Tragedy often has a way of visiting those who can bear it the least. And on Jan 12, 2010, that is exactly what happened to Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. At 4:53p.m. that day, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit a point just southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince. In a few terrifying minutes, a vibrant city was devastated, and tens of thousands died. Immediately, the scale of the tragedy was apparent: a nation already so often on it’s knees had been knocked to the ground.

TIME’s Shaul Schwarz documents the humanitarian crisis caused by the catastrophe.

In the harrowing days after the Haiti earthquake, filmmakers Shaul Schwarz and Julie Platner witnessed families mourning loved ones and youths whose injuries meant tragic choices of life over limb.