Like I said in my last blog, you never know. You never, ever know.

Tonight I was going to Carrefour Feuille to do a night shoot in the streets. I was just about to arrive when I saw happy looking people crowding the road side.

This is uncommon sight these days, so I stopped. The rumor was that they had found someone alive under the rubble of a house sitting on the hill side.

Of course, this is impossible 15 days after the earthquake.

I noticed a rescue team from the French “Securité Civile de la Gendarmerie Nationale” getting all busy digging under the stare of excited journalists perched on the roof of a small room right above. It must be true.

I walked straight up to rescuer Christophe Renoud and he told me that there was a 17 year-old girl trapped under the rubble. His rescue team had talked to her and started to rehydrate her as they could see the top of her head in the hole she is trapped in.

Neighbors had heard her calls and called the Haitian police, who called in the rescue team. Fifteen days after being buried, is this possible? A week ago, I had heard of rescue teams giving up on people being alive.

This would be the 16th person the French have pulled out alive. It took the team less than two hours to come out of the hole with Darlene Etienne.

The crowd started to clap and thank god, while the journalists went crazy walking on each other. I’m sorry not to get better footage but this was about a human being between life and death, and I was not going to jump on her with my lens.

The French men where very happy, talking amongst themselves they were wondering how they would celebrate this properly. They would pause as a group for photographs.

A “miracle” has just happened. This is about a teenager who spent 16 days under the rubble; will she live? And when she does, who will she have become? These questions are bigger than my lens.

I moved on to meet Simon and Stefan at my original destination. It was as if the whole town was flooded with the good news. I found myself in the middle of a group of people clapping and dancing with passion. The more misery, the more intensely joy can be felt when it does come, and filming these kids dancing with smiles as wide as my 28mm lens, I couldn’t help it but feel good for 5 minutes and take it in.

Of course, as rescue teams 50 people strong spend days saving a few individuals, you have 50 people dying in understaffed hospitals down the block. Still this story proves rational thinking wrong, gives one the right to hope for the impossible (and also gave great PR to the humanitarian agencies who fight for the lime light).

On our way back we stopped at a road side market. We found ourselves in front of food stalls serving all kinds of delicious Haitian specialties. This normalcy seemed unreal in the middle millions of hungry people.

For the record, I myself only ate a can of tuna tonight

Every night we meet on the roof of the Canadian embassy. After filing their stories, “showering” above the toilets sink, eating Canadian Army rations journalists and reporters sit down and share stories as they “rehydrate”. A lot of emotions and impressions are being shared every night between the tents and sleeping bags lined up on this little peace of lawn. At the end of a full day of shooting, interviewing and running around in this chaotic city it is good to sit down, breathe a little. Stefan Randstrom and Simon Paine (the crew from Inside Disaster) told me an amazing story of what they saw on their shoot today.

They went to the University of Miami Hospital set up near the Civil airport here in Port-Au-Prince. For a few days they had been trying to find the young girl who was saved from the rubble of the Caribbean Market last week (see previous blogs). As they were asking questions to different doctors, one of them said “Come over here, I got a good story for you”.

They followed the doctor and found themselves beside the bed of a barely conscious man. His back and legs where hurt. Like many others he had been pulled out of the rubble of his house 4 days after it had collapsed. The rescue team had declared him dead and sent him to the morgue where he was refrigerated. He could have been brought to the mass graves or to the “street” morgues.

24 hours later a worker at the morgue was making room for more bodies when he noticed the man presumed dead had a pulse. He was sent right away to the University of Miami hospital where they brought his body back to temperature.

Simon and Stefan told him that he was a lucky man, the man had the strength to nod and smile. You never know, you never, never know.

January 20, 2009.  This morning, at about “don’t wake me up yet” [6:03am] time, we jumped out of our beds, heart racing. We’ve felt quite a few tremors since we arrived, but this one was particularly strong.

We’ve been sleeping on the Canadian Embassy’s roof, so we were safe. Some journalists had the reflex to run inside to get their cameras out of the building. I was just trying to guess how the roof slab we were standing on would surf downstairs if the building was to collapse. I also said goodbye to the idea of finding a hotel to have a shower and a cold beer in the next few days; in order to be safe we have to keep sleeping outside.

