Quake in Haiti

Yesterday afternoon, a 7.0 quake hit just off the coast of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. This morning, I saw images of the palace which had collapsed. I remember travelling to Haiti as if I were there last week. I remember the cinderblock buildings that were thrown together with very little rebar (which is much more expensive than block and mortar). I remember the lack of any government force or any ability to control even their own criminals. Now that the earth has shaken and has torn lives apart, I can't believe the dispair they must feel.

In the US, we are blessed because we know that someone will come help us. If our house is on fire, the fire department will come to help find us and put it out. If lawlessness reigns, the police will protect the innocent. No such luxuries are available in Haiti. The strong conquer the weak. The police run in fear and those that need help just go without.

Nice, huh! The US is a 2-hour flight away, but we let these people live with what they scrape together from the dirt and pull from the trash. We don't care about Haitians. Our actions don't show it.

Oh, and the cinder block buildings are the nice ones. Most of the people on the hillsides around Port-Au-Prince live in tin shacks, using discarded billboard tarps as their roofs. If they're lucky, they have a mudflap serving as a door to their house. Imagine that.