Port Au Prince Earthquake
From 1999 to 2016, I was actively involved in Haiti mission projects. First as a volunteer photographer and then as a board member of an NGO that sent doctors and nurses to remote villages.
Tuesday, 4:53 in the afternoon of January 12th, a 7.0 earthquake struck 35 miles west of Port au Prince.
Within a week, I was on a private aircraft headed to the Capital with a group of trauma surgeons and much needed supplies.
(I also packed an electric razor for a friend who was the commanding officer of the U.S. Air Force team that flew to Port au Prince the morning after the quake hit - their job was to reopen the airport - as soon as I stepped off the plane at 3 AM, he was there to greet me.)
I spent a week on the ground and never got into the air.
Returning two weeks later, I managed to snag a civilian helicopter for a one-hour flight, two hours before my flight to Miami was set to take-off.