Jump to content
✨ STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE WORLD TOUR ✨

Aid for Haiti


Recommended Posts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17159167

 

24 February 2012 Last updated at 21:40 GMT

 

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille resigns

 

The prime minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, has resigned after a power struggle within the government.

 

His resignation is likely to set back efforts to re-build the country after the January 2010 earthquake which devastated the capital Port-au-Prince.

 

He was President Michel Martelly's third nomination when appointed in October, ending a long stalemate.

 

For several weeks there have been reports of power struggles that prompted the UN to intervene.

 

On Thursday Mariano Fernandez, the special representative of the UN secretary general in Haiti, said there were "repeated crises" between the parliament, president and prime minister.

 

"[These] undermine the proper functioning of the institutions and the democratic process," he said.

 

So far President Martelly has not announced any replacement or caretaker prime minister.

 

UN experience

 

One of the issues causing division was a parliamentary commission investigating the nationality of government ministers.

 

Many officials in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean spend considerable time overseas.

 

The commission is investigating whether some senior administration officials have dual citizenship, which is prohibited under the constitution.

 

Mr Conille originally trained as a doctor and had previously worked with the UN.

 

He was an aide to former US President Bill Clinton when he was a UN envoy to Haiti.

 

When Mr Conille took office he pledged to create thousands of jobs by attracting foreign investment to help rebuild the country.

 

 

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/haiti-pms-sudden-resignation-threatens-earthquake-reconstruction/article2349773

 

Haiti PM’s sudden resignation threatens earthquake reconstruction

 

TRENTON DANIEL

 

The Associated Press

 

Published Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 8:46PM EST

 

Last updated Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 8:49PM EST

 

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille abruptly resigned Friday after less than five months on the job in a setback for President Michel Martelly, whose struggle to fill the top government post had hampered earthquake reconstruction and other development efforts.

 

The government announced Mr. Conille's resignation in a brief statement. The president did not immediately announce his proposed replacement for the top administrative post in his government.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Replies 268
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

HAITI EARTHQUAKE IN JANUARY 2010 – THE FORGOTTEN CATASTROPHE

 

2 years after a devastating earthquake in Haiti, hundred thousands are still living under poor conditions - without work, without shelter and without money.

 

Despite massive media coverage when the quake occurred, only half of the pledged emergency aid has reached the civilian population.

 

28-year-old Valerie Loiseau is standing in front of her little white tent in a public park in the suburb Petionville not far from the centre of the capital Port-au-Prince with her daughter running about bare-foot.

 

Beside the tent there is a brook. It is full of trash and garbage. But that does not prevent little boys and girls from running about playing something that looks like football between puddles and clothes hung out to dry between tents – and showers.

 

Valerie Loiseau remembers the awful tremors that made her run to the park with her two children of which the youngest was only a few months old – shortly before 6 o’clock 2 years ago.

 

“I came here minutes after the earthquake without anything but my children. Nothing else”, she says before adding that most other people in the camp were in the same situation then and now.

 

“I am still here”, she snaps and continues that like so many other places time has stood still in the camp since the quake.

 

She has not noticed the pledged help from abroad and from the government.

 

The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale and caused devastation of close to biblical dimensions in Haiti that was already extremely poor. To this day, nobody knows how many died. Guesses from experts vary between 200,000 and 300,000. The United Nations talks of 220,000 deaths.

 

According to official figures from Haiti’s government the quake hit 15 percent of Haiti’s 10 million inhabitants who were either killed or lost their homes.

 

Today well over 520,000 quake victims live in 800 tent camps close to the already overpopulated capital where there is only little chance of getting a job. The poverty is enormous, so experts say. Many of the hundred thousands who lost their homes are involved in juridical conflicts regarding compensation for the damage. This is due to the fact that they had no proof of their possessions.

 

A cholera epidemic broke out one year ago and is still not under control. So far, well over 7,000 have died during the epidemics, whereas well over ½ billion are infected. Local authorities say that the epidemic came from UNs peace-keeping soldiers from Nepal.

 

Shocked at the gigantic devastation, the international community pledged over the equivalent of 25 billion Danish kroner in aid to bring Haiti on its feet again. Less than half of this pledged amount has been transferred to Haiti, and that can be felt by the victims. Many aid agencies came to Haiti after the quake. But they are running out of money and provisions.

 

Another important explanation why the reconstruction is so slow is that Haiti has had no operative government. Haiti’s president, the entertainer Michel Martelly, was sworn in – in May last year, but it took him 6 months to appoint a prime minister who then formed a government.

 

“It has all been very unorganized and without throroughly prepared plans”, says the president of the World Bank in Haiti, Josef Leitmann who has started to be more positive about the situation.

 

“The government has now a vision about where to go. Now the vision is to be explained to the population and it is to inspire them with optimism”, he says.

 

By Clarens Renois / Ritzau / AFP

 

Source: Article published by MetroXpress.dk on 12 January 2012

 

 

THE QUAKE IN HAITI

 

The magnitude 7.0 quake was the most powerful quake for decades in Haiti. With more than 200,000 deaths it was one of the worst natural disasters in modern time.

 

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Two thirds (2/3) of Haiti’s 10 million people are living for very little every day, and 5 million are without water supply.

