Xavier Kernizan is a Haitian orthopedic surgeon who normally works at MSF's Tabarre hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Just hours after an earthquake hit Haiti on the morning of August 14, he rushed to respond to the emergency. Xavier was part of a small MSF surgical team sent to Jérémie to treat serious injuries, including bone fractures.
Where were you when the earthquake struck?
I was returning home from MSF's Tabarre hospital, and I felt the road shaking. At first I didn't think it was a very powerful earthquake. It was afterward that I started to receive photos and images of what happened. I saw an informal discussion in an MSF chat group that we could send a team. I told our medical activity manager that if MSF needed an orthopedic surgeon, I was available. And he said we would be leaving at
2 p.m.
Everything was ready then, and we left on the road for Les Cayes. The most stressful point was to pass through the Martissant neighborhood to reach the road to the southern region affected by the earthquake. There are armed clashes in the area, and we heard worrying reports that raised our stress—for our safety, and not because of the earthquake.
What was the situation that you found in the south?
The first place we arrived was the town of Les Cayes. It made a big impression. It brought me back to the 2010 earthquake, because it was practically the same kind of destruction—homes completely collapsed, rubble in the streets. There were places where we could not pass at all, where we had to find another way. We spent our first night in Les Cayes before moving on. A colleague of ours was already supporting the operating theater at the hospital there.
