Rainbow Families Foundation Newsletter - October 2003

October 2003

You may have heard that we (Puerto Plata, DR) had what they are calling a temblor but CNN said it was 6.5 on the Richter scale, so is this an earthquake or tremor. Two people were killed as a result of the earthquake, a 78 year old man and 56 year old woman, both from heart attacks. One person jumped from a two story building and broke their leg. A building has to be demolished. It was a gymnasiam, pharmacy and hardware store. I am hearing there was an earthquake here 12 years ago and the building sustained large cracks and structural damage. They stuffed the cracks with newspaper and put a thin veneer of plaster on the outside. The government came in to inspect this time and declared the building condemned. I heard one supermarket had 1,000,000 pesos in losses from broken bottles of liquor and food items. Another smaller supermarket lost 200,000 pesos and the owner did not have any insurance. One school in Puerto Plata, 3 stories, was condensed to 1 story. Someone said there was a tank of propane gas that exploded and killed 10 people but I never heard anything more about it. Earthquake in espanol is "terremoto". I was told yesterday afternoon that there were 29 aftershocks. I felt one yesterday about 4PM. Other than that, not too much damage but everybody was sleeping in the street last night. Heard the roof in a bank in Puerto Plata collapsed, as well as the roof at the DHL delivery service. The airport sustained a lot of damage as well as the village of Charamicos where houses aren't constructed so well. Where I live many dishes, glasses and things were broken in the floor. The TV stand-bookcase which is about 4 feet wide and six feet tall was turned over and the TV fell from about 5 feet. Surprisingly it still works. The shampoos and conditioners were on a ledge at bathtub level and were tossed into the bathtub. The dresser was shuffled about 8 inches from the wall. I had two 2 liters of soda above the kitchen cabinet. I left a plate on the counter with a glass on top the plate with tad of strawberry juice. I couldn't figure how red juice got on the ceiling. When I was cleaning up all the glass I found pieces of a broken glass on a chair near the kitchen. I then realized that when the bottles of soda tumbled from the cabinet, it hit the plate, trampolined the glass to the ceiling and then landing on the chair. Incredible! A twin bed I had leaned against the wall and the earthquake-tremor slung it across the floor. The supermarkets and small corner markets are all closed, cleaning up the debris. Electricity and phone service was out all day but just now restored until who knows when. People are saying that the authorities at the airport are speculating that another tremor is coming. As I understand the people, this is the first since 1946 when one came and hit pretty hard. The people are afraid to go inside and sleeping on the sidewalk. We had heavy rain this morning at 6AM and chased everyone under shelter. I didn't have too much fear last night and finally went inside at 3AM and put my shoes, purse and keys by the door in case I had to make a fast escape. I felt another tremor about 7AM this morning. One of the women who has helped me tremendously has a 14 year old cousin who was electrocuted 4 months ago. Annie has been in the public hospital in Santiago with serious burns since June. Her entire face was burned. As I understand Belgica, she says Annie only has flesh and no skin on her face. The hospital cannot do anymore and says she has to go to United States for skin grafts. Do you remember if the Rainbow Babies Hospital has a burn unit? I saw pictures and nearly all her upper body was burned and down her legs. Her mother was murdered by her second husband, not Annie's father, just a few months ago. Annie is being raised by her grandmother. the father lives in Monte Llano but was layed off at the Sugar Cane Factory and is unable to find other work. Absolutely incredible the cases that come to me. Other minor cases come my way but much less significant than that of Antonio, Antonia, Luitka and Annie. No, I do not plan to spend much more time here. I want to return home soon. I think the ticket for the return flight has expired (in the back of my mind it seems I had one year to use an unused ticket). I will have to check. My hair is a little lighter with the sun but I can see that I have much more gray than before. It is hard to believe the age that I have. When I see the women in the countryside with several children they look so much older. Antonia's mother is only 34 and I thought she was at least 10 years older than me. Jacobo and Chi Chi agreed that she looks 10 years older than me. I guess that burden of having children also burdens the figure. Antonia is doing well with her stay in the hospital and is now a whopping 56 pounds. She entered the hospital at 50 pounds. Her face is a little chubby now and she has her color back. She's a light skinned little girl with her hair highlighted by the sun and big dark eyes. Now she feels well enough to smile and it is so beautiful. Before she barely had the energy to talk and couldn't walk 10 feet. I think she will be able to come home soon. Though Hospital Robert Reid Cabral is public and the conditions are gruesom, I am impressed with the treatment that Antonia has received as compared to the pubic hospital in Puerto Plata and the children's public hospital in Santiago where she was in intensive care 3 times. Her mother and aunts are very grateful. I am most grateful for Dr. Nunez, the doctor who helps me with the surgeries for the women if they do not want to have more babies. His wife is a pediatrician doctor in Puerto Plata and referred me to Doctora Janet Toribio at the Clinica Corozones Unidos in Santo Domingo. If Antonia can keep well and build her strength and nutrition she will be able to have the transplant in six months but she will have to take medication the rest of her life. Her mother doesn't like being in Santo Domingo away from the other kids and home. It is a big sacrifice she must make for the health of her child. I must go again soon to take her some money to buy food during their stay. The public hospital in Puerto Plata is unable to find the medical records for Lutia, the little girl born without an anus. The doctor has a few records from her office visits but really needs records from the previous surgeries she had. They don't make life earlier for themselves, for sure. I went to Cabarette last Sunday morning to pickup a donation. There was an old white car along the side of the road that was in 3 pieces. Later I learned that the three guys in the little car were killed instantly. All three were mechanics at one of the car washes. A black Toyota Lexus apparently hit the car when the guys were turning around in the street and the driver left the scene of the accident on foot. The front end of the Lexus was damaged pretty badly and the air bags exploded. A motor concho (motorcycle taxi) had come near the location and saw three guys walking fast not thinking anything about it. A moment later the motor concho came upon the accident and put two and two together, realizing perhaps the three guys were in the accident. The motorconcho recognized that the white car belonged to one of the guys that worked at the car wash and came to tell the owner. The owner went immediately and saw the three guys laying there stone cold white because they bled to death internally. The Lexus is registered in the name of a woman and as of Thursday the police had not yet located the owner and nobody had come to make a report. Very tragic huh? Ironically just moments before the accident another friend of the guys was in the white car. His girlfriend forbid him to go with the other three guys. So . . . the guy got out of the car and stayed with his girlfriend. This woman literally saved his life. When I left for Cabarette on Sunday morning I was surprised that the car wash was closed because this business never closes. Later, I learned all this and that all the employees were at the cemetery on Sunday, so quickly after the accident. The fourth guy that was supposed to be in the car with them was at the funeral trembling really badly. All three of these guys worked at the car wash for many years. The owner of the car wash said that his employee, the owner of the white car, was always working on an old blue bigger truck that they used at the car wash. Apparently he was crazy for this blue truck. Little did he know that one day this truck would carry his casket to the cemetery. Incredible! Today I learned another accident occurred with a taxi van with 20 people crammed inside. It was doing a u-turn in the middle of the road in a curve and a truck came fast and hit it. Four people were killed in this accident. This country really needs tougher laws in obtaining a license and driving in the streets. Young boys 11, 12 years old are driving the motorcycles in the streets without a problem with the police.