1With songs, music, prayers and cries of pain, the small town of Marceline, on the outskirts of the Keys, this Sunday said goodbye to Marie Monique Phildor, an evangelical pastor who died during the August 14 earthquake that struck the southwest from Haiti.
Monica Gonzalez
2 Relatives of the 77-year-old woman came to say goodbye to the pastor dressed in their best clothes, with black and white suits, a color that is also used to show mourning in Haiti.
Monica Gonzalez
3 "She is not dead, she sleeps", one of the shepherds who has directed the ceremony to the attendees has told them.
"Sometimes, there are things that exceed us like this catastrophe. Nature is revealed against us."
Monica Gonzalez
4The earthquake, in which at least 2,207 people have died and hundreds are still missing, has particularly hit this mountainous area of southwestern Haiti.
Monica Gonzalez
5 Pastor Sanon, as she was known in her community, was a woman "of patience, calm, wise and respectful," one of her sons recalled during the religious ceremony.
A music band has led the funeral procession to what was her home, where they have buried her.
Monica Gonzalez
6In this area of southwestern Haiti, the tradition is to bury the dead in the courtyards of the families' homes.
During the funeral, there were scenes of grief from some relatives of Pastor Sanon.
Monica Gonzalez
7According to Vital Wolfson, one of her grandchildren, the woman died of a heart attack during the earthquake.
Monica Gonzalez
8The grave where Marie Monique Phildor rests is under her relatives' home, among the banana trees that surround the house, and also under what was her church, which was destroyed in the earthquake.
Monica Gonzalez
9Marceline's community has lost many neighbors in the earthquake.
Near the house where Pastor Sanon lived, a mother and two daughters were crushed to death under their house.
Now the rest of the family survive in makeshift tents while waiting for help.
Monica Gonzalez
10In the town of Marceline, the earthquake has left broken roads and entire lines of houses, churches, schools and hospitals destroyed.
Monica Gonzalez
11In addition to the dead, the earthquake has injured at least 12,000, according to calculations by the Haitian authorities.
The city of Los Cayos, of about 90,000 inhabitants, has been the most affected.
In the image, an affected house in that town.
Monica Gonzalez
12In that city there are churches, such as that of the Sacred Heart, which have been severely damaged. At the moment, on the ground, there is still no talk of reconstruction. Rescue efforts are still continuing and there are more immediate needs such as where the hundreds of thousands affected will sleep or what they will eat. Monica Gonzalez
Haiti rushes to sack its dead
2021-08-23T16:47:07.120Z
Haitians grapple with the grief after the earthquake that left more than 2,200 dead, 12,000 injured and half a million people in humanitarian need