Nearly eight years ago, an earthquake devastated Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The capital’s morgues were so overwhelmed that thousands of bodies were dumped into mass graves. But one group of men stepped in, collecting abandoned bodies to bury them. A New York Times reporter talked to the heroes of Burial Road.
Guests: Catherine Porter, a New York Times reporter, talked to the men who tend to the unclaimed bodies of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.
Duration
31m
Broadcast on
19 Dec 2017
Audio Format
other
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Nearly eight years ago, an earthquake devastated Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The capital’s morgues were so overwhelmed that thousands of bodies were dumped into mass graves. But one group of men stepped in, collecting abandoned bodies to bury them. A New York Times reporter talked to the heroes of Burial Road.
Guests: Catherine Porter, a New York Times reporter, talked to the men who tend to the unclaimed bodies of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
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Brought to you by the Capital One Saver Card. With Saver, you are an unlimited 3% cashback on dining, entertainment, and at grocery stores. That's unlimited cashback on ordering takeout from home. Or unlimited cashback on tickets to concerts and games. So grab a bite, grab a seat, and earn unlimited 3% cashback with the Saver Card. Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com for details. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barber. This is The Daily. ♪♪ Today, nearly 8 years after the earthquake in Haiti, the country remains the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. A reporter's account of when death is harder to afford than life. ♪♪ It's Tuesday, December 19th. ♪♪ It was 4.53 p.m. on a Tuesday in January 2010, that the ground started to rattle in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. It was the early tremors of one of the most devastating natural disasters the country had ever experienced. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled the city's homes, destroyed its infrastructure, and killed hundreds of thousands of Haitians. ♪♪ I got asked to go to Haiti. I was terrified, absolutely terrified, and the only way I could find to get in was that there was an aid flight flying shipments of medication in the lake down to Port-au-Prince. Catherine Porter was sent to Haiti to cover the aftermath. I was doing a story at the hospital, the general hospital, which is locally known as the place to go to die, and I watched a body be rolled up on a gurney to a refrigerated container, shipping container, and I watched the morgue worker open the shipping container, and there was a pyramid of bodies, and he dragged this body by holding the both wrists up to the very top, walking up the bodies, and he deposited at the top. And that glimpse haunted me. ♪♪ So when I heard that there were these men who were similarly haunted by this, and they had taken upon themselves to do something about it, I wanted to see what they did to correct this wrong and to bring humanity to a place where there was none. The men work for the St. Luke's Foundation for Haiti, and for the past ten years, they've helped bury Haitians whose families have abandoned them in death. A few weeks ago, Katherine made her latest trip to Port of Prince to document the burials. So these bodies are abandoned, they end up at the central morgue, and whenever they pile up so much, no one's come to collect them after a certain amount of time, the neighbors start complaining about the smell. They put out a call, and the St. Luke team comes and collects them. So once every four weeks or so, these men arrive, I went with them. And they get on what they call their blues mule, they're death smocks, which are like those white Ebola suits they use, same without the headgear, just the jumpers. And some of them tie plastic bags around their boots because they're walking it out
Transcription truncated.
Nearly eight years ago, an earthquake devastated Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The capital’s morgues were so overwhelmed that thousands of bodies were dumped into mass graves. But one group of men stepped in, collecting abandoned bodies to bury them. A New York Times reporter talked to the heroes of Burial Road.
Guests: Catherine Porter, a New York Times reporter, talked to the men who tend to the unclaimed bodies of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.
