Haiti mourned its dead on Saturday and hundreds gathered in the ruins of a wrecked Catholic cathedral to honour an archbishop and other victims killed in last week's earthquake as the government ended search-and-rescue operations. With international efforts now concentrating on helping hundreds of thousands of hungry, injured and homeless quake victims camped out in the streets, the Haitian government decided on Friday to halt the hunt for survivors under rubble.
"Hope is vanishing now, though we could still have miracles," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva. Byrs said search-and-rescue teams had saved 132 people since the January 12 quake, but the focus was now turning to medical assistance for survivors and finding bodies.
Outside the ruined Notre Dame cathedral in Port-au-Prince, a crowd of worshippers, priests and nuns gathered for the funeral of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and Vicar General Charles Benoit, both of whom died in the catastrophic earthquake that demolished swathes of the coastal capital. "What we lost we can't get back. It is not the rich who have lost, or the poor, we are all together," said Leon Sejour, a seminarist who travelled from Cap Haitien in the north.
Another mourner said: "We cried Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We cannot cry all the time." The Haitian authorities estimate up to 200,000 people may have died in the quake, which left up to 3 million more hurt or homeless and desperately clamouring for medical assistance, food and water.
Asked about persistent complaints by quake survivors that food aid was still not reaching them, USAID chief Rajiv Shah said his organisation was ready to provide all the assistance required. "The scale of the destruction and the human consequence of what has happened is just unparalleled ... We're never going to meet the need as quickly as we'd like," he told Reuters.
Earlier, he told administrators at the University Hospital in Port-au-Prince: "We want to be as helpful as possible, but we need to do much more." USAID officials face enormous challenges to get the aid distributed in a ruined city cluttered with rubble and overflowing with homeless and injured people. "No one can understand it until they're here," USAID's Gina Jackson said.
ANGER AGAINST PRESIDENT Haitian President Rene Preval and his ministers attended the archbishop's funeral. As he left, people angry about the slow delivery of aid jostled him and mobbed his car and a few youths shouted for him to quit. Preval said he had come to pay his respects to the dead prelate.
Aid has been slow reaching all the needy despite a huge international relief effort spearheaded by the United States, which has 13,000 military personnel in Haiti and offshore. In the gardens of the prime minister's office, the International Committee of the Red Cross delivered a tanker of drinking water to quake victims in makeshift tents crowded onto the sloping lawn. The space was covered with tarpaulins strung between trees, blankets and belongings strewn on the ground.
Survivors said they were still struggling to get food, with little or no deliveries of aid. "My wife is out today looking for food," said Dominique Tombeau, sitting under a blue tarpaulin. "People are asking, when are the Americans coming to help?" Fruits and vegetables appeared plentiful in street stalls, but people said they had little cash to buy them and prices were much higher than before the quake.
Up to 1.5 million Haitians lost their homes in the earthquake and relief agencies estimated a third of Haiti's 9 million people would need emergency food, water and shelter for an extended period. To help that effort, dozens of celebrities raised money in the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon on major US networks and cable channels on Friday night. The benefit was organised by actor George Clooney and included performances by Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, U2's Bono and Madonna.
LINES OUTSIDE BANKS Amid the grief, there were some indications the poor Caribbean country was coming back to life. Haitians waited outside banks scheduled to reopen on Saturday, eager to obtain cash to buy food and essential supplies.
At one Unibank in the upscale Petionville district, cars stretched two blocks waiting for a drive-in ATM to open. "I'm still waiting patiently. There is no cash, so there is nothing else to do," said Myrtho Larco, a teacher. "There's no work, there's no jobs, God only knows what's going to happen."
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