It’s hard to wrap my head around the devastation in Haiti. The gruesome videos … the heart breaking images … the overwhelming personal loss.
I simply can’t wrap my head around it and I know I’m not alone. A good friend of mine today posted that one of her patients is missing not 1… not 2… not 3 … but 11 family members in the rubble. Imagine wondering what’s its like not to know if 11 of your family members are alive… or not.
How do you even start to survive something like this? There are no roads, no running water, no electricity, no shelter.
Where do you go when there’s simply nothing left?
The numbers are just absolutely staggering to me. Seven point zero on the Richter scale. Rising death toll climbing upwards of 100,000 people. Think about that: More than 100,000 people. To put this in perspective: The deadliest earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. The death toll at that time was close to 3,000 people. My hometown of Rockville, MD (a relatively large suburb outside of Washington, D.C.) has an approximate 67,000 people. In a little more than 4 seconds, Haiti lost more than 100,000 of its country men and women. In a little more than 4 seconds, my entire town (and then some) would no longer exist.
I then thought to myself, “What would happen in this country if we were hit by an earthquake or other natural disaster of this magnitude?”
So I started looking up some stats. The largest natural disaster in the United States was Hurricane Katrina in back in August, 2005. Preliminary damage estimates were well in excess of $100 billion. Reported death toll: 1,863 (not to belittle the loss of 1,863 people… but that’s a little more than 1% of the total death toll in Haiti). It took us years to recover from the devastation of Katrina. Honestly, I think that some of the worst hit parts of New Orleans and rural parts of Mississippi will never be rebuilt. You can easily find reports of empty lots and empty FEMA trailers doting the landscape close to 5 years later.
If an earthquake of this magnitude were to hit LA, New York or DC and we lost more than 100,000 Americans, would we ever be able to recover? Could you go days, weeks or even months without electricity, running water or not knowing if 11 of your relatives survived?
It’s hard to wrap my mind around it. I suppose all we can do is hope, pray and donate whatever we can. Please visit the American Red Cross today--because one day, it could us and I won't have to try to wrap my head around the devastation from the comfort of my living room...that is, if I survived.
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I agree. I watched a news report on NBC with people from the Today Show and other prominent newscasters reporting from Haiti. I teared up quite a few times listening to survivors looking for family members, holding pictures up to the camera. It reminded me of 9/11 when everyone posted copies of loved ones missing. They also reported from the airport where thousands were stranded and waiting to hear what was going on with flights. I was actually amazed at how many Americans were stranded there. I think of Haiti and this poor underdeveloped country and wouldn't even think of going there for any reason. And here was Americans, Canadians etc either living or working in this country hopefully trying to make a difference. I only hope that the help they receive from other countries helps Haiti become a better developed country. I have no idea how the US would recover from losing 100,000 when Katrina was so badly handled and New Orleans is still trying to recover years later. We are suppose to be a leading country in the world and we can't even help our own.
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