Haiti earthquake destroys the Notre Dame Cathedral of Port-au-Prince
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The woman wailed outside the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, the iconic Roman Catholic church that symbolized Haiti’s religious fervor.
‘This is what God did!’ she cried Friday morning. ‘See what God can do!’
Tuesday’s earthquake brought down the roof of the enormous pink-and-cream church, filling the apse and nave with tons of rubble. The quake punched out its vivid stained-glass windows, twisted its wrought-iron fencing and sliced brick walls like cake. The western steeple, which had soared more than 100 feet, toppled onto parishioners praying at an outdoor shrine to St. Emmanuel. Flies buzzed around the pile of copper, plaster and felled columns.
The senior Catholic figure in the country, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, was killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. As many as 100 priests were still missing, sacristan Jean Claude Augustin said.
Continue reading ‘Searching among a Haitian cathedral’s ruins.’
-- Tracy Wilkinson in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
View a panoramic picture of the cathedral.
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