Catholic Transcript Online

Deacon Thomas Dietsch and his wife, Dorne (Photo by Mary Chalupsky)

After the earthquake devastated Haiti Jan. 12, the first news reports to hit homes across the United States zeroed in on a deacon from Southbury’s Sacred Heart Parish and a co-worker.

Local and national media detailed the rescue efforts for Deacon Charles Dietsch, a management consultant who was trapped with a co-worker for 10 hours under the rubble of a mission house for the Norwich Diocese’s Haitian Ministries in a suburb of Port-au-Prince.

"I had just finished talking with my wife on the computer on the second floor of the mission house about 4:35 p.m.," he recalled in an interview with The Catholic Transcript. "I came downstairs and was talking with [interim assistant director] Jillian [Thorp] when everything started shaking. It was about 4:55 p.m.

"She asked what it was, and I knew from having lived in California that it was an earthquake," said Deacon Dietsch, who had just arrived in Haiti on Jan. 6 to do mission work until March. "I took her by the shoulders and moved her under a doorway, which I knew was a structurally safer place to stand.

"Then the house started shaking violently so that we could hardly walk, and within about seven to 10 seconds, the whole building came down. It all happened very quickly.

"We were forced backwards and to our left; and I saw the ceiling starting to tumble and the doorway begin to collapse," he recalled. "I fell on my back, with a two-by-four beam across my left hand on my chest and a six-inch concrete block under my back that prevented my head from touching the ground. Jillian landed on top of me, with her legs draped across my chest. Both of us were pinned, but I could move my right hand.

"All the staff already had left for the day," he said. "The only thing that was emotionally good was that she had a cell phone, and while we couldn’t get calls out, she could receive them."

Devon Root, a nurse from West Cornwall who was working in Haiti, called Mrs. Thorp shortly after the quake and immediately got the word out that they were alive but trapped. One call went to Mrs. Thorp’s husband, Frank, who was about 100 miles away. He immediately jumped into his vehicle for a frantic drive to reach her.

Another call went to Emily Smack, executive director of Haitian Ministries for the Diocese of Norwich, who called Deacon Dietsch’s wife, Dorne, both of whom were in Connecticut.

"The calls saved our life," said Deacon Dietsch. "We were in total darkness, but every time we got a call, we got light and could assess the area.

"We were in an air pocket created by the beams that fell in such a way that it prevented me from being suffocated. The ceiling literally was on my head. We never passed out; and I could move my fingers and toes, so I knew nothing was broken.

"We didn’t talk about dying, but thoughts that no one would find us crossed our minds. So, for the first two hours, our feelings were of fear … not of death but the process of dying.

"I was sad … that I’d never see my family again … and [there were feelings of] hopelessness, both of not seeing my family and the reality that this probably would end in death. You think about what you didn’t do that you should have done for your family.

"So Jillian and I prayed a lot. It was always with the idea that it was God’s will that we should live.

"Finally, in about two hours, we heard Ti-ton, one of the guards, come on the property. Jillian began pounding on top of the ceiling, and we both yelled for help for about 10 to 15 seconds, until he heard us and started yelling back in Creole," he said. He went to find help and, an hour later, the guard and a houseman began to remove rocks and pound the cement for about an hour before they left to get more help.

"They returned with a pick to continue breaking through the concrete. About two to three hours after the collapse, we heard the voice of Dominic, the assistant director of the house, and that gave us more hope.

"In the meantime, I could see an air hole above us and feel air coming in; but as they worked the air hole would close giving us limited oxygen. They continued to work with a pick and shovel, and intermittently rest over the course of the next few hours.

"I had excruciating pain in my hand and back, and toward the end, my body started shaking and I knew I was going into shock," he said.

Mrs. Thorp’s husband, Frank, arrived about 20 or 30 minutes before she was pulled out at 2:30 a.m. Deacon Dietsch was freed about a half hour later. While she had a few abrasions, he suffered a cut above his eye, multiple abrasions, the compressions on his hand and back that caused temporary nerve damage, and the beginning stages of kidney failure from the pressure on his muscles.

The deacon was taken to a hospital in the Dominican Republic, where they pumped him with saline to get his kidneys to function. The next day, he and the Thorps were flown out on a private jet, stopping first to drop off Mrs. Thorp (who is originally from Old Saybrook) and her husband in Washington.

Deacon Dietsch arrived at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, where his wife was waiting to take him home, on their 43^{rd wedding anniversary.}

"My biggest issue was finding out Chuck was safe," she said. "Once I knew that, I was fine."

The father of two and grandfather of six children is philosophical about his future plans.

"I know that I’m only alive through God’s grace," he said. "He has a plan for me that I’m going to have to discern.

"People ask if I’m going back to Haiti. Absolutely. I don’t know when, because we don’t have a house there, but I’m definitely going back."

He has been asked to appear on various television programs, including the Ellen DeGeneres Show, which he declined.

He emphasized that "this is not about me. I don’t want to sensationalize my experience. My hope is to get the world’s attention on Haiti so that the people there can get the help they need to sustain them for the long term."