SAN BERNARDO, Chile -- The Desarmes family left their native Haiti two weeks after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, joining the eldest son in Chile for what seemed a refuge from the fear and chaos of Port-au-Prince.
Their sense of security lasted barely a month. It was shattered at 3:43 a.m. Saturday when one of the most powerful quakes on record shook a swath of Chile.
All the Desarmes' immediate family survived both quakes. But twice cursed, the family now sleeps in the garden of a home that the eldest son, Pierre Desarmes, found for them just south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. They fear yet another temblor will strike.
"I left my country and came here because of an earthquake," Seraphin Philomene, a 21-year-old student and cousin of Desarmes, said Wednesday. "And here, the same thing!"
"My God, I left my country and I didn't die, but I'm going to die here!"
Pierre Desarmes, 34, managed to get his family out of Haiti. His parents, two brothers and their families, and three cousins arrived in Santiago on Jan. 23.
Desarmes still gets choked up when he recalls seeing his family for the first time stepping off the plane.
"I saw them but I didn't believe it. I said, 'My God, they're here.' It was a very difficult moment," he said. AP
