On August 1, we published a post about animals as oracles of global events. That post, about the earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, focused on the apparent prescience that prompted many animals to flee days – and even weeks – before the quake hit.
It may be a long time before such stories emerge about the disaster in Haiti. The country is so devastatingly poor that pets are a luxury and the wildlife is practically nonexistent because Haiti’s forest cover has been reduced to about 1 percent. But surely there must have been some evidence in the behavior of ocean wildlife.
But perhaps there were signs elsewhere – dreams or premonitions that any of us might have had, for instance, or signs in our daily lives that something was brewing. Maybe we didn’t know where or when, but could feel…well, something.
Between 1990-2000, there were 27 major quakes recorded with approximately 82,000 fatalities. In the last 9 years, there have been 140 quakes with about 450,000 fatalities. (Data here) So something is definitely changing.
As the magnitude of the disaster begins to come to light, it’s evident that on an island of 9 million people, most of them abysmally poor and living in shacks on hillsides, Haiti needs help. Even before this earthquake, it was the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, a place where many people eat dirt to stay alive.
Doctors Without Borders lost their 3 hospitals in Haiti and triage is being conducted in the streets. That’s where our donation went.
In the end, what happens to one country, one people, happens to us all.
Athena – our friend who experienced symptoms before the quake asked us to post this for her:
I knew something massive was so imminent that I was walking the floor, but as if I were trying to walk on a ship that was rocking in the water. I did tell several people about this as it was happening.
On Monday afternoon I was sitting in our living room reading. No one was here except Sunshine (her dog), who was sleeping in a sunny spot by the front door. All of a sudden this entire building shuddered and shook and rumbled on its foundations. It's a two-story townhouse.
I grabbed the arms of my chair….Sunshine growled, then whined, then came over and sat, literally, on my feet, trembling. The motion seemed to go on forever but was actually only a few moments in real time. There was no jet breaking the sound barrier, no blasting or construction within miles of here. I asked my immediate neighbors if they'd felt it. Nope. No one had.
I phoned my husband, who was working on the beach four blocks from here, and he hadn't felt it, either. It was just my own house, but it was definitely manifesting in reality, third-dimensionally, not psychically, as a few items fell off the walls.
I stayed very disoriented to the point of nausea the rest of that day and evening, and couldn't sleep Monday night because I was so edgy. Again, I "registered" these things with several folks as they were occurring.
Less than 24 hours later, the Haiti catastrophe hit, and I immediately experienced the sensation of "release" and relief.
Athena – thanks for posting this. I'm going to send it to a friend who is affected physically before an earthquake occurs – nausea, fatigue, imbalance, other symptoms. All her symptoms were excessive before the quake in Haiti.
I stumbled across this site while googling Haiti premonitions. Two days before the quake, I was having extremely vivid dreams of being in buildings collapsing, and earthquakes and trying to escape while doorways and hallways were falling all around me. The last part in my dream was me actually getting buried alive. Usually I don't take notice of such things, as dreams can be translated in so many ways. But this one stuck with me so much, I was searching dream meanings for about 3 hours after I awoke because it seemed so real. The night of the actual earthquake, all I had were nightmares of bloody people, darkness, crying/screaming and I woke up feeling physically ill and couldn't go into work that day. Not sure if I'd claim these as coincidence or not, so I was searching for people with similar experiences.
So, in response – I fully believe there are 'warnings' that everybody can pick up on. If anyone has had things like this happen, please comment – I'd like to know I'm not the only one.
We talk at some length in the post on the tsunami (linked in the story)about what you mention, Vanessa. What's curious about the tsunami is that some of the animals left days and weeks before before the earth shook.
I may be stating the obvious here but I didn't see this mentioned anywhere in the post or comments: Animals have sharper senses and can feel vibrations in the earth before humans can. The same thing happened before the tsunami a few years back. Animals started fleeing the coastal areas while humans were still clueless about what was coming for them. Animals just instinctively know, "Okay the earth is vibrating and this isn't normal so I need to go where it's normal." That's not saying animals aren't prescient; it's just saying they have sharper senses than we do.
But the Haitian quake was the most devastating.
When you mentioned earthquakes and animals I had to thoughts. The post on this site about sea lions about five days ago and from following earthquakes for years about wild animals leaving the San Andreas Fault prior to earthquakes.
I looked at the data link you sent. There were quite a few earthquakes in California, Central and South America, the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean other than the Haiti earthquake.
Ray
Vicki, I think animals sightings, like those sharks, can be signs of coming tragedy, but unusual animal sightings can also be providential.
On Jan. 1, Bob Heit, a trainer at our gym, went fishing at Lake Worth pier in South Florida and spotted a right whale, the most endangered species of whale, swimming about 100 yards off shore. Bob had his camera, took a photo as it surfaced, and sold it to the Palm Beach Post. They published an article with the photo saying that right whales are not only endangered, but rarely are seen as far south as Florida. Bob was quoted as saying that seeing the right whale on Jan. 1 bodes well for the year.
Hopefully, that will translate to protection from hurricanes in South Florida for '10.
Musing – thanks for the inks!
Here's the tiny url for same site; comments chopped off '_haiti_immediately'
https://tinyurl.com/y9rp2z4
wv: wisms
Here's a good link with embedded links for donation sites for reputable orgs, including the one Gypsy mentioned above:
https://www.salon.com/news/haiti/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/01/13/three_ways_to_help_haiti_immediately
Vicki – that's fascinating about the sharks. I hadn't heard that one.
Toumai – thanks for the info. That wv is really odd!
Gypsy – off to check your visual link!
this is a neat visual –
https://www.iris.edu/seismon/
well, i have been sitting here some minutes now, reading and re-reading it all, including the other sites mentioned – and there is really very little i can find to say – except that, like nancy, whenever i have said the same thing aloud and people around me have commented the same as her commenters, my sometimes verbal and always mental response is "yes, but this is different" – there may well be one on the net somewhere – i've not yet looked – but i would love a visualization of the geographic location of each of these incidents so look for geographical patterns – thanks so much for mentioning doctors without borders because i've been wondering to where i should direct a contribution – there is so much need – and obviously, the medical arena is a first – great great post and dialogue – thanks, macgregors!!!
wv = tavery
I always think it is fascinating to see what the wildlife was doing before a disaster.
Before the 9/11 attacks happened, for several weeks prior, there were sightings along the east coast of sharks in the water. The sightings continued for weeks as the sharks were seen heading north along the coastline. I remember at the time commenting to a close friend, "I wonder what will happen when they get to Long Island?".
About a week after the 9/11 attacks I remember talking to my friend again about the sharks and commenting that one of the pilots had been in Florida learning how to fly. It seems that the sharks were almost following his journey up the coast and trying to warn us that literally a shark was coming.
After the 9/11 attack the sharks were gone.
i'm sure there were signs. many signs…
I went to the website – very interesting. Scary.
An astrologer friend sent a newsletter from another astro site that draws some incredible parallels between the Indonesia disaster and the one in Haiti.
https://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2010/01/13/astrology-of-haiti-earthquake/
Wow. We are on the same wavelength today.
I feel things building. I don't know if it's my imagination, or my instincts, but it feels funny. One of my commenters said that things have always happened – earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes, etc. So I wonder if people have always had "feelings" of big things building? But the stats on the earthquakes are hard to ignore. Thanks for the info.