At 4:53 pm. on January 12, United Nations aid worker Jens Kristensen was at his desk reading documents on the third floor of the Christopher Hotel, which served as UN headquarters in PortauPrince, when he felt a tremor . Four seconds later, the earthquake hit. "In a split second, I considered whether to run for the door or hide under my desk," says Kristensen, 48. "The door was closed, and I thought that maybe it was too far and I would be caught under falling debris , so I hid under the table." A bookshelf topped onto his desk, protecting him from being crushed by rubble and trapping him in a tiny pocket. "I was confined as if in a small coffin," he says. It was so dark, and it didn't matter if his eyes were open or closed. He used the light from his mobile phone to see around him. He found, among other items, a jar of instant coffee. "I had no food or water, only the coffee to suck on if I needed it." At about 6:30 am. on January 17, an oil leak silenced the building's generators, and Kristensen was able to hear muffled voices above where he was buried. "I thought, I was too tired to bang and shout. But then I realized, I had to take every chance. This could be one." So he called out. Six hours later, Kristensen saw his rescuers' faces. "It was so amazing. I felt I had received a second birthday," he recalls. Dehydration  and pains but with only a bruise and a scratch, Kristensen took three days to recover. The UN lost more than 90 people in Haiti. But Kristensen says that the outpouring of love helps heal the pain: "The genuine happiness of people toward me here has been wonderful. You feel part of a larger family." What protected Jens Kristensen from being injured by falling bricks?
The bookshelf. The desk. The door. The pocket.