January 21, 2010

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, Anglican Communion, is facing one of its worse catastrophes in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010.

A special Crisis Commission established by the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. J Zaché Duraçin, is working under his guidance to help manage this crisis.

Millions of people are now homeless. College St-Pierre, one of the best high school in Port-au-Prince, is unfortunately completely destroyed is being used as an emergency shelter for approximately 3,000 displaced people coming from all over the capital without any consideration given to religion, creed and social class.

As a direct result of the earthquake, eighty-five (85%) percent of the Diocesan institutions have been destroyed or severely damaged for instance, Léogane, one of our largest deaneries, sustained about 90% damage. The following institutions within the capital are destroyed:

The Bishop’s Court; Holy Trinity Cathedral; Holy Trinity Complex (Elementary, Music and Trade Schools; St-Margaret’s Convent; Foyer Notre Dame; Universite Episcopale d’Haiti; St Vincent Centre for Handicapped Children; St-Martin’s kindergarten, Secondary school and rectory; Episcopal Theological Seminary.

In Leogane and the surroundings: Ste Croix’s Secondary School; St Mathias’ church and institutions, Grande Colline; St-Etienne’s church, Buteau; St Marc’s church and institutions, Trouin; Annunciation church’s Elementary and Trade School, Darbonne

Among the severely damaged, figure Church of the Ascension, Bainet; and St Matthew’s church in Matthieu, Leogane.
A complete list of all the institutions around the Diocese will soon be published.

Emergency such as food, medicine, water, transportation, generators and so on is urgently needed to care for the displaced.
The purpose of this note is to request your overall support as well as specialized engineering assistance on a mid-term basis in order to rebuild our institutions.

We thank you in advance for your daily prayers and your anticipated support in our time of need.
God is good all the time.

The Special Crisis Commission.