Many local Haitians remain desperate to reach relatives in their devastated homeland, resigned to watching grim images of earthquake damage on television and praying that their loved ones are OK.
“It is very frustrating. We cannot communicate with our family members,” said Rev. Daniel Auguste of Eglise Baptiste Pierre Angulaire in Jamaica Plain.
Bill Forry of the Boston Haitian Reporter said shock is giving way to grief for locals with family in Haiti. Then, there is a matter of uncertainty, even for those who know their relatives have survived.
“The bigger problem is that even with the survivors we don’t know more than that they are alive,” said Forry, whose wife’s 94-year-old aunt survived the earthquake. “We don’t know the circumstances of their injuries [or where they are].”
A massive coordination effort began last night at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, and today the city opens a resource center in Dorchester where residents will have access to computers, phone lines, translators and crisis teams.
Located at the SEIU Local 1199 on Mount Vernon Street, the center will operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today.
While assistance is necessary, fear remains after a string of natural disasters.
“We are asking ourselves, ‘Where do they go next?’” Auguste said. “There is no place to hide now.”
