Jan 12 – Earthquake in Haiti and the Life of Pi – Ottawa

The force of nature is like death, unknown and absolute. Death is like a thief that comes in the night, unannounced, and so are earthquakes. I have experienced a few of them in my life, the last one in Tokyo, Japan in 2008. Colombia, located in the Pacific rim of fire, is prone to tremors. Growing up, I woke up to several of them. The strongest one of my era occurred during Easter Thursday 1983 in Popayan, capital city of the state of Cauca in southwestern Colombia. On January 25, 1999, at about 13:00, an earthquake measuring 6,4 on the Richter scale destroyed the city of Armenia, in the central coffee region. We felt it very strongly in my hometown of Cali, a 4 hour car ride away. That afternoon I flew down the Buga-Tulua highway towards the epicentre, with food, water and blankets. I did not think much about it. That evening I stayed with a friend’s family and shared the event with thankful survivors. The city was destroyed, dark, cold, still in shock. It was hard to move through the debris… but of course one doesn’t think about more dangers when a huge catastrophe such as this one has hit a community… what can be worse?

A 7 degree earthquake just hit the already depressed half-island of Haiti today. My thoughts are with the Haitians. Bravery and strength, support and determination are necessary to rebuild Port-Au-Prince and the morale that has fallen with this tragedy.

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