Cameraman Stuart Webb explains how it felt to cover the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake for Channel 4 News. You may find some of his descriptions upsetting.
Cameraman Stuart Webb explains how it felt to cover the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake for Channel 4 News. You may find some of his account distressing.
It’s an odd job sometimes. I’m sitting in a hotel room in Miami looking out of the window as the cruise ships glide past on an aqua marine sea past the swaying palm trees of Miami beach.
I’ve just spent the last eleven days covering the earthquake in Haiti. I’m now on my way back to Britain with a day stop in Miami to rest up, pack up and clean the dust and grime from my camera gear.
Just days ago I was filming at a mass grave site having to watch my feet as right behind me lay the body of a little girl, and I had to be careful not to tread on her.
The bodies were piled high and lay all around – it was a brutal and inhumane scene. As I filmed, some dumper trucks arrived and reversed up next to me. As they elevated their trailers another load of bodies came cascading out of the back.
One of the lorries had an old man stuck at the top of the trailer and his body wouldn’t tumble out – so the driver sped forward and slammed on his breaks to shake him free.
There was a thud as a body fell out and hit the ground right in front of me – but it wasn’t the old man, it was a baby.
It was as grim and awful a sight as I have ever seen in a career spent covering wars and disasters. I haven’t any children of my own – but if I did I would hold them tighter after a trip like this.
I’m regularly asked by people if what we do as journalists can change anything.
Well it’s not our job to set out and change the world – we are there to witness and report the world’s events neutrally without fear or favour. At best our job is to inform people and let them know what is going on, which is a valuable part of the democratic process.
All the pictures of atrocities in Bosnia didn’t stop the war there or end the genocide in Rwanda – but maybe the pictures and experience of Bosnia prompted the west to act quicker in Kosovo.
Unfortunately I have long since learned that there will always be wars – it’s a part of human nature. I’m not a cynical person – I’m naturally optimistic – but that’s the way it is with war. There will always be a generation which will have to find out for itself, despite the warnings of history that war is hell.
But natural disasters are maybe one area where the media can have a very positive influence. People at home and around the world can only gauge how bad a disaster really is when the media all pitch up and show it.
The coverage becomes part of process which prompts people and governments to donate money and act. So when I cover a story like Haiti I always work as hard as I can to get the story out – I’m there to do my job but if what I do can help, then there is a responsibility to try even harder.
When I was covering the earthquake in Pakistan some years ago my team was called into the British High Commission to meet with the RAF officer in charge on the two Chinooks Britain had sent to deliver aid into the high mountains of Kashmir.
We wanted to film the work of the Chinook crews but the officer in charge didn’t understand or like the media. He insisted on a meeting at the High Commission and at first it didn’t go well.
He demanded to know why he should “put us on and throw aid off to make room for us”.
Fair enough, you might think, but I’ve spent many hours on Chinooks and I knew that by standing next to the cockpit where the flight crew stand he wouldn’t need to throw any aid off to accommodate us.
He tried to make us feel guilty for going and taking up space on his flight. Were we important enough to have been on board? It’s hard to quantify but I’d say yes.
When we had our meeting it was almost a month after the earthquake and winter was rapidly approaching. The officer had complained that governments around the world had promised aid money but not delivered it.
Our meeting wasn’t going well and it looked like we weren’t getting on the Chinooks so I decided to chip into the conversation and level with him.
I told him that almost a month after the earthquake the world’s attention was slipping away from Pakistan, and in a cynical world those governments may never pay up on their promises if the TV pictures dry up.
I told him he was ordered to Pakistan to do a job but I could also see that he and his Chinook crews also genuinely cared about the people they were trying to help and were working flat out to do their best.
I explained we were also sent to do a job and that we too cared about the people there and that the best way we could help them was to get their plight on TV and show the world.
He told me his crews had seen people freezing to death in the mountains – I said if this was true we had to see that and get the story out.
The officer went out of the room. He was big enough to come back a few minutes later and tell us to be at the airfield at dawn. We flew into a village so high in the mountains of Kashmir it was at the limit for the Chinook. As we made our landing approach the helicopter was suddenly hit by a snow squall.
The pilot said he couldn’t leave me there to film as the return trip planned for that day may not happen. He said I could film while they unloaded only.
“How long have I got?” I asked.
He said: “Ten minutes.”
I replied: “That’s all I’ll need.”
I dove down the ramp and towards the people – the first thing I noticed was they all had a blue hue to their faces and were all shaking uncontrollably because of the cold.
Nearly all the homes had collapsed and some of the villagers were already dead due to the freezing temperatures. I had a huge responsibility to film fast and get it right.
I guess the report got noticed. It was re-broadcast all around the world, stirred attention to the coming winter in post-earthquake Pakistan and won the reporter a clutch of awards.
Hopefully this time round the media attention Haiti has received can make a difference there too. The country has long been a victim of its history – despotic leaders, corruption, mismanagement and natural disasters. It’s often been said that Haiti is cursed. It isn’t. It just needs a chance.