Yves Dominique remembers the exact moment he started worrying about his daughter, Rebecca, 5 years ago in Port Au Prince.
He turned on the TV and said he saw Haiti “disappear” after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the island.
He was certain Rebecca had died, and said it felt like he died, too. Three long days later she called.
“That was a different life again,” he said. “I was reborn!”
The 72-year-old restaurant manager and former cab driver in Flatbush, Brooklyn went to Haiti two years ago. Despite frustrations about the rebuilding effort, he said Haitians are more proud than ever.
"We are unbeatable," he said. "We strong! We was born like that.”
Patrick Goby, a barber in the neighborhood, said the fight to restore Port Au Prince is dwindling. He visited last August.
“I have a hope,” he said. “But the population that I saw I don't see that on their face.”
He said residents in the capital are struggling for food and water and still living in tents. Haitians in America, he said, are wary to support rebuilding efforts.
“There’s a bunch of fear behind giving,” he said. “They have a lot of money to rebuild Haiti but after five years ago, they don’t do anything about it. Where the money goes?”
The earthquake hit Haiti at 4:53pm, initially displacing 1.5 million people and injuring 300,000. The death toll is still unknown but estimates are between 230,000 - 316,000.