Port au Prince Archbishop Serge Miot is among thousands who are dead after a major earthquake destroyed the Haitian capital, including its cathedral, late Tuesday afternoon. The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and was centered just 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, ABC News reports.
The center was also relatively shallow, less than 10 miles below ground, raising the risk of damage.
Fr Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in western France told the New York Times that fellow missionaries had found Archbishop Miot's body in the ruins of the archdiocese office.
Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told U.S. colleagues before phone service failed that "there must be thousands of people dead," a spokeswoman for the aid group told The Associated Press.
"He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince," Sara Fajardo said from the group's offices in Maryland.
State Department Asst. Secretary for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley told reporters that embassy staff "reported structures down. They reported a lot of walls down. They did see a number of bodies in the street and on the sidewalk that had been hit by debris. So clearly, there's going to be serious loss of life in this."
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