Haitians Weep for 200,000

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Thousands of Haitians prayed, wept and danced among tent shelters in the capital's main square on Friday as President Rene Preval asked his people to "dry their eyes" and rebuild a month after the catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

Haitians joined in a national day of mourning and prayer amid the rubble a month to the day after the magnitude 7 quake wrecked the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding towns and cities, and left 1 million people living in the streets.

In his first live, nationally broadcast speech to the impoverished Caribbean nation since the quake, Preval said Haitians' courage had sustained their government as it looks for ways to relieve the suffering of some 300,000 injured and those living in hundreds of spontaneous tent encampments.
"Haitians, the pain is too heavy for words to express. Let's dry our eyes to rebuild Haiti," Preval said at a ceremony held on a flower-decked platform at the University of Notre Dame's nursing school in the capital.
"Haitian people who are suffering, the courage and strength you showed in this misfortune are the sign that Haiti cannot perish. It is a sign that Haiti will not perish," said Preval, wearing a black armband of mourning over his white shirt.
Thousands took part in the prayers and dancing in front of the wreckage of the National Palace and in the Champs de Mars, the main downtown square, which after the quake became a sprawling city of shanties, tents and shelters made of rope and bedsheets.

Little girls dressed in their Sunday finest were a stark contrast to the squalor of the camps, where a woman tossed a blanket over her shoulders and bathed from a bucket as people prayed and danced around her.

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