Tragedies of Disaster

Abstract

12 January 2010 By Ron Haviv VII Photo Agency Brooklyn, New York March 4-26, 2010 On January 12, at 4:53pm in Haiti, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude struck the poorest country in the Americas, flattening buildings and injuring and killing hundreds of thousands of people. The epicenter was just south of the town of Leogane. Millions of people were affected, including those from many other countries that quickly dispatched an array of relief efforts. Despite this assistance, significant landmarks including the Presidential Palace and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti were destroyed. Rescue and recovery missions retrieved an exorbitant number of bodies, many of which were left in empty lots due to the lack of facilities and available burial space. Mass graves were necessary, despite the fact that Haitian culture celebrates individual rituals. In addition, emergency medical procedures, such as amputations, were conducted by foreign doctors who worked aggressively to prevent the spread of disease. In a single day, Haiti was irrevocably altered. The day after, photographer Ron Haviv flew down on assignment for People magazine to document the devastation. Haviv's new series of approximately forty photographs. titled Haiti: 12 January 2010, attempts to capture the overwhelming aftermath of this event that undeniably affected the world. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Haviv treats each photograph as an isolated moment in the larger aftermath of the earthquake, using descriptions of each event as titles. This series of photographs begins with the description A girl cries while receiving treatment at a makeshift clinic run by Americans from the Church of Latter Day Saints, Mennoniles, Cuban doctors and Haitian medical students, which captures a close-up portrait of a young girl wearing a shirt with a green collar and holding her head back, exhausted, as her eyes brim with tears. Two additional images titled Bodies lie in a makeshift morgue and Bodies lie side by side at a destroyed funeral home begin to convey the reality of pain and loss that has descended upon this small country. In both cases, bodies are cither covered, or partially captured, preserving the dignify of (hose who died. Haviv also captured the ubiquitous handwritten signs proclaiming, We Need Help! Thousands of people gather outside the National Palace depicts a woman dressed in shorts, shirt, and a sweater resting a hand on her head as she stares at the growing number of people congregating at the government's capital seeking humanitarian assistance. …