Souvens-Toi Que Tu Es Poussiere is found on the entrance to the cemetery. It is French for "Remember you are dust". Part of a phrase which concludes, and to dust you shall return. Grand Cimetière is said to be hundreds of years old. Many people were turned away at the time of the Hatian earthquake (Jan. 12, 2010) and buried in mass graves. Some were able to be buried in the cemetery but in the crypts of others. This led Mezen Dieu Justi (an old man barely able to contain his nausea and tears from the spectacle) to say "We have lost all dignity in death".

One journalist stated "Outside the cemetery, a man is sitting on a car looking busy. He is keeping a registry of the new arrivals. He already has 210 names on his list, some identified by just their first name". It is unclear what happened to lists like this.

In one crypt belonging to an army general named Vir-Hugo Lherrison, 80 bodies were buried. Alexandre August a cemetery inspector stated "What choice did we have?". Alexandre estimated that over 25,000 earthquake victims (truckloads) found their final resting place in Grand Cimetiere. Crypts that were opened and used for mass burial were marked with an + sign. Therefore, although some crypt's say one name they could also contain the bodies of others who are not included on the name of the crypt. This was the case of Brigitte Jean-Baptiste who was buried in the crypt of Eliane Jeannott. Former dictator Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier (died 1971) was buried in the cemetery, but his crypt was later looted and the body was possibly removed.