Disaster Response in Haiti: What 72 Hours on the Ground Taught Me

The call came at 2 AM on a Tuesday. A 6.8 magnitude earthquake had struck southern Haiti, and our disaster response team was being activated. Within 18 hours, I was on a military transport flight with 40 pounds of medical supplies and a team of eight.

The First 24 Hours

Nothing fully prepares you for the first moments after arriving in a disaster zone. The scale of destruction is overwhelming — not just physically, but emotionally. In the first 24 hours, our team triaged over 300 patients in an open-air clinic set up in what used to be a school courtyard. We performed crush injury assessments, stabilized fractures with improvised splints, and managed a steady stream of wound infections that were already developing in the tropical heat.

Lessons in Adaptability

Disaster medicine is the ultimate test of adaptability. Protocols that work in a fully equipped trauma center have to be modified on the fly when you are working with limited supplies, no imaging, and a patient volume that would overwhelm any stateside emergency department.

One of the most important skills I relied on was clinical decision-making without diagnostic technology. When you cannot order a CT scan, you have to trust your physical exam, your clinical intuition, and your ability to reassess frequently. It is humbling, and it makes you a better physician.

The Human Side

The clinical challenges were immense, but the moments I remember most vividly are the human ones. The mother who walked eight miles carrying her injured child on her back. The local physician who had been working without sleep for 48 hours and refused to leave until his community was cared for. The translator who stayed with us around the clock because he believed in what we were doing.

Coordination and Its Challenges

One of the most underappreciated aspects of disaster response is coordination. Multiple organizations, governments, and military units all converging on the same area with different protocols, supply chains, and communication systems. The teams that succeed are the ones that prioritize communication and flexibility over rigid adherence to their own protocols.

What I Carry Forward

Every deployment changes you. Haiti reinforced my belief that emergency medicine is, at its core, about showing up — being present for people in their worst moments and doing whatever you can with whatever you have. That principle applies whether you are in a Level I trauma center or a school courtyard in southern Haiti.