I recorded my account of the aftershock Wednesday morning, but my colleague Caroline (Follow @carooxfam) was live with Canadian TV as it happened. Her calm is pretty amazing. Caroline mentions that the quake is happening, but then continues on with the interview.
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Oxfam’s Coco McCabe is one of several Boston-based colleagues on her way to Haiti to help with the relief effort, where they will join over 200 Oxfam staff already on the ground. Here’s her latest update, dated January 18.
I suspect tonight might be my last night of sleeping soundly. Aftershocks are continuing to rattle the nerves of people in Port-au-Prince.
“Be careful,” said Yves Gattereau, a program director for Oxfam Quebec in the Dominican Republic, as we gathered for a debrief in San Juan. “You won’t sleep a good night of sleep. You’ll hear it coming. You won’t know if it’s the big one.”
Oxfam water distrubution in Haiti, January 18, 2010. Photo: Oxfam
And after the 7.0 temblor turned much of Port-au-Prince to rubble, the big one is on the minds of everyone–including Gattereau’s mother.
After the quake, Gattereau, who had not received word from his parents, went to look for them in their neighborhood near Port-au-Prince and found them sleeping in their car . Though their house and a guest house next door were still standing, neither felt comfortable spending the night inside. They’re not alone.
“Everybody is sleeping outside their house,” he said.
When the quake struck, his parents, who live half the year in Montreal and half the year in Haiti, were just about to leave home to visit a friend. Gattereau’s mother was outside, waiting for her husband.
“She fell down and the ground just opened in friont of her eyes,” he said. The memory of that gaping hole is too strong to bear. Gatterau said his parents have now come to live with him in San Juan while they decide what to do next.
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In last nights podcast, I talked about Haitians fears of returning to their homes, because of the possibility of another earthquake. That is just what happened this early this morning as a 6.1 quake woke me and the rest of the Oxfam team, with the exception of Caroline Gluck (Follow @carooxfam) who was doing a live interview with Canadian TV. Most were sleeping inside, but some worried about an aftershock, slept outside but moved to a small patio due to rain. We ran outside and could hear neighbors screaming. We went to check and everyone was okay.
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I recorded a short update in French about this mornings frightening events.
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BREAKING NEWS: Shattered Haiti hit by second earthquake measuring 6.1
Haiti was today hit by a second massive earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale.
Witnesses reported shaking buildings and desperate people wailing in terror as they ran into the streets in panic.
Last week's quake - which killed an estimated 200,000 people - measured 7.0.
The latest disaster is likely to claim even more lives as many buildings which have not already collapsed have been left dangerously unstable. Survivors are still being pulled free from the rubble.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1244672/Haiti-earthquake-Sh...#ixzz0d9o72TRO
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