Willy Besson, left, reacts emotionally Wednesday to news about the earthquake in Haiti. His wife, Mirlande, talks to friends on the phone while son Matthew checks for more information at their New Holland home.
People search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building Wednesday after an earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
A person injured in the Haiti earthquake is seen.
" … this is horrible."
So begins an e-mail from Leah Bomberger, a local mission worker in Haiti, the Caribbean nation struck by a monstrous earthquake Tuesday.
"Last night was called the darkest night in Haiti and I could feel it," Bomberger wrote Wednesday morning to her mother, Jeanne Bomberger, of New Providence.
News is starting to trickle into Lancaster County from Haiti, where many local residents have family members and friends who were caught in the massive quake that left a trail of death and destruction through the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding shantytowns.
Lancaster County has a myriad of connections to Haiti through former residents who now live here, as well as churches, missions, development groups and other organizations.
Some people here got welcome news Wednesday that loved ones were alive. Others were still waiting to hear.
Nancy and Jim Huber heard Wednesday afternoon from their son, Matt, a development worker who lives in Port-au-Prince with his son, Jeff.
The Manor Township woman said she was weak from relief when she heard the voice of her son, who was with her grandson when the quake hit.
"They were in his office and he said the building started to shake and computers flew on the floor," said Nancy Huber, whose husband is a former county commissioner. "They quickly ran out. They were right in the heart of it, not too far from the Presidential Palace.
"He is just shocked," she said. "He is wondering when help will be coming in. I said, 'It's coming. It's on its way.' He couldn't get over the devastation."
Some local relief and development agencies also heard from their employees Wednesday.
A staff of 16 from Mennonite Central Committee, based in Akron, was shaken up, but fine. Hope International, a development agency headquartered in Manheim Township, heard that its staff of 20 in Haiti is fine.
A team of four young men from Grace Church in Lititz and Lititz Church of the Brethren, working to plant and irrigate trees in Haiti, also survived.
But some local residents who are natives of Haiti had not yet heard from family members Wednesday.
"I can't get through," said Ismith Noel, a Terre Hill resident who is a native of Haiti. His mother and siblings still live in the country. "I try, try, try and nobody can answer a phone because all of the power is gone. It's really frustrating."
Noel and Willy Besson are pastors of Haitian Pentecostal Church in New Holland, which has about 200 members who are from Haiti or connected to it.
"We keep calling each other and trying to get some news," said Besson, of New Holland, who has been glued to a computer and television for news updates.
Besson's said his congregation members feel powerless and anxious as they watch the images of pancaked buildings and panicked people in the wake of the quake.
The impoverished country where Besson and his wife, Mirlande, were born has been through so much — hurricanes, coups and violence, he said. The earthquake might be the worst of all.
"This is bad," he said, "really bad."
And a massive cleanup lies ahead.
Brenda Eshelman of Lititz just returned last week from a mission trip to Haiti with her husband, Jeff, as well as Bomberger and others from Lancaster County.
Even before the quake, the country lacked emergency services, medical supplies and infrastructure, she said.
"You realize that a catastrophe on this scale is just going to compound all of their hardship and misery," she said. "It is just overwhelming."
Arli Klassen, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, said her organization Wednesday made $100,000 available to its staff in Haiti for immediate food, water and shelter needs.
MCC will now work with community leaders on longer-term goals such as water and sewer services, and rebuilding community leadership. Klassen said the effort will take a number of years and probably cost about $1 million.
Local residents are opening their wallets. When Klassen got to work at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, 50 people already had made online donations to MCC.
The Lancaster-Haiti connection, Klassen said, is fueled by a number of things: Haiti's great need as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, its large number of Christian churches, its considerable network of aid agencies and its easy accessibility from the East Coast.
Its blessing could also be its burden, as hundreds of relief groups rush to help the country. It will take a collaboration to ensure an effective response, she said.
Klassen believes such an effort, along with hope and hard work, will make a difference.
"Looking at the resiliency of people in difficult situations is actually amazing," she said.