As I left Canadian soil that morning, I saw Stanley (my guide from last week) waiting for me in front of the building. He had vanished for a few days, and I was glad to see him again. Not for long though: Stefan would steal him from me later today .  Stanley wanted to go to Carrefour, where a food distribution went wrong, and where people reportedly ended up being beaten by soldiers wearing blue helmets.

Once we got there, I learned that it all happened yesterday and things where too vague to report. I found the people really desperate in that camp; one woman didn’t have anything to drink for two days.

It is really difficult for us now to interview and film people.  As soon as we bring out the camera we get overwhelmed by the desperate crowds.

Here are some stills of the town as I crossed it; it seemed pretty calm.

I came across a rescue team working on a pile rubble where they think someone is still alive.  It will be a miracle if they succeed.

Another journalist told me that he saw a lot of looting and police activity. I didn’t see any, but this place is big.

As we kept going, we came across Red Cross trucks with volunteers distributing bedding, tarps, hygiene kits and cooking kits. What a nice sight!

Many camps are still waiting for help though. People are so thirsty, I hope clean water comes soon. Stefan just saw the U.S marines drop water and food by helicopter.

As I was telling you in my last blog, Stefan and Simon where waiting for the rescue team at the Caribbean Supermarket to pull out survivors. They waited and waited, Stefan knew the rescue team would succeed. There was rumours about a trapped 6 year old boy and a 13 year old girl still being alive.

By about 2.30 am the rescuers pulled out a 17 year old girl and then a 35 year old man. The moment felt like a miracle had just happened, people clapped and cheered, but there was a cry of joy that outdid them all. A women had recognized the girl, she was her daughter.

She was conscious and looked confused and scared. Her body was so dusty that Stefan didn’t know if she was wearing clothes or not. They placed her on a stretcher on the back of a pickup truck. The media had promised the rescue crew that they would not jump on top of the survivors to take close ups but to stay at a respectful distance.

They couldn’t help themselves and took the camera’s right above her as she lay. Stefan managed to resist the temptation, as he puts it “After all it is your job to get a close up”. Nevertheless he managed to get a short close up from the back of the truck.

This is going to be a night to remember, and add great intensity to the film. I can’t share this footage on the blog, you will have to watch the film when it comes out

Yesterday was also a big day for Tony Wannamaker, Nadine’s camera man. He told me all about it this morning, watch the video:

CBC "Missing Persons" gallery

TORONTO – Just 72 hours after the Earthquake hit Haiti, the country’s Interior Minister released new estimates that the death toll from the disaster could reach 200,000. Despite the widespread devastation and chaos, efforts remain focused on rescuing victims trapped under collapsed buildings and coordinating and distributing relief. While humanitarian action on the ground is expanding, so too are efforts by Canadians and other nationals to find information about missing relatives and friends affected by the disaster.

Social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Google applications are being utilized in unprecedented ways, not only to share information on the situation in Haiti, but also to assist in rescuing and reconnecting victims with loved ones.

One woman in Montreal was able to aid in the rescue of a man trapped under the rubble of his house after seeing a Facebook status from victim’s neighbour in Haiti alerting people to the situation and providing the man’s name and location. The Montrealer immediately got in contact with the Red Cross, CBC and CNN, and it was later confirmed by the Red Cross that the man had been rescued.

"Have you seen my grandfather?" From Twitpic

Twitter users have also been participating in grass-roots efforts to locate loved ones. One user of the social networking site posted a photo of her Grandfather who had been visiting Haiti, with the caption “Have You Seen My Grandfather” in hopes that he might be recognized by rescue workers.

On the Google Crisis Response page, the search engine has developed a “person finder” application that allows people who are searching for someone, or who have information about someone to share photos and details.

CBC has seen its Missing Person photo gallery grow from 20 pictures of missing Canadians to over 150 in 24 hours. Families and friends are asked to provide any information that may assist in the search for loved ones.

As the potential for social networking sites to mobilize crisis response is being tested, we are reminded of our interconnectedness as both global citizens and members of the online community.