ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a realistic account of the earthquake from survivors’ perspectives. At times their perspective is shocking, providing narrative evidence experienced in the worst earthquake affected areas of Haiti. The authors narrate graphically what survivors heard, saw and smelled at the different locations they were in, and why goudoo-goudoo, the word Haitians made up to describe the earthquake, was so terrifying for Haitians. Though harrowing in places, the authors think it is important to introduce readers to the realities of what it was like to have lived through one of the worst earthquakes in modern history so they can, in Fr. Jon Sobrino’s terms, “be affected by it.” The chapter attempts to give a physical background to the extreme circumstances with which survivors’ faith had to cope and how location was a key issue, particularly in schools and homes, though even churches were not exempt.