Being born into a Christocentric household, I have always been told the stories of the Bible starting from the age that I could talk. My mother decorated my bedroom with crosses and posters of Jesus; we even had a shrine dedicated to prayers in our family room. Every night before bed, I would kneel in front of our own “holy place” and thank God for a day well-spent. In my family, going to mass services and helping out the Church was a way of life. There was no discussion; here is Jesus, he’s our savior, believe in him. I accepted all the truths that my mother, priest, and community told me to me and never asked any questions. At the tender age of ten, the seed of doubt implanted itself in my mind due to one reason, death.
On January 10, 2010, an earthquake took place in Haiti. That catastrophic event had an immense impact on my life, my family, and my faith. As the ground shook under me, I ran out of my room and into the yard. There, I watched half of my house crumble to the ground. All I could hear was shouting, anguished cries and crying. When
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I need help getting on the right track. Getting on the road to believing that God will come to our aid in our most dire moments. Every so often, when I fall into a dark pit of depression, I think that God has forgotten about the people suffering. Where is he now that children are being imprisoned and killed in Kwa- li- So in North Korea? Sometimes I feel that God is simply seating on a pedestal, looking down on us and counting how many of us have sinned. I feel that he waits for a precise moment to strike us at our worst. I can no longer say that I have a trusting relationship with God because I’m frightened of him. Some people describe their relationship with God as a friendship; but my relationship with is that of a small child who is afraid to ask her father for anything because she is afraid to anger
Whenever I learned to trust and turn to God, I found His comfort to satisfy my soul. Almost two years ago, one of my best friends became extremely ill and had to leave home and go to a treatment clinic. (For her privacy, I will not say the illness). She had to immediately leave for she was due to die in two weeks if she did not find help. Whenever she told me the news, my whole world flipped upside down. My life had been pretty okay before this, just a few ups and downs. This was the first major trial in my life and I was not prepared. Of course, I prayed for her but I did not grasp the fact that God was going to save her. I was extremely emotionally unstable and I tried to fix myself on my own. This never worked, I may have had temporarily relief but the fear came back. One day I finally gave up trying to fix myself and turned to God. I asked Him to forgive me for not turning to Him first and I allowed him to fix me. I placed my trust in him and ran to him for comfort. Even when it was difficult, I knew I had to trust in Him. Once I placed my faith in Him, my comfort came. I had faith that He would heal her and she will not
The Haitian government’s lack of preparedness for earthquakes despite the fact that earthquakes are common to the region is indicative of the governments inability and lack of resources to properly plan and protect it’s population against natural disasters. This lack of preparedness is not an isolated incident. Prior to the disaster, the World Bank and others were working with the Haitian government to incorporate disaster risk management into Haiti’s development strategy and to develop its capacity for disaster response. This capacity building was in its early stages of development when the earthquake hit, on January 12, 2010, and was mainly focused on hurricanes, which are the most common cause of natural disaster on the island (Margesson, 2010, p. 4).
...aphy of Catastrophe: Family Bonds, Community Ties, and Disaster Relief After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire." University of Southern California. 88.1 (2006): 37-70. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. .
Currently, almost two years ago Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. It sparked an international urge to help aid and relieve Haiti of its catastrophe. Not only governments in various countries reached out, but independent organizations as well. This disastrous event showed how the world could come together when their neighbor is in need. But prior to this 2010 earthquake, Haiti was already facing devastation other than a natural one - societal.
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
The Haitian Revolution makes for the most fascinating revolt in history. The black race, after many years of oppression, overcame the dominant white race, without the assistance of guns, and other technological warfare at that time. In its own words, the author states that the book makes clear that the roots of the revolution of Haiti consist of movements involving the "wisdom and common sense of the masses". Hordes of blacks reached a consensus that human sacrifice is a small price to pay for freedom. In the view of Carolyn E. Fick, no organization or political entity involved can be attributed as much credit than the masses for the popular revolution that unseated one of the longest dictatorships of mankind.
Haiti is the unequivocally the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, indeed, the country is so poor that its citizen cannot even afford eating foods and Haitian children need to eat dirts to stay alive. [1] Nevertheless, Haiti is the home to the only successful slave rebellion; Toussaint Louverture, last governor of French Saint-Domingue, was born a slave.
