Aftershocks

In a sweltering annex behind the General Hospital, inner demons stalk in plain view. In one cramped room, a 58-year-old woman rocks rhythmically on a folding chair and recites Psalms one after another, her mouth curled up in a faraway smile. In another, a young man describes how his heart takes off without warning, thumping like a runaway train the way it did that terrible afternoon. Not all the hurts from Haiti's earthquake can be seen. The Jan. 12 temblor, which the government estimates killed 300,000 people, also exacted a toll on the psyche of survivors.

Iwaited out Chile's recent earthquakes and highway-snapping aftershocks from deep inside the country, down along the serrated coast of Patagonia. From my remote reaches I didn't feel a thing. When I left from Santiago's airport a couple of weeks ago, I saw shattered windows boarded up with plywood. Most of the terminals had been moved outside into tents on the ramp beside one of the runways. I got back to the U.S. just in time for the fresh quakes ripping up the crotch of Baja. Is it just springtime in the Americas, earthquakes in bloom?

Residents and public officials on both sides of the border were assessing damage and looking to repair shattered nerves Sunday amid aftershocks from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck on Easter, the strongest to hit the region in more than a century. In the California city of Calexico, most of the city's downtown business district remains closed as structural engineers decide whether the aging buildings can be saved. A squad from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected this week.

Residents living on the U.S.-Mexico border were shaken Sunday by a magnitude 4.6 earthquake, part of a cluster of moderate aftershocks stemming from the magnitude 7.2 quake that jolted Baja California a week ago, authorities said. Sunday's quake struck at 9:42 a.m. and was centered about 29 miles south southeast of Mexicali, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No damage or injuries have been reported. In a 19-hour period from about 5 p.m. Saturday through noon Sunday, automated seismographs registered at least 17 quakes of magnitude 3 or above with epicenters near Calexico or Mexicali, said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the USGS's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

The U.S.-Mexico border reopened Tuesday to northbound vehicle traffic, but Calexico's historic downtown district remained closed as inspectors checked for structural damage to buildings in the wake of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake just south of here Easter Sunday. The border crossing had been closed to northbound traffic as officials checked for damage to the federal building, but pedestrians continued to cross through the checkpoint from Mexicali as they fled the aftershocks rocking northern Baja California.

Residents of Calexico in the Imperial Valley were jolted awake as a 3.1-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:12 a.m. Monday. Lights flickered and some light poles swayed as the aftershock struck the California border town. There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage. The quake was centered about 34 miles south-southwest of Calexico, according to the U.S . Geological Survey. At the Best Western motel, patrons said it felt as if a large truck had backed into the outside wall, shaking furniture inside the rooms.

A 6.6 magnitude aftershock shook the area near Concepcion, Chile Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was the latest in a series of aftershocks to strike the area, which is reeling from Saturday's powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake. The USGS reported the latest aftershock struck 25 miles northwest of Concepcion at a depth of 18 miles. The USGS initially reported the aftershock had a 6.8 magnitude.

Along Jasmin Street in this capital's middle-class Villa Olimpica neighborhood, residents were packing up their belongings in trucks Sunday, hauling out furniture, clothing and keepsakes from damaged and unlivable apartments. Deep cracks and crooked balconies marred the 1960s-era three-story residential buildings along the quiet street, testament to the damage from the massive earthquake that struck Chile early Saturday, stunning the nation. "It's a lot to deal with, but at least we're all safe," said Carolina Jimenez, 32, a mother of two who was forced to flee her apartment as the quake struck, collapsing a wall and sending furniture flying, slightly injuring her 11-year-old daughter.

The flow of supplies into Haiti by air and sea picked up Friday, and more shops reopened for business, but another sharp aftershock jangled nerves, giving an extra push to those considering leaving the shattered capital city. A man and an elderly woman were rescued a staggering 10 days after homes collapsed on them. An Israeli team pulled a 21-year-old man from what once was a three-story home, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement. And an 84-year-old woman was said by relatives to have been pulled from the wreckage of her house, according to doctors administering to her at the General Hospital, where she was in critical condition.

Reporting from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, and Mexico City -- A sharp aftershock jolted earthquake survivors from tent camps and hospital beds across Haiti's capital on Wednesday, but relief efforts showed small signs of progress. Commerce began to revive, and U.S. troops working from a golf green and a stadium added muscle to the aid distribution network. The magnitude 5.9 aftershock that hit just after 6 a.m. about 35 miles from Port-au-Prince appeared to have inflicted limited injuries and damage.