Prominent pastor dies in quake

From the Baptist World Alliance:

Washington, DC (BWA) --Biene Lamerquea, a prominent Baptist pastor in Port-au-Prince, died in the earthquake that shook the capital of Haiti on the evening of January 12.

Gedeon Eugene, a vice president of the Baptist Convention of Haiti, informed the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) that Lamerquea is still buried under the rubble. Other Baptist members also perished in the quake, which measured 7.0 and destroyed much of the city, directly affecting an estimated three million people and killing tens of thousands of persons.

Several Baptist pastors and members are still unaccounted for, while others are homeless. "A lot of church members are now homeless," wrote Eugene. "They spend nights in the streets. They are starving."

At least one Baptist church building, First Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, was damaged by the tremor.

The Baptist Convention of Haiti, a BWA member body, has started to organize support for its members and others who are suffering, providing food, water, and medical care, utilizing the convention's hospital ambulance as the main means of transportation.

"You can imagine their urgent need. They cannot cook, they are thirsty, they are injured. The children and old persons are more fragile," Eugene told the BWA.

Baptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the BWA, is mobilizing search, rescue, and relief teams. A team from BWAid Rescue24, the search and rescue arm of the international Baptist aid organization is in Florida in the United States awaiting clearance to fly into Port-au-Prince, or to travel via the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Negotiations are under way to have another BWAid Rescue24 team of 12 persons, who are experts in search and rescue missions, to travel from Hungary to Haiti. They are expected to travel with dogs and special equipment that can detect and find persons who may still be alive but are buried underneath the rubble.