A letter from a Priest in Haiti

This is a rough translation of the French e-mail.

Port-au-Prince, January 14, 2010
R.P. Wilhelm Steckling, omi
Supérieur Général
Rome

Dear Father Superior,

I am using what is left of the charge on my laptop to send you this message. You have probably learned that on Tuesday January 12th 2010 at 4:53 pm a violent earthquake (measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale) shook Haiti and nearly destroyed the city of Port-au-Prince.
Most of the large buildings collapsed.

The parish house is seriously damaged and the new building (annexe) fell.

The scolasticate also collapsed. The two teachers (P. Muscadin and Almonor) as well as the two scolastics who were there (Ronel and Johnny), and Father P. Jean-François Printemps, who was visiting, are safe and sound.

The other scolastics were at a conference organised by the CIFOR, and presented by a Brasilian physician. The CIFOR collapsed and the speaker died did a scolastic oblate, Weedy Alexis, and a spiritual scolastic named Stéphane Dougé. As I write, the Montfortains Scolastic’s minibus is stuck under the ruins with 14 passengers on board, including 9 Montfortains. We have not yet been able to do anything to remove them from there. One of them is alive. We hear his voice. We speak to him but it’s all we can do..

Its’s a catastrophe. Total despair in Haiti. Since Wednesday night, all inhabitants of Port-au-Prince are obliged to sleep outdoors, as are we since there are tremors from time to time. We are afraid et we take all the precautions we are still able to take.

There are no means of communication or of conveying information. With a little luck, the telephone sometimes gets through. I still have not been able to communicate with our brothers in the countryside.

There is no electricity, no water in the parish house and no internet either. I imagine the situation is the same pretty much everywhere in Port-au-Prince.

Yesterday, Father Loubeau and I had to make a treacherous journey through the streets to get to the scolasticate. Everywhere we hear cries, laments and mourning. The roads are littered with corpses.

Among the collapsed buildings: the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince, the National Palace, the Cathedrale, the Sacred Heart Church, the Theological Seminary in Turgeau, The Philosophy Seminary in Cazeau, the St. Trinity Episcopal Church and several other major churches and Catholic or Protestant Schools.

It is only yesterday morning that they were able to extract the body of the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Mgr Joseph Serge Miot, from the wreckage. The Vicar General is still under the collapsed building, but now his voice is no longer heard. A professor and the Grand Seminary in Turgeau and three theologians are still stuck inside. There voices can no longer be heard.

So far, we have counted 8 deaths among the seminarits at Cazeau. (The Oblates Blanchard and Sibert were spared).

Help arrived yesterday from the United States, France and the Domincan Republic. But they still cannot do much because there are still tremors. They expect the tremors to end by Friday night.

The scolastic oblate who died had to be inhumed yesterday afternoon, at the same time as the spiritan, in the Spiritans yard (their church and their house was also destroyed). There is no functioning morgue. Help has not yet arrived either. This morning, at 8 o’clock, we are going to hold a joint funeral ceremony with the Spiritans.
As you can see, Father Superieur, the destruction is widespread. The number of fatalities cannot yet be evaluated, though the Prime Minister spoke of around 100,000. The outcome is much worse than that for their are also the wounded, the missing and the material losses. Many priests, brothers and sisters are still missing.

There, Father Superior, is my attempt to describe to you what we are living. As I have to type fast so as not to use too much of my battery, I ask that you understand that I cannot convey all the details nor respect the conventional form.

Thank you for your comprehension and your solidarity.

We know your thoughts are with us and you lift us through your prayers in the name of Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Auxiliary Mother.
P. Gasner Joint, omi