On the afternoon of January 12th, we were hosting a team of 11 people from Sharonville UMC in Cincinnati, OH for our “Supper at HOPE” program. Normally in the late afternoon, the girls are playing outside on the playground and under the second story balcony. On this particular day, they were inside getting to know the team. This was a life-saving miracle as the concrete railing on the second story balcony crashed down onto the playground area.
A few minutes before 5 pm, our lives and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were turned upside down in less than 30 seconds. We have had so many people ask “what did it feel like?” It’s very hard to describe. We’ve never experienced anything like it, so the quick answer is “it felt like an earthquake.” I know, however, this doesn’t suffice. So; it was very loud, debris tumbling down, dust everywhere so it was difficult to see, tasting the dust in your mouth, the sound of the girls crying and screaming, our ladies praying, a sense of un-natural movement. The ground was moving in a way it was never meant to. It was difficult to walk, like walking in deep water with a current pushing against you, I had to grab onto furniture and walls to pull myself along. Every stable frame of reference was moving chaotically so it was difficult to get your bearings and difficult to move in your intended direction. Tim immediately told everyone to get out-we were all (20 girls, staff and team members) in the same general area about 15 feet from the exit. The team began grabbing girls and ran outside and away from the building. Our staff followed with some encouragement (and Nicky who had fallen to the ground was retrieved). We all made it out without a scratch and stood there in awe as the aftershocks and damage continued.
It was difficult to process what had happened even after the ground stopped shaking (in fact Tim and I are still saying “an earthquake???”). Even now we are existing in survival mode and have not had the time to process what has happened. We fall into bed exhausted each night with a list of what needs to be done running through our heads.
The Haiti contingent of the Banks kids (Isaac and Hannah) were still at school when the quake struck. We were able to speak with them for a few seconds after the quake and knew that they were unhurt and in a safe place, then the phone system went out and we were unable to contact them again.
Immediately after the ground mostly stopped shaking, we had a fire in the kitchen from the propane connection to the stove. We put out the fire and unhooked the rest of the propane tanks. Then since we did not know the condition of our well pump or generator and our 800 gallon storage tank on the roof was broken and spewing water, we started to catch all the water that we could. We gathered the girls, held them, comforted them, prayed with them and tried to help them feel a bit of security. Then Bert Anderson (who, along with his wife, run the CSI medical clinic up the road) arrived needing help with the casualties that were beginning to arrive at the clinic.
A couple of the gals from the Cincinnati team and I headed to the clinic to see what we could do to help while Tim, the staff, and the rest of the team took care of the girls. We treated about 50 folks that night, cleaning and repairing wounds. There were several serious injuries and a few people that were brought to us that had not survived. Tim and our driver, Erson, took some of our more serious patients out in search of hospitals. After three hours, they returned with the patients-the hospitals that were still standing were overwhelmed with casualties and locked their gates to additional victims. We stabilized these folks as best we could and took them to relatives so they could begin the process of searching for help.
In the meantime, we moved the team, the girls and the HOPE staff to the clinic. The team worked hard to put the clinic back in order. The building had no real structural damage but contents were everywhere with broken glass, medicines and all types of medical supplies strewn about. The team bunked down in the clinic guest quarters and the girls, the staff and Tim & I bunked down in a one bedroom apartment in the clinic depot building. We were thankful to have a roof, water and a bathroom. The Banks kids, we later found out, were escorted to the CSI mission house to spend the night with our mission family. They “slept” on the street, along with hundreds of newly homeless Haitians because the mission house was so severely damaged it was unsafe to enter. During the night aftershocks continued. No-one really slept that night…