HSA Remembers Earthquake

On January 12, 2010 at 4:30pm I got into a minor car accident on my way home from work and was enraged. I called my mother to explain what happened and all she did was ask, "What did you do to my car?", not even hesitating to ask whether I was okay or if I was hit. To calm myself down I went home and watched some television.  Then on every channel there it was: a 7.0 magnitude earthquake had  struck Haiti at 4:53pm, destroying buildings, cities, and most of all killing over 1/3 of Haiti's population. I became STILL; Still like a statue; I did not budge. Here I was crying over a little bump, while my people in Haiti were TRAPPED. I thought to myself, well, how bad could it be? As the story began to develop tears rolls down my eyes as I thought of my loved ones who were living back home. 


Montclair State University's Haitian Student Association REMEMBERS the tragedy that occurred that day. Below are the stories of some of our executive board, alumni and members who were affected by the earthquake.


Vladimir  Bonhomme 
Alumni

Well I was at home, and I just came back from haiti on the 7th. I was truly affected b/c it was my first time going to haiti and I got to meet A LOT of family. When I heard the news it was shattering being that I was just there less then a week ago......I could see it didn't affect my siblings as much as it did me cause they have never been to haiti and never met the fam. So I tried calling asap but you know phone lines were out.

Jacques Harry Joseph
Former Historian

I was at ‎​Home, and remember just coming back from haiti. How was I affected? I lost more friends and family that day than my whole entire life. I was supposed to be there with them, but I changed my flight.

Jodalie ConserveCurrent Treasurer

When the earthquake hit Haiti, I was home. I remember getting a txt message from one of my best friends about the quake but I didn't immediately understand what had just happened to my native land. For a moment I thought it was just one of those forwarding txt messages. Then I quickly turned on the TV and saw about every channel I had switched to was about the earthquake. Boy! It was real! Many thoughts went thru my mind; are all my relatives okay? How bad is it?   Smh... Am I lucky to be alive? I could have been there too, because I had recently came back frm Haiti from my Grandpa funeral on Jan 1. My parents came back also on the 8th. Only God knows why it happened. As tears ran down my face while watching the pain and sorrow my people was enduring, I felt numb and helpless for the first time in my life. Quickly my mom called mostly everyone if not all the numbers in Haiti, no answer. We all started calling other people to see if they had heard from their love ones in Haiti. their replies were NO.  no communications lines were working there. Frustrations, pain grew furiously. Finally three days later, one of my cousins called and said they were all okay except for Tracey, my 8yr old cousin. She did not make it. She was trapped inside when the house collapse.  It was a terrible feeling that I never wish to experience.


Marvin Osselin
Member


I was at my girlfriend's house when I received the news about what happened and immediately called my mom to find out if my family were okay. We called, and called but the connection dropped every time.Then when we got in contact with my grandmother, we found out that she lost her niece.