The Haiti earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010 just fifteen miles south of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was a severely large-scale earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.0. The initial shock was then followed by a series of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging up to 5.9. Over three hundred thousand people died due to this extreme chaos. Many buildings collapsed and disintegrated under the force of the quake; both the cathedral and National Palace in Port-au-Prince were heavily damaged. In the aftermath of this tragedy, efforts to aid the people of Haiti with medical assistance, water, and food were hampered by the loss of communication lines as well as by roads blocked by debris. Over one million people were left homeless due to this quake. Two days after the earthquake, journalist Leonard Pitts wrote “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” an article describing how the people of Haiti responded to the disaster. In “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” a major theme is that some things are inevitable.
The effects caused by earthquakes are devastating. They cause loss of human life and have effects on infrastructure and economy. Earthquakes can happen at any time anywhere. In January 12, 2010 an earthquake of a magnitude of 7.0 hit the nation of Haiti. An estimation of 316,000 people were killed, and more than 1.3 million Haitians were left homeless (Earthquake Information for 2010). Haiti was in a terrified chaos. After the earthquake, families were separated because many of the members were killed. Homes, schools, and hospitals were demolished. People lost their most valuable belongings. It will take time for the country to recover from this terrible disaster. The long damages are economic issues, health-state, and environmental issues that effect in the beautiful island of Haiti.
The story of Haiti’s healthcare system is unfortunately tied all too closely to disaster, both man-made and nature-born. This paper will briefly discuss the pre-2010 earthquake healthcare environment in Haiti as the uncertainty that exists provides little opportunity to provide a reasoned understanding of its current national healthcare status.
Hurricane Matthew assaulted Haiti with deadly fury, destroying homes, crops, livestock, and transportation. The top United Nations official in Haiti described this disaster as the “largest humanitarian event” in the country since the devastating earthquake six years ago. According to The National Hurricane Center in Miami, ”... the storm was moving north at 10 miles an hour toward eastern Cuba and the Bahamas. The center projected 15 to 25 inches of rain for southern Haiti and in the southwestern part of Dominican Republic, and it warned as much as 40 inches of rain may fall in some areas.” This category four hurricane made the sea levels rise drasticly altering Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
There was a moment when I doubted religion. An avalanche of tragedies piled upon my life in the blink of an eye. My father moved seven hundred miles away, people died, and family members began to discover the effects of methamphetamine. I began to think religion might be a lie. I asked myself, “Why would God make me suffer through this hardship?” By enduring this oppression, the silver lining became apparent. I grasped the true concept of my series of unfortunate events. The circumstances of my childhood have molded me into a stronger
An earthquake occurs abruptly and causes severs damage to people, property, landscape and more. A great mega-thrust earthquake, known as the Great Tohoku Earthquake has shaken Japan at 5:46:24 UTC on March 11, 2011. It caused a severe disaster, including tsunami and nuclear radiation exposure.. This mega-quake located at the latitude 38.297 degree North and longitude of 142.372 degree East, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (USGS, 2013). An earthquake and tsunami waves caused widespread damage to many areas of Japan. People in Japan are still recovering from the damages.
It was a beautiful day like any other with the clear blue sky and the
Throughout my life I have understood and believed most of the tenets of the Catholic church, but I had a hard time fully entrusting in God and connecting on a spiritual level. When I was thirteen, my mother passed away, and I felt as though my world fell apart. I was unable to comprehend why God would do this to me. It angered me, shaking my trust in God. Thankfully I had an incredible support system made up of my family and friends who supported me, but I still felt like I needed a sign to show me that I was moving forward in the right direction. I never found a concrete sign, I began to understand that everything happens for a reason. God has an undying love for everyone, and he does not give us more than we can handle. Today I have a responsibility and desire to make my mother and family proud, and I have faith that I am on the right path as I pursue a career to help others as a nurse. Because of this, I was truly moved when Maria shared her story because her faith in God was undying; she was unafraid to trust in someone who she had never seen or physically talked to. Even though human knowledge of God is so limited, our capacity to love and have faith in him seems to be unlimited. Maria was able to believe in God without seeing, but when he revealed Himself she grew deeper in her faith. In the Second letter to the Corinthians