AFTERSHOCK

Haiti is an island of juxtapositions: Immense natural beauty blighted by mountains of trash in the slums of Port-Au-Prince. Acts of deep generosity and kindness happening next to acts of unfathomable desperation and violence. These polarities, which are systemic to the Haitian culture even in the best of times, are exaggerated to extremes during times of emergency, like the 2021 earthquake. Despite having every reason to lose faith, Haitians seem to savor life even during times of chaos. “Where there is life, there is hope,” said Chrislome Addonia, a survivor who lost his three-year-old daughter in the earthquake.

The stench of burning flesh and rubber. The haunting cries of “Mama, mama” from a mourning son. The beautiful chorus of women singing in worship. These sensations characterized my two-week project documenting the aftermath of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14, 2021. The quake killed 2,200 residents, caused 13,000 injuries, and destroyed 137,500 buildings, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the world in 2021. Small, rural towns were among the hardest hit—and their inhabitants among the hardest to reach with foreign aid. Isolated by winding, damaged roads that sometimes passed through gang territories, the suffering endured by thousands of rural Haitians is immeasurable.