Sometimes The Earth Is Cruel By Leonard Pits Summary

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The Haiti earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010 just fifteen miles south of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was a severely large-scale earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.0. The initial shock was then followed by a series of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging up to 5.9. Over three hundred thousand people died due to this extreme chaos. Many buildings collapsed and disintegrated under the force of the quake; both the cathedral and National Palace in Port-au-Prince were heavily damaged. In the aftermath of this tragedy, efforts to aid the people of Haiti with medical assistance, water, and food were hampered by the loss of communication lines as well as by roads blocked by debris. Over one million people were left homeless due to this quake. Two days after the earthquake, journalist Leonard Pitts wrote “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” an article describing how the people of Haiti responded to the disaster. In “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” a major theme is that some things are inevitable. The idea that some things are unavoidable in “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel” by Leonard Pitts is first …show more content…

He starts by telling how they do it (digging themselves out, mourn and memorialize the dead, rebuilding homes) and then he says, “This is the price of being human.” When Pitts says this, he means that humans have to do what they have to do. It is because you are human that you have to move on with your life after a tragedy occurs. He also states, “Sometimes, the earth is cruel, and you have no choice but to accept that as part of the bargain called life. And when it is your turn to deal with it, you do.” By saying this, he implies that everyone gets a chance to be hurt or struck by misfortune, and everyone also has to overcome their

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