We are All Haitians Now
The disaster in Haiti has been described by it's President as 'unimaginable' and by many of his people as 'the end of the world'. The estimates of the numbers of the dead range from 50,000 upwards. It's of tsunami proportions, but concentrated in a small island nation, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
Three factors made this 7.0 quake particularly devastating: there was absolutely no warning (the last earthquake in Haiti was 200 years ago), it happened very close to the surface of the capital itself and the country lacks the means to respond. In addition the UN, which would normally coordinate a response, has itself been a victim, its administrative centre having collapsed, killing scores of key staff. It is hard to imagine a crueller scenario.
Local response to an earthquake is almost impossible for a time. For one thing there are terrifying aftershocks and the fear that even worse is to come. Then there is these vast, collective psychological shock which leaves people dazed and unable to function. These factors hinder the immediate task of desperately trying to dig trapped and terribly injured people from the rubble. Then there is the question of how the survivors find enough water, food, shelter and medical attention to continue to survive.
One can imagine that some survivors must wonder whether survival is worth it. On a national level, with so many of their institutions destroyed – government buildings, hospitals, schools, churches – Haitians must feel they have been written off as a nation by the quake. However it is remarkable how the tenacious human instinct to go on eventually kicks in and people knuckle down to the grim tasks in hand.
The neighbouring United States will have to take a leading responsibility in the rescue efforts, but it is often remarkable how international the response can be in such terrible circumstances. Small countries often make a vital contribution with specialised expertise. South Africans involved will go to Haiti with the country's blessings and prayers.
Hopefully the world learned something about how to react more quickly and more effectively to a vast humanitarian catastrophe during the tsunami emergency. Of course the tsunami struck several countries and so was perceived as a truly world-wide emergency. We will see if the same sense of urgency will be generated by a tragedy which is focussed on a tiny, impoverished, largely African-origin nation, born of the Atlantic slave trade. Perhaps the evoking of Haiti's dire history of suffering and oppression will galvanise particularly the Western nations that were involved in that history to come quickly and generously to the country's aid.
When something of these monstrous proportions happens and the power of nature is unleashed in such an arbitrarily devastating manner, it puts all else into minusscule proportion. The political divisions that the country itself suffered from, now seem totally meaningless. And so do all our global divisions dissolve into a sense of how we are all mere human beings struggling to survive, together, sometimes in the face of tragedies of epic proportions. In addition, death and suffering on such a vast scale remind us that we all suffer and we all die. We are all Haitians now.
