On Friday, Queens College had its second snow day in a span of just two weeks. This definitely has to be a record for my life as a student. ^^ I really appreciated the extra day off because I was able to dedicate more time to resting and fighting off this terrible cold I (still) have. But aside from feeling slightly less guilty for indulging in various forms of procrastination, these recent nearly consecutive snow days have made me rather worried about the state of ourl environment and the fate of the world. >_< This is also probably somewhat influenced by the science fiction literature course I’m taking. I just finished reading Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (inspired the movie Blade Runner– I personally prefer the book so much more), which seems to be so current with is commentary about natural disasters- Spoiler: Dick describes how earth becomes covered with this strange dust that causes animals to spontaneously die all over the world- at the rate our country is going, who is to say that won’t happen some day?

Connected with this theme of natural disasters, last Wednesday I attended a talk at Queens College given by Haiti earthquake survivors and those intimately involved in the tragedy. Prof. Pierre-Louis from the Political Science Department gave an extremely moving speech about his experience of the earthquake and how he survived the ordeal. I was particularly effected by his description of the aftermath where hundreds of people were forced to sleep in the streets because their houses have totally collapsed, how parents camped out beside caved in school buildings praying that their children will come out or that people will arrive to help pull them out of the rubble. I was touched by the moving anecdotes of people sharing what ever food they had with strangers in the streets but also appalled at how others sought to take advantage of this tragedy. There were several voiced critiques against the Dominican Republic for trying to profit from the situation by, for example, selling grossly overpriced airplane tickets to those who needed to exit the country and contact their families in the states. I was particularly disturbed when one of the student panelists revealed that the tents volunteers worked so hard to donate to the earthquake victims are actually being sold to them, people who have lost their jobs and homes and have no money to pay for them.

In response to an audience question about what will be in store for Haiti in the immediate future, Prof. Pierre-Louis voiced his concerns about the immense reconstruction project that will follow. He suggests that now that the earthquake has destroyed many homes and along with that property deeds, some construction companies and investors will try to take advantage of the situation and take away the land belonging to the poorer Haitians and displace them from the cities to the more rural and mountainous regions of the country. Prof. Pierre-Louis emphasizes that this is the reason why many people are refusing to leave the site of their collapsed homes. They are afraid that others will come to take over their property and they will have no means of proving their ownership. Prof. Pierre-Louis asserts that these are some of the things we should be aware of as reconstruction efforts begin. He also specifies that while he is impressed by the attention the entire world has given to Haiti and all the assistance the country has received so far, it is important that the country retain a certain degree of its autonomy and ultimately be in charge of its own reconstruction. Prof. Pierre-Louis concluded by emphasizing that “Haiti needs to be rebuilt by Haitians” and that the real work will begin in six months so even though Haiti may disappear from the news then he hopes that people will not forget about Haiti and continue to offer their assistance. So this post is to pass on what I have learned and to encourage others to get involved. ^^