Prayers as Haitians honour quake dead

SINGING and praying sounded across Haiti yesterday as ceremonies marked the moment a year ago to the day when the earthquake struck and left over 250,000 dead.

Citizens in the capital gathered for prayer services throughout the day at the half-collapsed presidential palace.

Downtown, marches were held with thousands of Haitian participants dressed all in white chanting religious hymns on the streets.

A blanket of calm fell across Port au Prince, the capital, yesterday while wreaths were laid at collapsed houses, where friends and whole families died under the rubble.

The normally traffic-clogged streets of the city were quiet as businesses, work places and aid agencies shut their doors and stopped work for the day.

Many peace marchers wore white, a colour associated with mourning in Haiti.

As emotion peaked towards the end of the day, a minute’s silence was observed at exactly 4.53pm across the city, the moment a year ago to the day the earth shook and the capital collapsed.

The United Nations also held its own ceremonies in the capital and unveiled a monument, in remembrance of the near 100 staff who also lost their lives in the disaster.

President Rene Preval and former US president Bill Clinton attended a ceremony to lay the corner stone for a national tax office, a place where many workers were killed in one of the many blows that paralysed the Haitian government following the earthquake.

Thousands of people marched near the downtown city slum camp of Place Bolimam Brant, which has 24,000 occupants, in a ceremony partly organised by the Irish charity Concern.

A full band including drummers and wind instrument players led marchers bearing wreaths.

Police and UN peace keeping soldiers also followed behind the rally of people.

In the crowds, local pastor Joseph Jenny Carls Rools explained how his 62-year-old father had been crushed to death by the rubble one year ago to the day.

“He was working in the basement of a three-storey building when the quake happened. Today means two things. It’s sad because I lost my father, but it is also an unforgettable event for Haiti.

“The people who died, we can’t bring them back to life. But the country is still alive and we have to save it. Haiti needs the mentality to change it.”

The pastor’s father’s body still lies under the mounds of rubble in the downtown area of Delmas where last night he laid flowers at the base of the ruins.

It is estimated that only 5% of rubble has been cleared since the earthquake.

Meanwhile, according to UN sources President Preval may make an announcement this week about the contested presidential election. A leaked Organisation of American States report has ruled out government-backed candidate Jude Celestin going forward for the second round in the election, because of improper voting. It is unclear if President Preval will officially throw Celestin out of the running.