
Originally Posted by
Zealot
I found a firsthand account of the carnage from an American living abroad, thought I would share.
"The first thing that I remembered was that nobody was screaming. I was knocked out when my home collapsed while I was running out. When I woke up, my chest felt like I had been stabbed. I found out later two of my ribs had been broken when the roof of my house fell on top of me. Nobody was screaming because there were hundreds, if not thousands, just like me. They were either too injured to speak or simply in shock.
Bodies were littering the street. There were parents crying over their children and vice versa. People were tearing through wreckage trying to find one another. I wanted to help, but I couldn't lift my arms without excruciating pain. I was coughing up blood every few steps, adding drops in the river at my feet.
A truck drove by and picked me up, taking me to a makeshift hospital along with dozens of others, crammed into a set of makeshift tents and given basic medical care. The poverty in the country was never more apparant to me than now. I knew this would be on the news by now, so I kept asking for a phone so I could call my mother. The landlines into the country were all down, I learned. We were completely isolated from the outside world.
In an amazing stroke of luck, a reporter for the AP was here, and he lent me his cell phone. I got through to my mother in the states and told her what was happening. As she listened to the story, my mom got scared and said you're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air. I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said Fresh and there were dice in the mirror if anything I could say that this cab was rare But I thought - nah, forget it, yo holmes, to Bel Air. I pulled up to a house about 7 or 8 and said to the cabby, yo holmes, smell ya later! Looked at my kingdom I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air[/B].