Video footage is far and wide concerning the recent earthquake in Port-Au-Prince. As I have never lived in or visited Haiti, it is hard to fully understand the suffering and damage that has occurred there. I think that's why it's so important to hear about the disaster from someone who experienced it first hand. This video from CNN gives a first-hand testimony of the earthquake and it gives a good review of all the aspects of the country's slow recovery.This account of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti really helped me understand the full impact of the natural disaster. The video stresses the idea that the victims of the earthquake are having to take it day by day not knowing what tomorrow will bring. The earthquake has become their new reality. It consumes every action they take during their day and they have been left homeless, hungry, and without clean water. This video clearly demonstrates the damage that has been done and the ever-growing need for help from countries like our own, the United States.
Looking through photos on CNN and Times I notice that almost all contain one of four images. The first image is of the "physical" damage, the fallen buildings and debris-filled streets. Another image consists of grotesque injuries and the anguished faces of earthquake victims, many who mourn the loss of loved ones. Other pictures show the death that accompanied this disaster, pictures of abandoned bodies and mass graves. The fourth image is a more hopeful one, displaying pictures of rescue teams, military personnel, and volunteers.
I found one photo, though, that contained something unique. Unlike other photos of the disaster you don't have to look hard to see a glimpse of life before the earthquake. Right smack in the middle is a stoplight, the light still shining green. An intersection busy enough to have a light would surely be filled with cars on any normal day. These cars would be carrying people to work, to school, to play. They would contain the workers who made products and provided services and the consumers who bought them. For me, this photo shows what may be the most depressing and damaging effect of the earthquake, the loss of normalcy. The disruption of routines, economic stability, and relationships. This busy Port-Au-Prince street is pictured below, only this time filled with rubble and debris and a few wanderers; a street once loud and populated, now so unusually quiet.
