The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2020

50 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Before I knew it, he had stopped a motorcycle and con- vinced its owner to take the two of us down the mountain to the embassy. The motorcycle wasn’t very big, but it was clear the driver was used to carrying two passengers, maybe more. We sped off through the chaotic traffic. Rumbling through my head was the voice of a high school friend: never ride a motorcycle without a helmet. So many roads were blocked by rubble, and the driver headed off on a dirt trail that led up into the mountains through the shantytowns. Every time he reached a steep grade, Dominic and I would have to get off the bike so the driver could make it through the ruts to the top of the hill. The trail led through a very poor neighborhood that was miraculously unscathed by the quake. The residents were all in the streets looking down on the chaos below. u It was dark by the time we got off the mountain and back on the avenue that led to the embassy. As we drove through the poor neighborhood of Tabarre, I could hear the wailing voices of young women in the darkness and could only imagine the losses they must have been grieving. Embassy officers and their spouses from the housing com- plex across the street had gathered on the steps of the embassy. We nervously exchanged news. Regional Security Officer Steve Lesniak, Marine Security Guard Detachment Commander Staff Sgt. Jamie Long and the Marines were all in Post One. With phone lines and cell phones not working, they reached out to the embassy community over the radio and had established contact with about half of the American employees. They confirmed the news about Victoria DeLong, and told me that three other official Americans had been criti- cally injured and were in the process of being rescued from the rubble of their homes. I was able to talk to Ambas- sador Ken Merten by radio. He and his family were trapped in the residence; landslides had cut the one road out in numer- ous places. Embassy families that lived near the ambassa- dor’s residence were gather- ing there, and several injured survivors of the collapse of the Hotel Montana had been taken there for treatment. Consul General Don Moore had made contact with the State Department through the embassy satellite link, and I joined him in his office As we drove through the poor neighborhood of Tabarre, I could hear the wailing voices of young women in the darkness and could only imagine the losses they must have been grieving. The author’s residence in Port-au-Prince, after the earthquake. COURTESYOFDAVIDLINDWALL