Update from the CARE team in Haiti following aftershocks

20/01/2010

The latest postings from the CARE team in Haiti after the 6.1 magnitude aftershock early this morning, Wednesday, January 20th, 2010.

Bodgan Dumitru, a Canadian on the CARE team in Haiti, says: "If this happens to weakened buildings, I don’t know what damage that will cause. I am sitting on the top of the office, because this is where we get a cell signal. I have to get down soon because there might be another aftershock. We are trying to calm the staff. I felt it, which is bad news.

This one was stronger than all the other aftershocks. I was across the road in the apartment. People made it down from the fifth floor downstairs faster than I did. People were screaming. I don’t know what kind of damage there was for our staff. Some of them were at their home, so we will try to find out if they are safe. I didn’t hear any cracking of the building. There was a real rumble, then the earth moved. It wasn’t that long, but I can’t tell. I was running. It was closer to Jacmel, so I don’t know what the impact would be there. We haven’t heard any reports from Jacmel, and our internet access was cut off after the quake. We are next to an IDP camp, and when the quake hit there was a big scream coming out of the camp. They’ve lost everything, all their houses, and they are terrified.”

Loetitia Raymond: "Je dors encore quand je sens sur mon corps ce tremblement si familier, c’est sur! La terre tremble! En l’espace de quelque sec toute l’equipe de CARE qui dort en face du bureau se retrouve dans le couloir de ce 4ieme etage ou nous sommes loges et devale les escaliers. J’entends un bruit quelques secondes plus tard et plus rien. Autour de nours rien n’a bouge riein ne semble etre tombe." "I was still sleeping when I felt under me this familiar shaking, it was sure! The earth was shaking! In the space of a few seconds, the entire CARE team that were sleeping across the street from the office gathered in the hallway of the fourth floor where we were staying and ran down the stairs. I heard a noise several seconds later, and then nothing. All around us, nothing had moved and nothing seems to have fallen down." Rick Perera: "CARE staff working around the clock and sleeping in tents and on the office floor were relieved yesterday when we were able to move into some nearby apartments -- a few to a room, of course, but it seemed like Paradise. A shower! (Just a cold drizzle, of course, but pure joy nonetheless). We weren't so sure, though, when we were woken at 6 a.m. by a sharp rumble, shaking the room side to side and provoking deep vibrations. At first I thought someone was shaking me awake (I have my own alarm clock thankyouverymuch, Mother Nature). As soon as I realized what was happening, I ran out into the hallway along with my bunkmates. (Note to self: don't sleep in just underwear). No sooner did we all find each other than it was over. We're all OK but, well, shaken up. Best medicine for it: back to work. It feels a bit safer on the ground floor of a three-story office than in a fourth-floor flat. That tent is looking pretty inviting for tonight. I'll take safety over luxury."

 

Source: