"Haiti. 6 Months On..." 12•July•10

Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A man views the collapsed Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Saturday, January 30, 2010. A massive 7.0 earthquake struck the Caribbean island nation on January 12th., killing upwards of 230,000 people. © Chet Gordon / THE IMAGE WORKS

It's been six months since the catastrophic earthquake struck the island nation of Haiti on January 12th. of this year. I volunteered my time without hesitation when longtime client Operation Smile called, asking if I'd document their initial team of orthopedic & trauma surgeons and support staff treating victims of one of the world's most tragic natural disasters. The call came on a Thursday afternoon and I found myself hustling through two airports at first light the next morning to make connecting flights from Newark (EWR) to Charlotte (CLT) and into their HQ in Norfolk, VA as the team was scheduled to be flown by a U.S. Marine cargo aircraft directly into Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (PAP). After a few logistical delays, we were flown by corporate charter into Santo Domingo, DR two days later. I was only in Haiti for a week back in late January two weeks after the earthquake, crossing over the border from after a tiring 5 hour van ride from the Dominican capitol. It was to be my third trip to Haiti and every assignment to the country - either self-financed, or for a client, has been emotional for me. How could it not be? You can view my earlier posts here on the blog from the Operation Smile mission here. (I have posted the slideshow of my work in the NGO camp & in Port-au-Prince below.)

The independent radio & web broadcast show Democracy Now! aired a very detailed show today on location on how things are transpiring in Haiti. A second day of reporting from Port-au-Prince on DN is here, including an interview with two-time Academy Award winning actor Sean Penn, who's running an NGO he founded in Haiti. He's been there 6 months. Please continue to follow this story as there are still 1.5 million Haitians left homeless and living in tents in Haiti... ~cg.
*(Use the arrow at the bottom left of the player or click the image to start the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the credits button at lower right of the player. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button. There is no audio track with this presentation.)