Haiti Earthquake Letters – 2010 

A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION, WHICH WE APPRECIATE…SURELY AN ANXIOUS TIME FOR ALL THERE.

 

Sent: Wed, Jan 13, 2010 11:31 am

Subject: Several Letters Re Haiti Quake

 

1-11-10

 

We have no phones. But the wireless is working thanks to the inverter and batteries. Mike, Allan, Yves, Mado and I are fine. It was a tremendous shake. The walls of the factory room are badly broken, the pillars are damaged but the house stands. Several of the windows are out of their place. Everything upstairs is all over from the shake. The wall by the fish tank fell and the wall of the brothers’ quarters fell out, too. It is now dark. We’ve put up two tents for the night.

 

From time to time a tremor passes. Many houses on the hill fell in a heap. No one was killed there. But word is coming that some were killed in Cabaret. As I said we have no phone signal so we do not know anything about Port au Prince or the rest of Haiti. Allan and I were visiting upstairs when it hit. The whole floor was shaking up and down like a huge head of a drum. It moved back and forth so much the mattresses in the depot are on the floor, the shop is a mess. At this point I’m not sure if we can save the factory and house….we’ll see what the night holds.

 

Your brother,

 

Dan Henry

 

Subj: Fw: Dan: Letter #2

 

Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 7:41 AM Our dear friends…

 

Thank you for word from so many of you, with concern for all here after the quake hit yesterday. Florence and I are in Cap Haitian, which is on the northern coast of Haiti. We felt the shocks, but there doesn’t seem to be any severe damage in this area. There still isn’t phone service in Haiti, so no way of contacting anyone that way, but we are fortunate that the internet service is still working. We were able to communicate with Dan Henry last evening via Skype and at least have word that the brothers were all together at Cabaret and are ok. We haven’t been able to contact the other workers here in the north of Haiti (Glenn, Joe Layman, Sonia, and Lea). They don’t have internet service except to go to a cyber cafe and we haven’t heard from them yet. They are likely ok, but would be concerned about everyone else further south! We fear for our friends in Port-au-Prince, so close to where the epicenter of the quake was. There are many there whose homes are on the hillside and could have easily fallen… No news of most of our friends yet, so we wait….. The brothers (Dan, Mike, Allan, Madochee, and Yves) were at the convention grounds when it hit and there is quite a bit of damage there. They slept in tents last night because it was safer than being in the rattled buildings. At midnight last night, I felt the bed shake again, so wondered how hard it was still hitting further south. We’re 100+ miles from there. Dan and Mike are going to try to go into Port-au-Prince today to see who they can find and what they can do to help….. it will take a lot of effort just to get through the streets….. the devastation is unimagineable. It has been raining here for a solid week, but it doesn’t sound like they’ve had that there in the south, so that is a relief, too. We have to cancel our meeting tonight because of so much water in the streets….

 

At times like this it’s very real that nothing of this “earth” in our lives matters because it’s so soon shaken… what matters is the Christ within and an obedient response to His Word, the only solid foundation. Keep a humble, submitted heart! Thanks again for your love and care.

 

Love,

 

Susan Eicher

 

This came from Dan Henry last night, Glen Yung:

 

Luquel got through on this number….509 3455 2848. His house stood. They are all out in the street together as the tremors keep passing. He said they heard the National Palace, the Ministry of Justice and the huge old Catholic Cathedral are down. Many of the taller buildings are down. And many of the houses around him. We are thinking of the other friends the millions that live on the side of the hills of Port au Prince. We have no further word. Luquel said the streets are full of debris and impassable. We are staying outside. From time to time, the earth really shakes again and cement falls from the cracked walls of the building here. We have communicated with Florence and Susan in Cap Haitian by SKYPE but we have no news of Glenn, Joe, Sonia and Lea. But we are seeing now that the center of the quake was 10 miles west of Port au Prince.

 

1-13

I feel a little bit like the man in the Bible who ran ahead with the news, but he didn’t really have any idea of what was actually going on. However, with the amount of phone calls and emails coming it seems like a good idea to try and stem the tide of questions with the little bit of news that we have. Joe is with Glenn Richards in a town on the far north part of Haiti in a place called Jean-Rabel: it would appear to be over 100 miles from the epicenter. We have had no word from Joe and expect no word until he is able to send a message. To get to the area where they are baching they had to ford rivers – twice being in water over the hood of the vehicle. So, very isolated at this point anyway. My mom has continued to try and call him every so often, but so far the calls don’t go through. We have also sent emails, sms messages, etc to Joe; he hasn’t responded yet. He will when he can. When I called to ask Mom if she had heard from him she said, “Well, I wouldn’t expect to. There has been an earthquake there.” So, she is her ever practical self. I think that many of you would have seen the email from Dan Henry telling about the damage at the convention grounds. And that email also included some pictures. Five of the seven brothers on the staff were there at the time. They are sleeping outside in tents until things settle down and they can better assess the damage. He didn’t have word from the sisters nor from Glenn and Joe, but didn’t seem to expect to be able to hear from them just yet either. He said that there was no phone service, but that he could send word out through the internet service that they had at the grounds. Sorry to not have more news to send to you; but as soon as we do, we will relay it. Virginia and I have started meetings in Vacaville, and hope to begin this Friday in Ukiah and this coming Sunday in Petaluma. We have two who seem to be listening well, and others that we hope will come.

 

Your sister,

 

Robin Layman

 

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A relative of Glenn’s wrote Wed pm:

 

Just received word that ALL the workers have been accounted for and all are well…….though some nerves have been tested!

 

Uncle Glenn said their neighbours were horrified when he said we are to pray for the Lord’s return!

 

Communication lines are very sporadic…….so may not hear too much from our workers for a while………..U. Glenn had not heard what the damage was and was looking for word from Canada!

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a letter from a worker in Jamaica:

 

Dear friends,

 

You’ll be hearing the news of the quake in Haiti and KNOW you’d all be interested. We don’t know the severity of every place or thing or friends yet, but the 5 brothers were at the Cabaret conv grounds when it struck yesterday p.m. There is no phone service in the country, but fortunately there’s still internet connections…..but Dan cannot reach Glenn and Joe nor Sonia and Lea (they don’t have internet access except when they go to a cyber). He reached Florence & Susan via skype and us by e-mail.

 

The pictures below show the ‘mess’ on the grounds – – the first photo is the staff brothers’ little sleeping quarters, and others are the big house on the grounds. Dan wrote this a.m. saying that they slept on the ground in tents during the night, and the continual after-shocks kept dropping more cement from the destruction of the house – we wonder how safe it’ll be??

 

Dan & Mike were leaving with a full quantity of water for themselves for the day in their backpacks and heading into the capital this a.m. to see if they can get to the friends to see how things are with them. I nearly fear for them too, as the streets are in an awful state right now. The palace, lots of govt bldgs, and the cathedral are all down — the cathedral was in flames as well, we understand.

 

This is all that we know for now. We hope for the best, but fear the worst for some!

 

Love in Him,

 

Doreen B.