Matthew Marek

Posted: January 16
Updated: Today at 4:53 AM

Local man helps to make public Haiti’s tragedy to world
Matthew Marek of Plains Township is a photographer and Red Cross official.

By Sheena Delazio -- sdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

A Plains Township man whose photos of a devastated Haiti appeared on several national news outlets has appeared on CNN since the earthquake.

Matthew Marek, 36, who has lived in Haiti since 2000 as a member of the American Red Cross, appeared on Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN on Wednesday and Thursday to talk about the devastation and destruction caused by the 7.0 earthquake that shook one of the poorest nations in the world on Tuesday.

“We have not yet seen him (on CNN),” said Marek’s mother, Mary Jo, Thursday night. “We’re hoping he’s on again (Friday night ). It kind of looks like he’s on with Anderson Cooper every night at 10:30 p.m.”

When asked if she thought it was fascinating that her son has appeared on national TV several times to update the United States on Haiti’s condition, Mary Jo Marek said no, because she wishes this didn’t happen when her son was there. But, she said, she’s very proud of him.

“It’s a very hard thing. I can’t imagine how someone can handle this every day. He’s a very strong man,” Mary Jo Marek said.

Matthew Marek is the director of programs for the Red Cross of Haiti, and his mother said she and her husband, Raymond, a local Red Cross worker, have not spoken to their son since Tuesday night. During that conversation they talked for just over a minute and Matthew said he was OK and escaped uninjured.

In his first interview with Cooper, the two discussed the recent aftermath of the earthquake.

“Right now, the focus is waiting on backup, waiting on resources. We have teams that are getting together in Santo Domingo, medical, telecoms, relief, response, and they should be here (Thursday) with everything that they have,” Marek said on the air Wednesday night.

Marek talked about businesses that had crumbled or had to lock their doors because of the quake and the need for food and water.

“We have been doing what we can … and going around the clock,” Marek said when Cooper asked him how he is able to help.

“We just got to keep our … focus and realize that … our job, even though it is difficult … is to help as many people as we can as best we can with what we have.”

In Thursday’s interview, Marek updated Cooper on the efforts to bring in Red Cross staff members from Santo Domingo. He also said that in a recent visit to the airport, he saw bodies being piled on the side of the street.

“We ran into a number of bodies on the street piling up, being picked up by bulldozers, being put into dump trucks and being taken away to wherever they’re being taken away,” Marek said.

He told Cooper the Red Cross needs money to deliver relief.

“I empathize with the Haitians in thinking that nothing is coming fast enough. Any minute, second, or day that anybody has to have a loved one trapped under a building still alive or deceased, or be living and sleeping in the streets, it’s not happening fast enough, not even for me,” Marek said.