Haiti: following developments

This post continues our coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. See our previous coverage here which includes information on twitter feeds and Episcopal Church connections as well as other information.
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UPDATE 11:55AM EST - via email from Serena Beeks, Executive Director of the Schools Commission in the Diocese of Los Angeles

You may know that the Episcopal Church is a significant force in Haiti, operating 250 schools and numerous clinics and hospitals, among other ministries. Our Haitian brothers and sisters are working under terrible conditions to recover from this disaster.

I bid your specific prayers for the following Episcopal schools from which we have as yet no word:

St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped (deaf, blind, and orthopedically handicapped) – the only school of its kind in Haiti, St. Vincent’s is located two blocks from the National Palace, which has been destroyed, and three blocks from the Catholic Cathedral, also reported destroyed. It is a residential school, so although it was late afternoon, many children would have been present. Pray for the students, staff, and Pere Sadoni, the director.

Holy Trinity School, Music School, and Trade School – located in the same area; music students would have been practicing and having lessons. Pray for the students, staff, and Pere Fernande Sanon, the director.

The rural schools in and near Darbonne, Leogane, and Chateau-Gaillard – these schools are located approximately on the epicenter of the earthquake. Pray for all of the students and staff as well as the clergy who are responsible for them.

If you or your school want to help, immediate assistance will need to come from those already on the ground in Haiti: Within an hour after the quake, Partners in Health was mobilizing to set up an emergency hospital in Port-au-Prince near the destroyed UN Peacekeepers’ Headquarters. Partners in Health is the organization which runs the hospital in Cange described in Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, supported in great measure by the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. www.pih.org
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Long term, the rebuilding efforts will be enormous. Please consider a partnership for your school with a Haitian school. The entire country will be struggling for a long time with the strain of feeding and housing its citizens.

Thank you for your prayers and concern for our Haitian brothers and sisters.


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UPDATE 10:40AM EST - email to Lauren Stanley

I have just received an email from the Rev. Kesner Ajax, who is the coordinator of the Partnership Program and director of the Bishop Tharp Institute.

He says the following:

Bishop Duracin is alive. Madame Duracin, his wife, injured her foot but is otherwise OK. The sisters at the convent are alive.

However, the rest of the news is devasting:

The damage in Port au Prince and areas around it is terrible.

There is no Cathedral. The entire Holy Trinity complex is gone. The convent for the Sisters of St. Margaret [more at its website, including opportunity to donate] is gone. The Bishop's house is gone. College St. Pierre is gone.

The apartment for College St. Pierre is still standing. Bishop no longer has a house in which to live.

In Trouin, four people were killed during a service. In Grand Colline, the church is gone. In St. Etienne, the church is gone. In Les Cayes, BTI is OK, but some people were injured trying to get out of the buildings during the quake. The rectory in Les Cayes is fine.

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UPDATED 10:30AM EST

Medical and travel assistance company, On Call International, has set up a national, emergency hotline for the family and friends of travelers visiting Haiti.

Again, the State Department toll free number for family members who are looking for info about the safety of either Americans or Haitians in Port au Prince is 888-407-4747.

Addendum. CNN offers help finding loved ones.

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UPDATED 9:50AM EST

Episcopal Relief and Developmentis providing critical emergency funds to Haiti. We are currently accepting donations to the Haiti Relief Fund to support this assistance and will continue updating its site as it receive information.

The Presiding Bishop has a statement.

The Archbishop of South Africa has a statement.

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Picking up from our previous coverage, a blog at the New Times has a post that was last updated at 8:08AM EST, titled Gleaning Information from Haiti Online. That post continues to be updated as information streams in to the NYT.

See also the NYT twitter list.

A subsequent offers: "If you haven’t been able to contact those in the region, what information do you have about the people you’d like to hear from? Please include as much detail as possible."

Currently stateside, Episcopal missioner to the Diocese of Haiti, The Rev. Lauren Stanley, has an early morning report about contacts she has made.

The Wisconsin Journal Sentinel has news on seven-person group from the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee's Haiti Project. Five recently returned, but two remained and were unaccounted for.

KATU in Oregon reports, that "11 members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in The Dalles haven’t been heard from since the earthquake, said Rev. John Langfeld (ret.). He said a group of men and women led by the Rev. Janet Fullmer’s husband went to Haiti to work on clean water projects and to try and reopen wells that failed."

Christian Aid has launched a £1m emergency appeal for victims of the Haiti earthquake. "The Christian Aid office building collapsed and three people, including Christian Aid staff, had to be pulled from the rubble."

Mainstream media reports:
* BBC
* New York Times, NYT Haiti twitter
* The Times main story, and about predicting aftershock risk.

Comments (2)

Thank you for putting this up so quickly. Please let us know any news you can about the diocese, Bp. Duracin, clergy and churches, schools and so on in the capital. The PB's statement this morning said nothing about them.

Maison de Naissance is a hospital and birthing center supported by congregations in the Kansas City area from both dioceses (West Missouri and Kansas). They are some distance from the capitol and the epicenter. They have posted a note on their web site about their circumstances.

Marshall Scott

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