On a little patch of concrete that has been cleared of rubble, between ruined houses, Fr Tom Hagan is celebrating Mass with a little group of young seminarians. They sit on plastic garden chairs in a semi-circle under a small tree. An old bus in which they sleep every night is parked nearby and beside it is Fr Tom’s one-man tent.

They are not the only people in Port-au-Prince still living in makeshift accommodation six months after the earthquake in which around 15 per cent of the city’s population died. Tents fill nearly every available space. On the pavements and central reservations of busy roads, under the canopies of abandoned filling stations and beside the remains of their homes, hundreds of thousands are living under canvas.