A day of mourning, and a surprise rescue

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Hundreds gathered yesterday for the funeral of the archbishop of Haiti's stricken capital, a rare formal ceremony that captured the collective mourning of a shattered nation where mass graves hold many of the dead.

As the United Nations said the Haitian government had declared an end to searches for living people trapped in the rubble, yet another survivor was saved. Rescuers said they reached Wismond Exantus by digging a narrow tunnel through the wreckage of a hotel grocery store where he was buried for 11 days.

Exantus, who is in his 20s, was placed on a stretcher as onlookers cheered. He said that he survived by diving under a desk and later consuming some cola, beer, and cookies in the cramped space.

"I was hungry, but every night I thought about the revelation that I would survive," Exantus said from his hospital bed.

Authorities have stopped short of explicitly directing all teams to halt rescue efforts, and hopeful searchers continued picking through the ruins. But U.N. relief workers said the shift in focus is critical to care for the thousands living in makeshift camps that lack sanitation. While deliveries of food, medicine, and water have ticked up after initial logjams, the need continues to be overwhelming and doctors fear outbreaks of disease in the camps.

"It doesn't mean the government will order them to stop. In case there is the slightest sign of life, they will act," U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said. She added that, "except for miracles, hope is unfortunately fading."

All told, 132 people have been pulled alive from beneath collapsed buildings by international search-and-rescue teams, she said.

Few funerals have been held since the 7.0-magnitude quake struck, with most people buried anonymously and without ceremony in mass graves. An estimated 200,000 people died, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission. The United Nations said yesterday that the government had preliminarily confirmed 111,481 bodies, but that figure does not account for corpses buried by relatives.

While the two-hour ceremony was held for Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot and vicar Charles Benoit, who also perished in the Jan. 12 earthquake, people in the crowd of about 2,000 wept for their own families.

"We feel like we have lost everything. Our child, our country, our friend," said Junior Sant Juste, whose 3-year-old daughter died when their home collapsed.

The Mass, celebrated in a small park near the collapsed cathedral, offered "a way to share the pain and find solidarity," said his wife, Roth Boisrond.

As many as 200,000 people have fled the city of two million, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. About 609,000 people are homeless in the capital's metropolitan area, and the United Nations estimates that up to one million could leave Haiti's cities for rural areas already struggling with extreme poverty.

In the days after the quake, aid groups complained about the U.S. military control of the international airport, which became key for supplies because of a damaged seaport.

Flights have since increased, but President Rene Preval and former French Cabinet Minister Nicole S. Guedj yesterday appealed for the creation of a U.N. humanitarian intervention force to coordinate and mobilize aid in international disasters. The force could be known as the Red Helmets, they suggested, as opposed to the blue-helmeted U.N. military peacekeepers.

Meanwhile, organizers for the all-star Hope for Haiti Now telethon said yesterday that the event raised $57 million - and counting.

"The public has set a new standard of giving for a relief telethon with Hope for Haiti Now, and the donations continue to come in," Lisa Paulsen, president and chief executive officer of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, said in a statement. The group is helping to oversee the funds.

The two-hour telethon aired Friday night on the major networks and dozens of other channels, including MTV, Bravo, and PBS, and was also streamed live online. Stars including Brad Pitt, Beyoncé, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and more used their presence to encourage donations.

The total released yesterday includes money raised by phone, text messaging, and the Web. It does not include donations by corporations or via iTunes, where people are able to buy performances from the event for 99 cents each, or the entire album for $7.99. Those funds also go to Haiti relief.

The Hope for Haiti Now CD is the biggest one-day preorder in the site's history and "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" by Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono, and the Edge, which debuted during the telethon, is the No. 1 single on iTunes.