Today marks one year [1] since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti [2]. Haitian bloggers are remembering…
The Livesay Haiti Weblog [3] writes:
On 1/12/2010 at 4:53pm the landscape of Haiti was irrevocably changed.
Despite great tribulation and loss the heart and spirit of the people endures.
Today an entire country stops to remember those they lost. Please pray for them and with them.
The blog also takes a look back at posts that were written soon after that fateful day, adding:
There is no week in our lives in 38 years that is as vivid and clear in our memories as a year ago this week. It is so hard to imagine or accept the volume of suffering that occurred in the hours and days that followed the earthquake.
Pétion-ville cemetery by caribbeanfreephoto, used under a Creative Commons Licence.
Karlito's Blog [4] posts an image that “you possibily have been seeing this image pop up pretty much everywhere on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, BBm) today”, explaining:
Late last night as I was thinking about a way to commemorate the one year anniversary of Haiti”s devastating earthquake, It came to mind that I didn’t need to do much, I just needed to be a survivor, so I created this little image symbolically.
We need to be there not only to tell a story, the story, our story as we remember it to our children and our grandchildren but also to help built a better and safer future for them. We need to be survivors everyday so that every step we make forward in this life be the reflection of our gratitude for the blessings that God has bestowed upon us everyday since that day. Nothing is greater then the gift of life.
The blog also posts the reflections of a member of the Haitian diaspora, here [5]:
All these statuses were desperate but the one who really told me what happen was J'esus men on tremblement de terre touye tout moun nan peyim la.’ I WAS SHOCKED…..
I remember…
I screamed in the house and my aunt run out to check on me, after i told her the tragedy i don’t remember exactly the order of the things that happened but i remember trying to call my parents in Haiti with no answer and i know we turn on the tv and i am sure that’s where i saw Carel [6] broadcasting about what happened with tears in his eyes, listening to his desperate voice was painful…I remember…
2 weeks ago , i went home to see what was left of my hometown but also for the holidays that weren’t holy nor happy. With the few Ms earthquake left for Haiti, we Haitians couldn’t celebrate. What i saw in my brothers eyes while i was going through Port-au-Prince was a mixture of despair, fear, suffering , misery, pain, hate, indifference but mostly the waiting of better days to come…. A year after there is still a lot of rubble, people are still living under tents in these refugees/victims camps, people are still steeling,women are still being raped, violence is not stopping and cholera is still making victims…. maybe its because i am an outsider that i didn’t realise any changes were made , but if i am comparing to the pictures i have received a year ago ta what i saw, besides the dead bodies and a few rubbles removed , the rest is the same……THE BIG WORK HASN’T BEEN DONE….
National Palace, by caribbeanfreephoto, used under a Creative Commons Licence.
On Twitter, the hashtags for the one-year anniversary of the earthquake are #remember #Haiti [7] – and Tweeple have been using the micro-blogging platform to do just that:
@SophieChavanel: People gathered in front of National Palace #haiti #remember http://yfrog.com/gzzfjmj [8]
@SophieChavanel: People are gathering everywhere in PAP to commemorate this sad anniversary #haiti #remember http://yfrog.com/h5asqevj [9]
@JAMGAL2010: #1yr ago today…. a horrible tragedy shook the lives of the people of #Haiti #remember http://bit.ly/bvYqP8 [10]
@chadcat: to all those that lost their lives, to all those that were affected and still are, and to all those that helped #remember #Haiti [11]
Pétion-ville cemetery, by caribbeanfreephoto, used under a Creative Commons Licence.
Bloggers on the ground in Haiti continue to weigh in. The Apparent Project Blog [12] writes:
The last few days have been hard. Somehow I wish the calendar wasn't cyclical, because I'm not really ready to remember what happened a year ago. A lady stopped by yesterday. I didn't recognize her until she showed me a mangled scar on her ankle. She thanked me that she still had her foot. I remember now. She was the woman that Jocelyn and I carried up a hill, over a rooftop that had crumbled and had taken care of in my yard for almost a week, cleaning and dressing her wounds until help arrived.
There were so many that I think about, wonder how they are doing, wonder what kind of emotional scars they carry around with them.
I spent yesterday trying to figure out what I was going to do today. I heard that they resurrected the Iron Market and it opened yesterday. I used to go there for all of my beads when our jewelry program had just started. It was a place of significance for me and I cried as I saw the beautiful historical marketplace crumpled on the ground in the wake of the quake. I think for me it will be a moment of joy to see it rebuilt. The one thing that is fixed. The one thing that has been restored and repaired.
Indeed, @RAMHaiti [13] posted several tweets about the inauguration of the rebuilt Iron Market:
WOW!!! The New Iron Market!! Thank you Denis O'Brien and #Digicel http://twitpic.com/3p5nau [14]
…and a few about the stark contrast of the new facility to other areas of the capital:
Driving around downtown Port au Prince. Don't recognize where I am.. #Haiti #EarthQuake [15]
Tent city, Juvenat by caribbeanfreephoto, used under a Creative Commons Licence.
Today, whether it was through tweets [6], poetry [17] or suggestions [18] about ways in which to move forward, there is no doubt that this sad anniversary was top of mind in the regional blogosphere. Perhaps Shelley Clay [12] sums it up best – today is important to remember because it is about the Haitian people:
It is January 12th. A baby is coming into the world today. A country is on her knees today. I will spend my day waiting for news of a boy or girl, probably go down to see the beautiful Iron Market, probably cry a little, hug my kids a lot, and remember what happened one year ago. God Bless Haiti this year!