January 20, 2010

Morning Update

Baptist Mission Hospital -- Fermathe, Haiti

We got to bed late last night after ward surgery - sleeping 14 people in a house on the hospital grounds. Early this morning, we were awakened to violent shaking, It seemed to last a minute but probably only 15 of seconds or so. It felt like someone was shaking me to wake up. Within seconds, hundreds of people throughout the hospital were wailing. The memories of the loss of children and crushing buildings are still so raw for those suffering already, this aftershock was a grim reminder of the pain and suffering they've been through over the past week. With a single aftershock, things settled down after an hour. No one is hurt here, but it is still psychologically damaging, and those wounds will take much longer to heal.