More Destruction

Ok, before I get started today I just want to mention a couple of small changes in the layout of the blog.  First of all, near the top of the page you will see a bank of little colorful icons.  I have added these to help anyone who wants to share my blog on their social network of choice.  In making this blog I am attempting to show Haiti's plight to the larger world.  If you think that is a noble endeavor, please share with all your friends who may be interested.  Secondly, I have set the main page to only display the most recent post.  This is a step to insure the blog runs smoothly and quickly for all readers.  I know that people with slower internet connections will appreciate not having their browser try to open lots of large picture files at once.  The archive section links are located directly underneath this post in the red lettering.  I urge new readers to read through the archives, and regulars to check the archives every visit to insure nothing is overlooked.  So far I have been attempting to update every day, but in the future I may move to multiple smaller updates a day or update twice to make up in the event of a missed day.  I'll try to keep you posted.  Now that that's over...



Today we are going to continue where I left off with images of the structural damage to Haiti's buildings.  I chose yesterday's pictures with a mind towards displaying the massive range and scale of the earthquakes damage.  Today's photographs were chosen in an attempt to showcase the raw power and destructive force of the quake.

This image was chosen not because of the size of the rubble pile (although in any other context it would seem massive, surely weighing more than a ton), but because I think it can be used to illustrate the power of the force which struck Port-au-Prince.  Looking at the top of the subject building, you can see that the entire front and at least some of the left wall have been almost neatly removed by the earthquake.  Around and above the watermark, you can observe pieces of that wall.  The piece closest to the door is the perfect illustrator for my point.  The thickness of the slab of concrete is visible due to the side on view,  you can judge by the door the length of the former wall section.  Clearly this is a huge piece of material, and the fact that it didn't break apart upon impact shows its strength as a building material.  The quake tore several similar pieces clear off.  No crumbling, no cracking, just pure force to rip it of in large chunks.  Another indicator of the power that created this scene can be found in the bottom left area.  There you see metal signs, torn either off the side of the building or out of the street and bent and mangled by the force. 

I captured this tableau of rubble out of the side window of our SUV while traveling to the hospital.  It is almost too massive for my purposes here, taking up the whole frame leaving very little for sense of scale.  It is also so disorganized it is hard to tell what is going on or what's what.  However, after consideration for a moment, you will begin to notice the very middle, with the splash of red, has somewhat more cohesiveness than its surrounding.  That is a car.  Or, I should say, part of a car.  To its left is another piece of a car, but it would be very hard to definitively say it is a piece of the same car.  In addition to that stunning demonstration of force, you can what looks like metal wires around the car and on top of the pile.  Again, this is a trick of perspective.  When you take the size of the "wires" in relation to the car under consideration, it becomes apparent that these are in fact pieces of steel rebar.  Steel rebar (short for reinforcing bar) is used in construction to add strength and resilience to concrete structures.  The bars are meant not only to lend their strength to the concrete, but also to act as a skeleton of sorts to hold the structure together despite cracking or full breaking of the concrete.  These bars, of which there are too many to count in this picture alone, not only failed to adequately reinforce the building, but were torn out, bent, twisted, and mangled by the quake until they came to resemble a tangle of yarn.