Caritas Internationalis

Available in Spanish

A second woman was rescued by the Caritas team from the ruins of Port-au-Prince’s Cathedral.

Earlier, a Caritas organized Search and Rescue team has pulled a woman out from the rubble of Haiti’s quake. It took two hours to pull Enu Zizi from the rubble. She was in pain but ok.

Cancun Mexico Rescue Brigade and the South African Relief Team have been working with Caritas for the past week.

“The rescue of Zizi has been the best thing  in the team we have experienced. It is the first time we have saved somebody´s life after such a long time after the quake. The team has got an energy boost new and we are heading out to do more work as there is still hope,” said Ahmed Bham,leader of the South African Relief Team.
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Available in French and Spanish

By Michelle Hough, Caritas Communications Officer, Port-au-Prince, Tuesday

BC Radio Ulster interviewed me this morning and asked how this compared to other disasters I’d been to.  The only earthquake I’ve worked on was the one in L’Aquila, Italy last year. When  I arrived on Easter Sunday, five days after the earthquake, the whole city was covered in blue tents where people were sleeping. People were receiving food and water wasn’t a problem.  In Haiti they are sleeping in the streets and doctors are performing amputations without anesthetic.

L’Aquila is in one of the world’s richest countries, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Port-au-Prince is a far cry from the hills of Abruzzo. Even before the earthquake, Haiti had massive problems due to poverty, inequality and a basic lack of development.

Now large parts of Port-au-Prince – a city of three million people – have crumbled. I interviewed the president of Caritas Haiti, Bishop Pierre Dumas, last night and he said: “All of the symbols that join us together: the cathedral, the president’s palace, ministries, the schools, religious communities and many more places are in ruins.”
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De P. Antonio Sandoval

Los días han estado marcados por el dolor y la tristeza de la gente que prácticamente ha perdido todo, excepto, la fe y la esperanza. Cada noche cuando me encuentro acostado logro escuchar los cantos de la gente que ora en su lengua a Dios y agradece la vida aun en su más grande precariedad.

Desde mi llegada, producto de la providencia, lo que me encontré fue un pueblo devastado en sus construcciones: casas, escuelas, Iglesias, negocios, oficinas gubernamentales, mucho de lo que tanto esfuerzo les costó construir totalmente en ruinas.

Por la noche la gente invade los camellones, cuando los hay o cierra las calles para organizarse para dormir ahí. La energía eléctrica está suspendida en toda la ciudad. Fogatas en diversos lados hablan de la incipiente organización de la gente para prepararse sus escasos alimentos.
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By Fr Antonio Sandoval, Caritas Latin America and Caribbean Regional Coordinator, from Port-au-Prince

Four days have passed since the earthquake in Haiti and hopes of finding people alive under the rubble is beginning to fade. Nevertheless, there are bits of good news. Twenty people were just pulled out of a hotel. The searching continues.

We will visit churches that have collapsed to see what help we can provide in rescuing people. There are so many buildings that have collapsed it is difficult to know where to survive. Rebuilding Port-au-Prince will be a mammoth task. The international community will have to work together on a plan that saves this country from its misery.

Our meeting with the bishops and the Nuncio Friday, the President and Director of Caritas Haiti, and CRS/Caritas USA was good. We identified distribution points for Caritas aid. In the evening, we visited the distribution places with the Nuncio and the Vice-President of the Haitian Bishops Conference. Some of the shelter centres contain 5000 people, and even the smaller ones will pose challenges in making sure people receive aid.

The Bishops Conference of Haiti released a radio message on Friday evening calling on the people to maintain hope and strength. In the middle of this poverty, pain and suffering we are surprised by the many gestures of solidarity and support we are receiving from ordinary people around the world.

Spanish

Han pasado ya cuatro días desde el terremoto y las esperanzas de encontrar gente viva disminuyen. Sin embargo hoy fueron rescatados con vida mas de 20 personas que sobrevivieron al derrumbe de un Hotel. Mañana continuará la búsqueda con “topos” mexicanos que han vendio a colaborar directamente con Caritas Haití. Una de las metas será revisar las mchas Iglesias que quedaron en escombros. Son tantos los edificios y las casas caidas que cuesta trabajo decidir hacia donde dirigirse. La reconstrucción de Puerto Príncipe y del resto de las zonas afectadas será una labor titánica donde la comunidad internacional no se puede sentir eximida. Los Estados tendrán que asumir una concertación que permita a este pueblo levantarse de esta situación y de aquella a la que ha querido someterlo la miseria. (more…)