of business hours on a weekday- when the markets, schools, hospitals, and streets were heavily populated. The epicenter was only 15km from the most populated city in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, with nearly 3 million people and it was a shallow quake. The buildings were poorly constructed, and from poor or improvised materials (there are actually no building codes in Port-au-Prince).
The loss of life in Concepcion and the surrounding areas in Chile is heart-breaking. As of this morning the death toll is just over 300. Crews from around the area risk their lives hourly to reach survivors trapped in rubble.
But consider that the apartment building across the street from our church clinic itself has a death toll nearly double that of the current death toll in Chile. When we left, the total in Haiti was 270,000+ in mass graves alone. That did not count bodies yet buried, or the thousands upon thousands that will be recovered from the rubble only en masse when the foundations are cleared over the coming years.
Consider that there was a 9,000 UN peacekeeping force on the ground already in Haiti due to instability. There are hundreds of thousands currently starving in Port-au-Prince right now, and it's 6 weeks after the event itself.
And the news will get only worse in Haiti. When we left, biosurveillance was detecting the initial cases of typhoid, malaria, H1N1 influenza, and cholera. All will explode as the rainy season begins now. Rabies, diarrheal illness, and other infectious diseases will multiply. The aggregation (mass collection of people) will continue to pass these and other illnesses throughout the tent cities and homeless masses sleeping directly on the street. Community acquired pneumonia will blossom throughout the masses.
Infectious disease is only one thing that will be brought by the rain. The mudslides that will be generated will pull down the tens of thousands of shanty homes on the hill and mountain sides that have already been shaken from their lose foundations.
And then there is the ever-present danger of secondary collapse of buildings, and of course- the damage another earthquake itself could bring.
Both Maryclaire and I can personally attest the people are starving and have no water. The people will become cold, frustrated, further despondent.
My concern, and the reason for even writing this post, is that I don't want people to either forget Haiti or become preoccupied with the event in Chile that the news is relentlessly portraying at this moment because it's interesting. Aid and attention should not be diverted from the continuing crisis of the Haitian people. The Chilean government actually specifically asked for no foreign aid initially. Later they allowed aid from neighboring countries, and even from the United States. Heart to Heart International has contributed a team and supplies to the area as appropriate for the level of emergency and continues to assess the situation.
Keep Haiti in your minds and hearts as you also reach out with your prayers and donations to Chile. Please remember the millions who have been hurting, grieving, and starving- even as the news hasn't been paying attention.
-Aaron
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