A catastrophic earthquake hit the already impoverished country of Haiti yesterday.
Gentle men, women and children who were already struggling to find enough to eat, clean water to drink and a way to eke out a living for their families, literally saw their lives crumble around them.
I knew a few CARE folks who worked in Haiti about ten years ago. Food was so scarce that they'd have to order it from Miami and get space on incoming defense department planes. Ordinary Haitians weren't so lucky.
Now this.
If you've never been in an earthquake, I don't wish it on you.
We had regular tremors when I lived in Japan. Sometimes several a day. But there was a 6.0 quake toward the end of my tenure there. I was seated in a train in Akebane station -- on the third storey up -- when the quake hit. Our car rocked back and forth like it was been handled by a giant grumpy kid's hand. No one screamed. There was an eerie silence. Probably one of the most frightening things that ever happened to me.
The Haitian quake was a full point higher.
2 comments:
I read that for every point higher an earthquake rating, the effect is actually 7X more intense.
It's in times like these that I wish I had the freedom to hop on a plane and go help.
I donated to the Canadian Red Cross before I saw the link you posted... I guess every bit helps though, eh?
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