5:30AM
Took two women (late teens/early 20s) to the hospital with injuries sustained from the landslide - one with a 5-7" laceration approx. 1" deep on her leg and the other was hit pretty badly in the back of the head by falling debris. No survivors pulled out of the slide itself thus far.
I could hear the boys pulling in, and had hot water waiting. A pot full of boiling water into a 5 gallon bucket of tepid water makes for the closest thing you'll find to a hot shower in Haiti. Just what the doctor ordered.
As Paul and Billy rotated through hot bucket showers, Nate and I sat on the porch talking. Last night / this morning he saw his first cadaver. You never know how someone's going to react to coming face to face with death. It can be pretty emotional - especially when it's a mangled mother, clutching her child. The second child was found nearby, also deceased. Last night, he and Paul recovered the bodies of a mother and her two young children from the bottom of the slide.
The kids were old enough to have survived the quake, only to be taken by a mudslide a year and a half later.
The adrenaline started to wear off, and one by one the boys fell asleep. Time for a nap, then we'll reassess.
9 AM
It's cloudy, but the rain has stopped for now.
Last night, the ground was super saturated by rain, rushing water pushing at the foundation of a house at the top of a ravine until it collapsed, taking out 5 or more houses as it slid downwards. The people who live all around the slide were very uneasy - they know it could have just as easily been their house, and their family lost in the slide. Sad thing is, it still could be.
The area we were at was very unstable - a freaking death trap. Areas of mud covered concrete, you take a step, then you're knee deep in quick-sand-mud. The guys had to use climbing gear and repel down the mudslide to dig and recover bodies.
President Martelly made a statement last night: "The president with all of his emergency teams are working all night to come to the aid of the victims of the heavy rains tonight"
The Haitian police showed up where our boys were working, but without training and gear, there wasn't much they could do. I know a lot of search and rescue gear was left here after the quake, but who knows what became of it. The police did do something amazingly helpful - they brought a gigantic spotlight.
Our boys were at a slide in Peguyville - between Petionville and Rue Frere - but there was more than one slide last night.
Noon(-ish)
At this point everyone I've talked to is in body-recovery mode, so I'm letting the boys sleep in... No survivors found, nor sounds from the slides to indicate there might be someone buried alive.
I've been getting emails all morning - people offering to be here in a day or two to help search for survivors. While the help is much appreciated, the reality is that there likely won't be survivors to pull out in a day or two. With all the water, the weight of the concrete, etc, anyone who actually survived the slide likely suffocated.
Of course, we will keep looking - there is always hope (lespwa fwa vive)
1 PM
Walking up to buy some bongu, it's clear that even people in our neighborhood (which didn't have mudslides) were rattled by the storm. I didn't get the normal chorus of "BLAAH" (blanc), instead, everyone asked the same question: "Savat?"
"Savat" I answer back with a sleepy smile. In kreyole, the word "savat" is both a question and answer, depending on the inflection. It means both "are you OK?" and "I'm OK".
I broke into the Starbucks packets for this "morning" and made a big pot of strong coffee, and toasted some bread on a cookie sheet. Billy, who slept in the recliner, was the first one up. "Bonjou Mom" he said to me and poured a cold glass of Coca Cola.
Stephanie - one of the girls who lives in the neighborhood - stopped by to say hello. She told Billy that last night the water was knee high. Inside her house.
Billy's girl called a little later - 2 more bodies found this morning. That puts the total to 6 for just that slide. (The boys found a male cadaver last night as well.)
~PJ
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