AMERICA/HAITI – 5 years after the earthquake the Catholic Church is helping Haiti to recover

Port au Prince (Agenzia Fides) - A delegation of 12 people from Haiti arrived in Rome yesterday, January 7, where they will attend the meeting to be held at the Vatican on Saturday, January 10 on the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that shook the nation on January 12, 2010. This was announced by the President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (CEH), Cardinal Chibly Langlois, Bishop of Les Cayes, who leads the delegation.
"The communion of the Church: Memory and Hope for Haiti, five years after the earthquake" is the theme on which about 200 people will reflect.
The initiative, according to the note sent to Fides from Haiti, strongly encouraged by Pope Francis, is organized by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and the Haitian bishops have scheduled a conference for Saturday to revive interest and commitment to reconstruction. Participants will include Catholic and international agencies, as well as representatives from embassies to the Holy See. "It will be – says the Cardinal – an opportunity to commemorate the disaster that caused more than 230,000 victims, 300,000 injured and 1.2 million homeless".
Cardinal Chibly Langlois recalls that a number of post-earthquake projects have already been completed, and that currently the Catholic Church still has about 200 projects to be implemented. Those still in progress concern 70 churches, chapels or rebuilt schools, and other buildings that house service attivities managed by the Catholic Church. These 70 projects in progress have required an expenditure of $ 58 million. The Haitian state has not rebuilt any of the public buildings destroyed by the earthquake. The Church, in this regard, is still waiting for state aid for the reconstruction carried out.
"We hope to strengthen the ecclesial communion with the sister Churches", concluded Cardinal Chibly Langlois. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 08/01/2015)