The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Yenee Soh French Professor Joelle Vitiello was in Haiti when the earthquake hit on Jan. 12. Although she is now back in St. Paul, Vitiello plans to return to Haiti when the crisis has eased.

Joëlle Vitiello had not even finished unpacking her bags when the earthquake hit. The Macalester French professor sought shelter in the doorway of her Haitian hotel room as solid ground rolled beneath her.

"I heard the noise first," Vitiello said. "It was almost like automatic gunpowder or a jackhammer…very regular. Then the ground started shaking."

Vitiello has traveled to Haiti almost every year since 1996, researching the local arts and culture and often collaborating with local organizations that empower women.

When the tremors had passed, Vitiello and her fellow hotel guests emerged into the square outside, where she said the damage was not immediately visible.

"Mostly there was just a lot of people running," Vitiello said. "Luckily there were no tall buildings in our square."

A team of doctors who had been staying in Vitiello's hotel immediately started treating people who had been injured by falling rubble. Vitiello and other guests assisted survivors in any way they could. Vitiello remembers comforting one girl who had lost her shoes while running through the streets in search of her family.

The hotel guests slept in the street that night. The hotel's generator provided light to survivors searching for trapped victims and doctors treating the injured.

The next day, Vitiello met another Frenchwoman who had a car. The pair drove in search of a means of communication, as nobody had any way of alerting family and friends that they were safe.

"We went into town to see if we could get our cell phones to work," Vitiello said. "It was there we saw the true devastation. But we also witnessed people helping each other…trying to find relatives, seeing how they could assist other people."

When they returned to the hotel, someone had finally managed to access the Internet on their Blackberry. The guests were able to alert their loved ones that they were safe. Two days later, Vitiello and many other Americans were evacuated from the country through the U.S. Embassy.

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