This weekend, an earthquake occurred in southwest Haiti, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying tens of thousands of buildings. One week after the family gathered in a village in southwest Haiti to hold churches and funerals.
Churches in some of the worst-hit towns and villages in this poor Caribbean country collapsed, leaving residents in grief in the open space.
In the Paroisse Saint-Joseph De Simon Roman Catholic Church on the outskirts of Les Cayes, the southwestern city that bears the brunt of the earthquake, about 200 believers gathered early to attend the first Sunday Mass after the disaster.
“Everyone is crying for what they have lost today,” Father Marc Orel Saël said.
“And everyone feels stressed because the earth is still shaking,” he added, referring to aftershocks almost every day, making nerves nervous throughout the week.
Read | Haiti earthquake: death toll rises to 2,189, thousands injured, hundreds missing-official
After the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last month, severe political unrest occurred in Haiti, and the earthquake hit Haiti. The allegations made in a report by a local human rights organization sparked new commotion over the weekend.
The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) report on the killing of Moise stated that the new prime minister, Ariel Henry, had a telephone conversation with one of the main suspects, Joseph Felix Badio, on the night of the assassination.
Henry’s close aide, Jean-Junior Joseph, wrote on Twitter on Saturday afternoon that the prime minister told him that he had “never spoken to the former Haitian official Badio”.
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In Marceline Village, dozens of mourners in elegant black or white suits gathered in front of a destroyed Roman Catholic school to hold funerals for four members of the same family who died in the magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
On Saturday, men and women cried for four white coffins: three small coffins for the children, and a large coffin for the matriarch of the family, 90-year-old Marie Rose Morin.
“Looking at these coffins makes me distraught,” her son Edouard Morin said.
Edward also buried his 15-year-old daughter Kelly, 10-year-old niece Wood Lange, and 4-year-old nephew Carl Handy.
“If my mother and I were buried in the same grave, I would feel better,” he said.
According to data from the World Bank, the funeral for four people cost US$1,750, which is a huge sum of money for a farmer in a rural area with a per capita GDP of less than US$1,200.
Read | Haiti earthquake sequelae: the earthquake hits a city that is still crumbling in the earthquake
Wood Ranji’s father, Franck Morin, recalled how he left to become a driver a few minutes before the ground began to shake. He rushed back, only to find that his wife’s legs were bleeding and sobbing in front of the piles that were once their home.
The two dug in the ruins for two days before finding their daughter’s body.
“She is loved by the whole community and she always dances in church,” Maureen said.
Outside another Catholic church overlooking the main park of Les Cayes, dozens of believers gathered in the courtyard near the damaged cathedral to attend Sunday Mass.
“Let’s finish the work of the Lord,” the priest chanted solemnly at the end of the ceremony.
The earthquake last Saturday claimed the lives of at least 2,207 people. According to the authorities, a total of 344 people were missing and 12,268 were injured. This disaster occurred after a devastating earthquake in 2010, killing tens of thousands of people.
Floods and road damage hindered restoration efforts and increased tensions in some of the worst-hit areas.
In recent days, anger over delays in aid has begun to boil. Residents have robbed rescue trucks in several southern towns, raising concerns about safety.
