About this picture: Myriam Merlet, one of three of the country's most important advocacy organizations working on behalf of women and girls, are confirmed dead -- victims of last week's 7.0 earthquake.
And their deaths have left members of the women's movement, Haitian and otherwise, reeling.
Words are missing for me. I lost a large chunk of my personal, political and social life," Carolle Charles wrote in an e-mail to colleagues.
The Haitian-born sociology professor at Baruch College in New York is chair of Dwa Fanm (meaning "Women's Rights" in Creole), a Brooklyn-based advocacy group.
These women "were my friends, my colleagues and my associates.
I cannot envision going to Haiti without seeing them."
Myriam Merlet was until recently the chief of staff of Haiti's Ministry for Gender and the Rights of Women, established in 1995, and still served as a top adviser.
She died after being trapped beneath her collapsed Port-au-Prince home, Charles said. She was 53.
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