"Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice."

-Will Durant

-The First 35 Seconds and After-

The plates upon which the continents are built fit together like a jigsaw puzzle across the surface of the Earth. The continental crust itself is the thinnest layer of the planet, encapsulating and floating on the immense power and heat of the mantle layer…stable only because the pressure and heat is stable, and subject to violent change any day, at any time, with no warning at all.

On January 12, 2010, at 4:53 pm, along a fault that delineated the edges of two plates that met like poorly cut puzzle pieces, the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates slipped past each other, forced into motion by a swell of heat and pressure from beneath. That slight movement, only 7 miles below the surface of the Earth near Port-au-Prince, unleashed one of the strongest tremblors in two centuries of Haiti's history, and in approximately 35 seconds hundreds of thousands of people had their world torn apart.

The devastation was unspeakable. Schools, hospitals, government buildings…homes…none built strongly enough to withstand the movement of the earth collapsed, trapping anyone not able to make it outside. Children home from school, the elderly unable to move quickly enough, mothers preparing dinner, fathers just getting home…buried under the rubble that was created in just 35 seconds. And so many who already had so little suddenly had a lot less.

No warning. No time to get out…geological consent changed. Without notice.

Help couldn't come quickly enough, and the Haitian people were never the kind to wait for others to come to their aid anyway. Pulling together quickly, neighbors started desperately digging, answering the calls of people trapped beneath the destruction, saving themselves. Untrained, without the help of digging equipment, rescue dogs, or the ability to shore up unstable structures, and working through terrifying aftershocks without hesitation, regular people became heroes, reuniting families, comforting the injured, taking care of each other.

By the time aid arrived, tent cities had already been established, providing meager cover from the elements…first the unrelenting sun, and then the days of rain. Medical help and food and water slowly made their way into the damaged areas. There was no way to decide which area needed the help that was coming more than another…most of the affected area was completely demolished, and people had nothing. The injured were brought to designated medical areas, first tents, then pod-like structures provided by the medical divisions of the world's armies, then make-shift hospitals in buildings that did manage to escape relatively unscathed.

Outsiders joined in the search and rescue efforts. There were daily miracles, and every life recovered was rejoiced. But there was also heartrending loss…so much loss. For a while it seemed to the workers that the dead outnumbered the living, and while families were able to celebrate those who made it back to them, no one was truly able to mourn those who were lost. There wasn't time, and daily strength was focused on simply surviving, and it was easier to submit to the numbness…temporary though it was.

Quickly, too quickly for these heroes and survivors to be able to really process what had happened to them in those 35 seconds, the immediate horror of the situation was quickly pushed aside for other real world concerns. There was no fresh water, there was very little food, cholera, measles, and malaria started showing up in the weakest of the population. The young, the elderly, the injured or those already sick…they were all susceptible to illness, dehydration, hunger, exposure, and infection.

Aid on the ground, in the form of food and water and blankets and clothing, couldn't make it to all of those who desperately needed it. Roads were blocked by fallen structures, and in some places they looked as if they'd been ripped apart. In some areas people were panicked and angry at their government's perceived failure and aid workers found themselves in the midst of rioters, all trying to reach what could be the difference between life and death. Forces on the ground tried to control the crowds, keeping them back and setting up a distribution system that didn't reach far enough into the city and surrounding areas to help many of the survivors.

But never willing to give in, never willing to lose the faith that kept them going, never willing to let their determination wilt, the people again looked to themselves for solutions. Temporary tent cities sectioned into neighborhoods and leaders came forward, making their way to where supplies were being handed out and collecting what they could for those in the area they were responsible for. Women found plots of land to start tilling, to supplement their meager fare with vegetables. On the outskirts of the main city, children ventured into the wooded areas, looking for fruit and edible plants, and people again started fishing and working the surrounding fields that had supplied them with food and materials before.

Giving and trading and bartering...and stealing, when necessary…kept the survivors going with not enough of anything. Slowly, painfully, and hard won, a new normal settled into the lives of a people who refused to back down. The visitors, the helpers, came and went. They brought medicine and food and water, when they could get it out of the bureaucratic red tape. When it all got to be too much…too much need, too much poverty, too much despair just barely held back…the visitors packed up and went home, flying off to wherever they came from, or on to their next cause, until it was time to leave again.

Most of them, anyway.

But the people who called this place home didn't have that luxury, and many wouldn't have want to leave, even if given the choice. They were bound by family, by loyalty, by faith. And long after the world's attention waned, the cameras turned off, the rush of adrenaline and desperation for Please, God, just one more miracle that powered them through the first couple of months, families started trying to put the pieces of their broken lives back together. They mourned their incredible losses, they learned to live without their loved ones, and somehow, they found the strength to keep going.