An earthquake survivor sits with part of her face covered by a bandage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday, causing widespread damage throughout the country, including the beautiful port city of Jacmel. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
Thursday was a day filled with the opposite emotions of sorrow and elation in the Haitian port city of Jacmel. Sorrow for those who learned loved ones had not escaped the terrible destruction of Tuesday’s earthquake; elation for others who discovered people they care about survived.
It was sorrow for the friends and relatives of Flo McGarrell, a visual artist who split his time between Jacmel and Vermont. McGarrell, who earned a master’s degree in fine arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, was the director of FOSAJ, a non-profit art center in Jacmel. The beautiful 19th Century architecture of Jacmel helped the city cultivate a reputation as a haven for artists.
McGarrell perished when the Peace of Mind Hotel in Jacmel collapsed during the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. The hotel was across the street from the Cine Institute, which also was severely damaged.
For Nate Loucks, pastor of the State Street Community Church in the Northwest Indiana town of LaPorte, Thursday brought the joyous news that Pastor Jean Claude Pierre and the orphans he cares for in Jacmel all escaped serious injury in the quake.
“I’ve never felt such incredible joy before,” Loucks said this afternoon. “It was certainly a flood of emotion… I’m still on cloud nine.”
Loucks and church members are active in an organization called Haitian Support Ministries that operates the orphanage in Jacmel. In fact, until the earthquake forced a change in plans, his father and other members of the group were scheduled to leave today to do mission work in Jacmel.
Pastor Pierre is no stranger to misfortune. Loucks said Pierre was kidnapped in Haiti in 2005 and held for ransom. After gaining his release, Pierre and his family were granted political asylum in the United States, where they made many friends. In 2007, he decided to return to Haiti to try to help his homeland.
A man sits among the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Less than an hour before hearing from a missionary the good news that Pastor Pierre and the children were safe, Loucks had felt anxiety when media reports surfaced that a school in Jacmel had collapsed, killing 35 children.
“Our orphanage is on the top floor of a school and it has 35 boys in it,” he explained.
The school and orphanage was badly damaged by the earthquake.
“We’ve already got plans to go down there in the summer,” to begin reconstruction efforts, Loucks said.
Though elated that the pastor and the children are safe, Loucks was saddened by the loss of life and destruction in Jacmel that he was hearing about from his contacts in the city.
“It’s complete devastation down there,” he said. “Jacmel is a very touristy part of Haiti… They’ve got like a French Quarter area that kind of reminds you of New Orleans… That area was just totally devastated.”
Many residents of Jacmel spent last night sleeping outside, even if their homes had not been destroyed, due to fear of strong aftershocks. There was no power in the city, so only burning tires provided light.
Another strong aftershock, measured at 4.8 on the Richter scale, struck the Jacmel area today at 6:39 CST, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Comments
Sometimes the magnitude of a tragedy can be understood best by the stories of individual people. Thank you.
Thanks for seeking out these individuals to tell their personal stories. Sometimes it's too easy to say "that's too bad" and not really fully understand the loss and devastation or the hope and courage.
This is a dreadful experience for all these families -- the fear, the actual loss, the inevitable despair for so many. However, the people of Haiti are resilient, and they will recover from these harrowing challenges stronger and more vigorous. Our thoughts and prayers must be with them as well as the tangible resources we can afford.
stay on cloud nine, baby
The massive devastation is less important to each one than their own personal losses. It will take so much effort to help the survivors. Even quakes with less damage in SoCal produced many traumatic reactions afterwards.
Vodou Aid has several thousand dollars to send to Jacmel, but MoneyGram isn't functioning. Can anyone help us get the dollars to our community? We provide food and medical assistance to everyone we can, without regard to religious affiliations - unlike a lot of Christian evangelical churches in Haiti that only give the aid to their members, and then preach that God wants the Vodouisant 90% majority of Haiti to die. Vodou Aid is run by Vodouisants but we feed and heal everyone we can, we don't care what their religion is.
Sorry to hear a former Chicago resident perished in the catastrophe. At least there is some good news coming out of it.
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