MEDIA RELEASE
January 25, 2010.
Funerals commence in Haiti as relief efforts scale up.
As Caritas relief efforts extended to more than 30,000 people in Haiti, mourners yesterday commemorated
the life of Port au Prince’s Archbishop and vicar General, killed in the January 12 earthquake.
More than 1,000 people, including many Caritas staff who have been working tirelessly in the relief efforts,
stopped to celebrate the lives of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and Msgr. Charles Benoit.
Held amidst the shattered ruins of the Port au Prince Cathedral where many were trapped when the quake
struck, Jack de Groot CEO of Caritas Australia said the funeral was symbolic for many who had perished in
the quake.
“This marks the symbolic end for many, many people who will not have funerals, who were buried under the
rubble or trapped in unmarked graves by the devastation of the earthquake”.
“The situation for many of the survivors also continues to be extremely difficult. Coordination efforts have
improved and the security situation is stable. Caritas has a hospital open and we are delivering relief
supplies including water, food and shelter but the need is just simply enormous.
Lane Hartill, from US Caritas affiliate Catholic Relief Services, who are coordinating the operations at St.
Francois de Sales Hospital said although “almost destroyed in the earthquake (the hospital) is now once
again taking care of people. The Haitians there will break your heart”.
“Ninety-nine percent of the people at the hospital are trauma cases” Hartill explains. “Like Sara, a 6-year-old
with a left leg broken in multiple places. Stessy Jeannot, 18-months old, asleep on a bed in a frilly skirt and
red velvet top, with part of her hand crushed. Dore Lalanne, 12, sleeping in his underwear next to a French
bible, with severely injured legs.
Hartill explains, “It was only a few days ago that patients lay listless in the courtyard here. The doctors
seemed shell shocked when they told me during the quake the pediatrics ward collapsed on the maternity
ward that collapsed on some surgery rooms. Nobody knows how many people are trapped inside. Some
say 50. Others say 75. The truth is, nobody knows.
“”Things seemed so hopeless that the medical director considered closing the hospital down. Then Anna
van Rooyen showed up.
“Anna’s got a personality that won’t quit. She speaks four languages and can multitask like a pro. Most
impressive: Even in the chaos of Port au Prince, she has a sense of humour.
“She was determined to get St. Francois de Sales, one of the oldest hospitals in Port au Prince, up and
running again. Anna was named head of the CRS health team and helped organize the visit of a team of
Belgium doctors and fire fighters. The firemen dug into the rubble of the hospital and accessed the medical
supply room. Anna arranged for more medical supplies. Volunteer nurses and doctors from around the city
started examining people in the courtyard. She got people cleaning up a building that had not collapsed,
one that CRS helped build; it would serve as the operating room. She even got the hospital an ambulance.
“Now three operating rooms are going at once; They do a lot of amputations. A refrigerator was pulled out
of a destroyed building and cleaned up to be used for blood storage. Anna contacted the United Nations for
blood. St. Francois de Sales is back up and running“, explains Hartill.
For more information contact Tim O’Connor (+61) 0417 284 831
NEWS 
