Episcopal News Service - January 13, 2010
Haiti struck by devastating earthquake; diocese suffers heavy damage
Prayers, support urged for western hemisphere's poorest nation
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Church leaders are urging prayers and support for Haiti as the largest earthquake ever to hit the island nation has caused widespread devastation amid fears that thousands may have perished in the disaster.
Four people were killed by the earthquake during an Episcopal church service in Trouin, about 23 miles southwest of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, an Episcopal Church missionary in Haiti who was home in Virginia at the time of the earthquake, told ENS. The earthquake destroyed Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral), the diocesan cathedral in Port-au-Prince.
The magnitude 7 earthquake, whose epicenter struck 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince at 4:53 p.m. local time on Jan. 12, was immediately followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. About a third of Haiti's approximately 10 million people live in Port-au-Prince. With power outages and phone lines down, communication is proving difficult and the full extent of the disaster has yet to be determined.
Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin's home was destroyed in the earthquake and his wife injured her foot, according to news received mid-morning on Jan. 13 by the Rev. Christopher A. Johnson, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church's officer for social and economic justice. Duracin was not injured in the earthquake. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince died in the earthquake, according to the Associated Press. The Roman Catholic Cathedral was badly damaged.
The Episcopal Church has four U.S.-based missionaries working Haiti, three of whom were in-country when the earthquake hit: the Rev. Oge Beauvoir, dean of the theological seminary in Port-au-Prince, and Young Adult Service Corps volunteers Mallory Holding of Chicago and Jude Harmon of Massachusetts.
The Rev. David Copley, the Episcopal Church's mission personnel director, began attempting to contact the three in-country missionaries Jan.12. He has not yet been able to confirm their whereabouts or condition, he said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_118410_ENG_HTM.htm
