Dressed in their best and clutching Bibles, thousands of Haitians yesterday gathered in a ruined cathedral to mark the moment a year ago when the earth convulsed and savaged their nation.
“It’s a day of reflection and of prayer,” said Roger Jean, 64, who lost his wife and three children that day, 12 months ago, when a 7.0 earthquake shattered the impoverished Caribbean nation.
More than 220,000 people were killed almost instantly, and 1.3 left homeless when at 4.53 p.m. (2153 GMT) on January 12, 2010 the earth heaved for a few terrifying seconds, collapsing homes and businesses, churches and schools – leaving hellish, nightmarish scenes of devastation and suffering.
“I am addressing a special prayer for Haiti to God: a prayer for Haiti to change, that Haiti live again,” Mr Jean said.
About 2,000 people spilled out of one of the thousands of tent cities, which still dot the capital Port-au-Prince, lying just behind the shattered cathedral.
Dressed in their best clothes, the women in perfect white dresses, the men in crisp shirts, they clambered over the ruins for a better view of a Catholic Mass being held to remember the dead.
Incense wafted over the crowds, as they chorused softly “Hallelujah”.
This small nation of about 10 million people has experienced decades of misery, bloodshed and political upheaval. But the earthquake has dealt it a crushing blow.
From early morning, national television replayed footage of the quake’s aftermath, the shocking images of mangled corpses and screaming survivors triggering painful memories for viewers.
Later yesterday the nation was to observe a minute of silence at the exact moment that disaster struck.
The anniversary finds Haiti barely healed from the trauma and gripped by political uncertainty over the holding of a runoff round in elections to replace President Rene Preval.
The economy and infrastructure remain crippled, a cholera outbreak continues to kill, and more than 800,000 people live in squalid tent camps, according to a new official count. Rebuilding has hardly begun.
Former US president Bill Clinton, one of the main figures coordinating a massive international aid effort, arrived on Tuesday to join ceremonies and said he was “frustrated” by the slow pace of reconstruction.
He also called on the government “to resolve” an election standoff.
However, he did say he was “encouraged” that after repeated delays in organising the flow of aid money and the implementation of promised projects, “we are doing much better”.
Huge challenges remain, including clearing rubble, moving people out of tents, halting widespread environmental degradation, and rebuilding an education system with less than half of all children currently in school.
International donors have pledged almost $10 billion to reconstruct Haiti, but a year after the earthquake little of it has reached the country.