Haitians in NYC pray for peace as crisis continues on Caribbean island

NEW YORK - Hearts are heavy in Brooklyn’s Little Haiti as the dangerous and volatile situation in the Caribbean island nation continues.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.

However, that offer appears to be crumbling as some political parties have rejected the council that would manage the transition.

For Haitians in New York City, seeing the ongoing crisis unfold from afar has left them with little to turn to other than faith.

"I pray for my native country," said Pastor Viviane Lazard of the Church of God of Salvation. 

Lazard told FOX 5 NY that many in the Haitian diaspora are watching on edge.

Henry still has not returned to the country after the powerful gangs that control as much as 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, began a series of attacks, torching police stations, forcing the closure of Haiti's two international airports, and storming the country's two biggest prisons, freeing over 4,000 inmates.

"Haiti is nothing less than a hell," said Ricot Dupuy, Station Director at Haitian station Radio Soleil. "What Haitians want is what everyone wants, to be able to live decently."

Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn represents Little Haiti. In a statement to Fox 5 NY, she said: "Our community is reeling from Haiti’s escalating crisis and suffering from uncertainty. Nearly everyone here has loved ones, family, and friends in Haiti—with hardly any ways to communicate with them. With Haiti’s escalating violence, shortages of clean water, sanitation, and other essential resources, our community is in distress and my heart goes out to those without means to connect with and support their loved ones."