Same Family Members Survive Both Haiti and Chile Earthquakes

Just when one family thought their lives could get no worse, the Desarmes left their native Haiti two weeks after the devastating January 12, earthquake to survive another devastating earthquake in Chile. The Desarmes had left Haiti to join their eldest son in Chile, the idea at the time seemed smart and it appeared they would be safe.

With the earthquake of Haiti still mentally embedded in their psyche, they awoke around 3:43 a.m. to one of the most powerful quakes on record of Chile.

"I left my country and came here because of an earthquake, Seraphin Philomene, a 21 year old student and cousin of Desarmes, said Wednesday. "My God, I left my country and didn't die, but I'm going to die here!"

The eldest son Pierre Desarmes, the lead singer of a popular Haitian reggae-ton band in Chile, had got his family out of Haiti thanks to personal contacts at the Chilean Embassy in Port-au-Prince and the Chilean armed forces. Nine members of his family, his parents, two brothers and their families and three cousins, arrived in Santiago Chile on January 23.

The family only had hours notice to get to leave Haiti and get to Santiago, they were not even able to pack. This earthquake made the move even more harder to fathom or bear.

Pierre, "I have to talk to them all day long telling them: There are no problems, it's a country that's prepared for earthquakes, it'll pass it's not that bad." But they don't hear me. Psychologically for them, they're still really affected by it."

This really goes to show that there really isn't a such thing as safe and security in this world today. We are truly living in "critical times."