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Whitewater man experienced Haiti earthquake first-hand

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Bill Chandler

WHITEWATER — Bill Chandler is relieved he survived the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and he’s convinced he will soon return to help the impoverished nation recover and rebuild.

“This (disaster) really is an indication of how vulnerable and how transient everything is,” he said. “There is that moment of fear, but also that moment of thanks to God that for whatever reason there is something I still have to do here.”

Chandler, an art education professor at UW-Whitewater, was on a weeklong mission trip with the Haiti Lutheran Mission Society. The group for many years has worked to build churches, schools and orphanages in the impoverished nation.

He and seven others spent several days painting, cleaning and preparing a new orphanage for a dedication ceremony. They visited churches and schools to take pictures of children who need people to sponsor them. They bought rice to distribute to needy people.

But their work and the work of the mission society came crashing down in the devastating earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Chandler and his group spent the afternoon at a Baptist mission in the mountains. They went to a point that overlooked the entire city of Port-au-Prince and marveled at the milieu below.

When back at their hotel, Chandler and his friend from church planned to read on the patio. Others cleaned up. Some napped.

Then the ground shook.

“We said, ‘I think this is an earthquake,’” Chandler said. “I decided (the patio) was not a good place to be. I stepped out and grabbed hold of a 4-inch tree and held on for dear life. It felt like it was shaking forever.”

The rumbling slowed and stopped, and the group ventured out of the hotel and into the street.

“We could hear people screaming, hear people crying and wailing,” Chandler said. “Some of it was out of emotion. Some of it was out of pain. Some of it was out of fear.”

Chandler and his friend moved broken cinder blocks out of the street so cars and people could move through. Some in the group wandered down the street to see the damage and brought back two injured children. The group’s bus driver went to find his family.

The ground shook again every 15 to 20 minutes.

Chandler and his group spent the night sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the hotel, which was one of few buildings that did not collapse in the quake.

The bus driver the next morning returned to take the group to the airport so they could catch their flights home. But the airport was closed. They planned to drive to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to board planes home, but they first stopped at the U.S. Embassy to let the government know of their plans.

The guards told them not to drive. The embassy would arrange for the group of volunteers to get home.

“Their words erased any of the doubt, any of the gloom we had had from the night before,” Chandler said. “It was incredibly relieving.”

Chandler and his group were among dozens of travelers who waited in a large room for word of how they would get home. Hours later, embassy workers read off a list of people who would be allowed to board two cargo planes bound for the Dominican Republic.

“All eight from our party were on the list,” Chandler said. “From one moment to the next it was anxiety buildup and relief, anxiety buildup and relief.”

The group was bused to the airport and boarded a plane. They arrived in Santo Domingo, got their passports stamped and were put up in a hotel for the night. They flew out the next morning.

Chandler and his friend met their wives at a Chicago hotel about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, and Chandler and his wife got home about 2 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15.

Chandler said he is lucky to have survived the disaster, but he is worried about the people in Haiti. He wants to go back.

“Right now, it’s not the place for an amateur,” he said. “But soon there will come a time when people like me will be welcome back to help.”