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Resilience in a Ravaged Nation: Haiti, After the Earthquake

The people of Port-au-Prince will forever measure their lives in two parts: before and after the earthquake. As the ground shook on the afternoon of January 12, buildings toppled and crumbled, crushing thousands. An estimated 200,000 people are dead, many of them still entombed in the rubble.

The post-quake pictures of Haiti are overwhelmingly tragic, as images of Haiti generally tend to be. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, most of them already poor and marginalized, from the slums of City Soleil and La Saline. What is remarkable is that in the weeks since the earthquake, these people have come together to form new fully-functioning communities around their battered city. They have built their shacks with wood, sheets, plastic and blankets. A faithful people, they thank God for sparing them, rather than denouncing him for forsaking them. They press on, hoping that the government and aid agencies will help, but recognize that if they are to rebuild their lives, they must do so on their own.

There is a Haitian saying, "Dèyè mòn, gen mòn." Beyond mountains, there are more mountains. Once you have survived one obstacle, there is always another to overcome. Yes, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with a tragic history of ills, both natural and manmade, but her people, undaunted by the cruel blows of fate, continue to climb.

The Pulitzer Center's reporting on HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean was made possible with support from the MAC AIDS Fund.

Haiti: Neg Mawon Pap Jamn Kraze

The statue of Neg Mawon sits in the center of Port-au-Prince. It is a symbol of the Haitian people's independence—a sculpture of a black man, his ankles and wrists shackled, though the chains are broken. He is a slave, fighting for his freedom; in his left hand, he holds a conch shell to his lips, blowing to call others to join the revolt.

Haiti: Spontaneous Song at the General Hospital

The General Hospital in Port-au-Prince is guarded by American soldiers with dark sunglasses and frighteningly large guns. Most of the buildings are damaged, so the patients lie outside in large white tents—makeshift wards.

Haiti: A Doctor's First Response

One month ago today, Dr. Louise Ivers was in a meeting at the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Port-au-Prince when the ground began to shake. As first it was just a slight rumble, so that she thought that what she was feeling was perhaps the vibration of heavy construction equipment. But then the ground began to shake so violently that it was hard to stand up. "I fell over," says Ivers. "People started screaming, and we could hear the cracking sounds as the buildings shook and fell."

Haiti: Life Goes On

The center of Port-au-Prince—its palace, ministries, schools and office buildings—lies in ruins. On January 12, the earth shook for less than a minute, but in those 35 seconds, buildings cracked and toppled, floors of concrete collapsing one atop the other, crushing hundreds of thousands of people as they fell.