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Man rescued in Haiti one month after earthquake

By Christian Jennings - bio | email

ALBANY,  GA (WALB) - It's been nearly a month since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti and touched the hearts and lives of families all around the world.

Good news though, Monday night a Haitian man was found trapped in the wreckage of a market where he sold rice. Somehow he managed to survive and doctors say he's going to live.

The miraculous survivor gives hope to many families here at home still waiting to hear word on their missing loved ones.

It's hard to believe that this Friday a month will have passed since the devastating Haiti earthquake shook the lives of thousands. Thousands are still unaccounted for but two victims hit close to home. David Apperson of Adel and Courtney Hayes of Douglas. Both still missing in the city they were last seen, Port-au-Prince.

28-year-old Evan Muncie is hungry, dehydrated, and weak. But against all odds, he's alive.

On Monday he was pulled alive from the rubble of a market in Port-au-Prince and may have been trapped since January 12th, when an earthquake leveled most of the city.

"We gave him IV fluids and put him in intensive care and he's doing well," said Dushyantha Jayaweera with the University Of Miami Field Hospital.

A miracle that gives two south Georgia families a glimmer of hope. Courtney Hayes of Douglas was in the Hotel Montana last month when the earthquake hit and is still missing.

A facebook page created for her by friends and family still displays messages like this one posted Tuesday morning ... "STILL PRAYING THAT COURTNEY COMES HOME."

And an Adel man, David Apperson, is also still missing in Haiti. He was in the same hotel as Courtney and leaves behind a wife, children, and 7 grand kids. Both families still waiting for what some call the impossible.

"It can happen, it is unusual, but not impossible," said Jayaweera in Haiti after the rescue.

Uplifting words for families of the 4000 Americans unaccounted for in Haiti. But the harsh reality is, most of the missing will never be found.

More than 200,000 deaths have been blamed on the quake.

That staggering number has encouraged many south georgians to help. Mission groups, non-profit organizations and doctors from our area are in Haiti right now distributing food and clothes and just doing whatever they can to help.

Doctors say the Haitian man rescued Monday night in Port-Au-Prince must have had some water during the past month to have survived but they don't know how he would have had access to it. He doesn't appear to have any significant crushing injuries.

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