Haiti Dispatch: Metal Scraps
I just got back from a walk around some of the hardest-hit areas downtown, by the main cathedral, several schools, government buildings, etc. Grand Rue (as the area is known) is one of the oldest parts of the city, and is really devastated. The smell of death is still pretty heavy coming from many places, especially from schools and churches, most of which were in the midst of afternoon classes and prayers at the time of the quake. And you can even still see the bodies in some of those buildings, pinned under massive pieces of concrete and debris.
Not surprisingly, it’s incredibly difficult to photograph so much destruction. It’s kind of similar to what we saw after the earthquake in Pisco in 2007: destroyed buildings everywhere you looked. This is much worse though, because a majority of the construction is concrete and cinder block, whereas Pisco had mostly wood or mud-brick buildings, aside from the churches. It’s not the only thing I’m photographing, but I can’t help but ask myself at times, “How does one make moving photos of piles of rubble after piles of rubble after piles of rubble?”
Josette Perard, the director of Lambi Fund Haiti, told me this morning that she can’t bring herself to go again to the Grand Rue after she already saw the area once since the quake. She was born here, and it’s far too painful for her to see so much of that part of the city reduced to dust and tangles of rebar.
Haitians are perhaps some of the most industrious people I’ve ever encountered, and not surprisingly, the one market that has quickly sprung up in the streets of “the Rue” is for metal scrap. I only saw one or two bulldozers at work in all of downtown today, but where there was one, you could also find a crowd of young guys staying clear of its giant shovel while pulling what they could from the wreckage.
Unfortunately, the media frenzy that ensued after the quake has left yet another market in its wake: the sale of directions to where the deceased are that haven’t been pulled out from the rubble yet. I had to tell five guys who offered to take me to see these bodies, that the world had already seen more than enough photos of dead people from Haiti.
Fonografia Collective’s Bear Guerra is in Haiti for two weeks, traveling with Beverly Bell, an activist and author of “Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance”. Together, they will be documenting Haitians’ efforts to rebuild, one month since the earthquake. This dispatch is a collection of Bear’s observations on the ground.
|
|
||
Leave a Reply |
||
Share
Comments
Greetings
This is like my morning coffee, I mean your blog, I’ve been an ignorant on so many topics but thanks to you I learned much. Funny how I believe something and then I discover that the reality is totally different. Your articles are great to say the least. I love, love, love your blog! I love the way you write your articles by the way, you’ve done an excellent job with your website!
Ciao!