Haitian leaders pay tribute to 2010 quake victims

Haitian President Michel Martelly Monday headed a ceremony commemorating the fifth anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed 300,000 people, according to reports reaching here.

The quake on Jan. 12, 2010, which registered 7.3 on the Richter scale and lasted more than a minute, also destroyed the country's economic center and capital Port-au-Prince.

Those 65 seconds were the worst Haiti has ever endured, said Martelly.

Accompanied by a Catholic priest and a Buddhist monk, Martelly thanked the international community for helping Haiti's reconstruction efforts, which continue as some 80,000 people who lost their homes still live in temporary camps.

Martelly, whose government has come under fierce criticism for the slow rebuilding work and for failing to organize elections in keeping with a constitutional calendar, also pleaded for cooperation from the political opposition.

Martelly called for greater "calm" from opponents and street protesters, saying "I know all Haitians want to see the country make progress."

Reconstruction efforts have also been hampered by a cholera epidemic that has taken the lives of more than 8,000 people and infected nearly a million.

The country's plight led Pope Francis to draw the world's attention to Haiti's ongoing troubles over the weekend, announcing at a meeting Saturday organized by a pontifical commission for Latin America that much still needs to be done to help the country rebuild. He also named a new Vatican envoy to Haiti. Endi