Haitian Archbishop Killed in Earthquake

(January 14, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for aid for victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti and killed the archbishop of the Port-au-Prince Archdiocese. Among those reported dead were Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince and Zilda Arns Neumann, a pediatrician who founded the Brazilian bishops' children's commission and sister of Brazilian Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, retired archbishop of Sao Paulo. Father Andre Siohan, a missionary of the French St. Jacques Society, e-mailed the Missionary International Service News Agency a few hours after the quake and said, "We are on our knees. I went to the city centre this morning to visit the other religious communities. The area is completely devastated and there are thousands of victims." The Holy Father affirmed that the "Catholic Church will not fail to move immediately, through her charitable institutions, to meet the most immediate needs of the population." This quake, which was followed by 12 aftershocks of high magnitude of 5.0 and 5.9, was the strongest in that region since 1770. Although the death toll is uncertain, it is estimated that some 3 million people were affected by the disaster. There is concern that the country's impoverished economy will leave the people without adequate emergency services. The Presidential Palace, the cathedral, hospitals and the UN Building are among those damaged. The UN has 7 thousand peacekeeping soldiers and 2 thousand policemen on the island, since 2004. Haiti has a population of approximately 9.6 million inhabitants. The poverty of the country is abysmal. The World Bank estimates, the average income per person is 560 U.S. dollars, 54% of Haitians live on less than $ 1 a day and 78% with less than $ 2 per day.