The government estimated about 220,000 deaths from the disaster, which occurred five years ago Monday. It also left about 1.5 million Haitians homeless.
Then things got worse.
A massive cholera outbreak followed, killing nearly 8,600.
“Speaking with the people, listening to their stories, I think that they experienced something that was really inhuman, something that it is impossible to understand, or to narrate,” said award-winning Italian photographer Marco Gualazzini, who visited Haiti last month.
He said there’s still a lot of work to do. Nearly 80,000 live day to day without a “proper roof over their heads,” according to the International Organization for Migration. Many of these homeless live in displacement camps.
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With a push of his shutter button, Gualazzini had captured his elusive shot. (The second photo in the gallery above.)
“The quake left an indelible mark on Haiti,” Gualazzini said. “Yet the people still managed to get back on their feet. They cleared away the rubble and started to build again where there was only pain and death.”
If they can successfully confront such devastation, can Haiti’s people next figure out a way to work and prosper together?
As Gualazzini put it, “They’re at a crossroads.”
