Emerson student returns from Port au Prince

1/28/10Christine Bernard, 19, a freshman marketing major at Emerson was home in Port au Prince during the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti three weeks ago.

"I can't even remember what I was thinking. it was just a blur," she said, "I realized that it was an earthquake. I heard this noise first and I felt the whole house shaking with me. it gives you this feeling you're not in control. It's impressive and scary." Both her home, and more importantly, her mother, aunt and brother whom she lives with were able to withstand the violent quake and for that she said she is grateful. "I personally believe in destiny. if I'm still here, I'm supposed to be," she said. She said she lost one relative to the disaster, however, a 2-month-old cousin.

"I can't tell if it's the house itself or its location," she said of the apparent randomness of the quake's trail of destruction. Her neighborhood, she said, "more than half of it was okay," but as she surveyed her surroundings, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the chaos that enveloped the landscape. "At some places, you would be going here and in two minutes everything is down, and in two minutes everything is standing."

While she was in Haiti, Bernard said she and her family were staying outside their home, going inside only for things they needed and quickly going back out in fear that their home could collapse at any moment. "Everyone is afraid of being indoors," she said. Her house is still standing and for that, she said she could not complain.

She left Haiti to return to Emerson five days after the earthquake, which has already claimed at least 150,000 lives. "All my friends were really concerned about whether or not I was fine," she said. " All I wanted was being with my family. watching all this on TV, not being there was very difficult," she said. Bernard said she feels as though now that she needs to go forward with her studies. "I know that being here actually is a way to be thankful that I'm still alive," she said. "I can't just leave, (and) live in this sadness. I'm still sad and very shocked and traumatized, but I just tell myself that I need to go forward."

Bernard said she knows that she and her family are incredibly fortunate to have endured such a disaster so she emphasized the importance of contributing to any relief efforts. "If you can help someone, just do it. There's always something good that's going to come out of it," she said. She said she attends Boston's St. Anthony's Shrine at Downtown Crossing and said that the crisis in Haiti has been a recurring topic in the church.

She said she now intends to take part in on campus relief efforts as a member of EBONI, an Emerson organization.