The Other Side of Disaster

Rick Santos, MTS '92, has spent years working for nonprofit organizations that provide relief, medical aid, and economic development for people all over the world, but while attending a work-related meeting in Haiti on January 12, he found himself on the other side of need, trapped in the rubble of a collapsed hotel for two and a half days.

In his role as the president and CEO of IMA (Interchurch Medical Assistance) World Health, Santos was at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince to attend a three-day consultation on lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis), an often neglected tropical disease.

As is typical of IMA World Heath's work, Santos was meeting with donors, implementing partners, and local officials, including Haiti's minister of health, to talk about treatments, best practices, and ongoing needs related to this disease.

The first day of the meeting broke up at 4 pm, but Rick and two of his co-workers had agreed to meet some colleagues from the United Methodist Church in the lobby of the hotel. Their friends arrived, and they were all walking across the lobby toward the doors, when, Rick reports, "there was a shake, and by the time my head got around the word 'earthquake,' the hotel had completely collapsed around us."

Santos had experienced earthquakes before when he was living in Indonesia, but in those, he said, "there was time to realize what was happening and to react." In the case of the massive Haiti quake, however, the devastation happened within seconds.

As it turned out, this might have been for the best, since Santos believes he probably would have been crushed if he had run for the door. As it was, he and his two co-workers ended up being trapped in a space about 8 x 5 x 3 feet, which prevented them from being seriously injured and allowed them space to breathe. "If we had been a foot in any other direction, none of us would have made it," Santos said.

He and his trapped colleagues knew they wouldn't be rescued that first night, but they were hopeful for the following day. When they went a second night without being rescued, and then into a third day, he admits "our spirits were starting to fall."

They couldn't see one another, but they kept talking and communicating with each other to try to maintain morale. After 55 hours, a team of highly trained French firemen rescued the group. (Santos remarked that someday he'd love to travel to France and thank his rescuers in person.)

Hungry, thirsty, and weary, Santos and his two IMA World Health colleagues were physically all right. Santos said he was "so elated" after the rescue and was lucky to be able to fly home to the Baltimore airport within 24 hours to the welcoming arms of his family and friends.

Though his colleagues from the United Methodist Church had sustained more serious injuries, Santos was encouraged to hear that they were receiving medical care. Not long after returning home, however, he heard the bad news that two of the men he had been meeting in the lobby the day of the disaster didn't make it.

The Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon, executive officer of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, died immediately, and the Rev. Clinton Rabb, head of the Office of Mission Volunteers of the General Board of Global Ministries, died a few days later in a Florida hospital. For Santos, mourning these colleagues, who were engaged in the same kind of work in which he has long been involved, has been the worst part of his experience.

"Two things didn't happen to me: I didn't die, and I wasn't seriously injured," he said. "Though I had some dark moments thinking that I might not see my kids grow up, I tried to remain encouraged that everyone was alive, and I was confident we could hang on for four or five days."

In some ways, Santos said, those three days were much more anxious for his family, friends, and colleagues back home, who weren't sure exactly where he was and whether he was alive or dead. Santos expressed several times just how much gratitude he feels for the actions and prayers of friends all over the world, including some fellow HDS alumni and staff.

Given the fate of so many unfortunate people and families in the Haiti disaster, and of his two colleagues, Santos said he definitely has the sense of being given "a second chance at life," and he has been trying to sort out what he wants do with it.

One thing he has already been doing is to stress in every interview that "we need to be committed to the long-term to rebuild Haiti," and that the relief work cannot stop just because the media crews have moved on to a new disaster.

"Though people want to talk to me because of my own personal experience, I keep trying to tell them that it's all about Haiti. It is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world," Santos said. "Everything is going to need to be rebuilt, almost from scratch, and the international community has to remain engaged in Haiti for several decades in order for that to happen."

Santos is thankful that IMA World Health is the kind of organization that makes long-term commitments to people in need.

"We're a faith-based, member organization, so we're involved in places around the world for the long haul. We're not pulling out when the attention goes away."

IMA World Health, which has a mission that includes health service strengthening, disease management control, and capacity building with local partners and health institutions, sent donated medical supplies last year to more than 3,000 hospitals, clinics, and communities.

While Santos considers IMA World Health to be "a gem of an organization," he does note that "it is small, and depends on individual donations and on people reaching out to us." For this reason, he hopes that the exposure he's received will help his organization to do as much as they can for the long-term recovery effort.

"We're going to do a lot of work in Haiti, so I am trying to raise as many funds as I can for us." Readers can find out about IMA World Health's work, and donate, through its website, www.IMAworldhealth.org.

When asked if being on the other side of the disaster changed or deepened any understandings he'd previously had about disaster relief, Santos immediately said: "It made me understand the true need to respond immediately. Rescuers need to get in there as quickly as they possibly can in order to save as many lives as they can. You can't wait on formalities, whether that means the government needs to let people into their airspace or the military has to take over a damaged control tower. The most important thing is immediate action."

As for his own recovery, Santos said he has noticed moments where he thinks twice about his security, like when he was recently on a high floor in a building.

Still, he is focusing on the future and on all the work that needs to be done in Haiti and elsewhere in the world. One thing Santos does not intend to do with his recent "gift of life" is to give up on his chosen work.

Now more than ever, he understands how important it is to bring help and hope to others, whether they are caught in natural disasters like tsunamis or earthquakes, or ongoing daily disasters such as poverty, conflict, and disease.

—by Wendy McDowell