By The Numbers

When we think about laying down a life for another we usually think in terms of a singular event. But it is possible for us to lay down our lives over the course of a lifetime, minute by minute and day by day. And it is the work of the Spirit to empower us as we seek to lose ourselves in acts of lovingkindness and sacrificial living.

- Elaine Puckett, professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia

Haiti: One Month Later, by the Numbers

by Martha St. Jean 02-15-2010

One month later rain pours into the streets of Port-au-Prince. Some call it “fresh misery.” I think, how many more buildings will collapse, how many more people will die? But I also think, how many still have hope? How many will view this rain as a washing away of the things that hurt most?

Stories of survival are continuously recounted. I hear daring feats of escape from collapsing buildings and am saddened by the number of days family members have had to do without food, and I am disturbed over the number of people they have watched die. The story of the devastation in Haiti is at times best chronicled using numerical values.

7.0 — The magnitude of the earthquake.

21:53:10 UTC — The time the earthquake struck.

35 — The number of seconds the earthquake lasted.

230,000 — The official Haitian government death toll.

1 million — The number of my countrymen left homeless.

500,000 — The number of Haitian homeless living in camps.

380,000 — The number of Haitian orphans.

2 — The number of dollars many of the island nation’s residents lived on per day.

2, 000 — The estimated number of amputations that have taken place. (This must be much higher, as some hospitals are performing 30-100 per day.)

5,000 — The estimated number of escaped prisoners.

10 — The number of years experts say it will take to rebuild.

63 million — The tons of rubble that need to be removed before the rebuilding can take place.

3 million — The number of people who need help.

57 million — The number of dollars initially raised by the Hope for Haiti telethon.

Countless — the number of prayers lifted up, the number of tears cried, the number of hearts broken in Haiti and all over the diaspora.