 

40% of Haiti’s population is less than 14 years old. Even though the infant mortality in Haiti is one of the highest in the world, there is a 2% population increase every year.

 

The earthquake destroyed most of Haiti’s already fragile / weak infrastructure.

 

Before the quake Haiti exported rice. Today Haiti imports 80% of all provisions (food).

 

Source: UN, AFP and BBC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

HAITI: 6 DEATHS AFTER LANDSLIDES

 

At least 6 people died in landslides. The houses of 2 families at a mountain near the capital Port-au-Prince were torn away by masses of mud. In this connecction 2 men, 3 women and a child were killed.

 

This accident follows days of heavy rain.

 

The poor Caribbean state is still suffering from the consequences of the devastating eartquake well over 2 years ago.

 

Around 500,000 people are living in tents and are threatened by flooding.

 

Source: German text-TV / ARDtext

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

NEW CHOLERA EPIDEMICS THREATENING HAITI

 

Haiti is facing a new cholera epidemics, and the country does not have sufficient resources to fight it according to Medecins Sans Frontieres / MSF (Doctors without borders).

 

In April the number of cholera cases treated by the organization quadrupled to 1,600 alone in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Last year more than 200,000 cases of the deadly disease were reported during the rainy season May to October.

 

Since the first outbreak which occurred a few months after the devastating earthquake in January 2010 more than 7,000 people in Haiti have died of cholera.

 

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT Text

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18589546

 

26 June 2012 Last updated at 01:00 GMT

 

Haitians protest against Port-au-Prince shanty eviction

 

More than 1,000 people have marched in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince in protest at government plans to clear poor neighbourhoods.

 

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, some of whom chanted threats to burn down affluent neighbourhoods.

 

The government says their homes, perched precariously on steep hillsides, are at risk from landslides.

 

The residents say they cannot afford to live anywhere else.

 

The eviction plans are part of a government flood-control project.

 

An official from the environment ministry, Pierre Andre Gedon, said the government would build channels and reforest the hillsides in Jalousie in an attempt to curb the flooding which affects the capital in the rainy season.

 

The government is still struggling to house tens of thousands of people displaced in the 2010 earthquake, which devastated much of Port-au-Prince.

 

One of the protesters said he felt the poor were being unfairly targeted.

 

"These decisions are always made against the poor; the rich have huge homes that aren't affected," he told the news agency.

 

Minister for Human Rights Rose-Anne Auguste said the government would offer new homes to those displaced by the project.

 

"We can't allow people to endanger their lives in slums that can collapse any moment," she said.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I received this petition from Change.org in relation to HAITI :

 

 

Hey Nancy,

Dear friends,

 

Nearly two years ago you added your voices in calling for a response to the crisis facing Haiti's earthquake victims only nine months after a 7.0 earthquake had leveled their homes and as cholera began to spread.

 

Will you join us by signing our new petition today? "Give Hope and Homes to Haiti's Earthquake Victims" - http://chn.ge/LKUqM7

 

http://www.change.org/petitions/400-000-homeless-still-wait-for-a-plan-support-housing-rights-in-haiti

 

Today it has been 29 months and nearly half a million people are still homeless and living under tents and tarps.

 

Tens of thousands more are in unsafe buildings or crowded into unsanitary living conditions.

 

Cholera has now taken the lives of nearly 7,500 people and over half a million have been infected.

 

Please sign the petition today!

 

For hope and homes in Haiti,

Melinda Miles

Director, http://www.lethaitilive.org

 

 

Join me in signing this petition.

 

Thanks from NANCY

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18928405

 

20 July 2012 Last updated at 16:23 GMT

 

UN 'should take blame for Haiti cholera' - US House members

 

By Mark Doyle

 

BBC International Development Correspondent

 

More than 100 Democrats from the US House of Representatives have called on the UN to take responsibility for introducing cholera to Haiti.

 

It is the latest twist in the allegation that UN peacekeepers unwittingly introduced the disease.

 

The United Nations' envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, has accepted UN soldiers may have brought cholera.

 

But with more than 7,000 deaths so far, the UN said tackling the disease is more important than attributing blame.

 

Outbreak source

 

In a letter to the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, the 104 members of Congress stated clearly: "Cholera was brought to Haiti due to the actions of the UN."

 

They call on Ms Rice to pressure the UN to "confront and ultimately eliminate" the disease.

 

The letter says the UN should help Haiti mobilise enough money to build water and sewage systems to tackle the disease.

 

While members of Congress often weigh in on foreign policy issues like Iran or Israel, it is unusual for so many members to sign a letter about a small Caribbean state like Haiti.

 

I gathered strong circumstantial evidence that UN peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti during a visit late last year:

 

The epidemic started near a Nepalese UN base

 

The UN base dumped raw sewage, which spreads the disease, near the country's main Artibonite River

 

Cholera spread down the Artibonite River and into the slums of the capital Port au Prince

 

Cholera was endemic in Nepal but had not been present in Haiti for a century

 

Mr Clinton has acknowledged that UN soldiers were the "proximate cause" of the cholera.

 

But UN officials shy away from taking full blame or issuing an apology.

 

They say tackling the disease is more important than apportioning blame.

 

They may also be reticent because Haitian and US lawyers are trying to sue the UN for financial compensation for the victims of cholera.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI 25 AUGUST 2012

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19365052

 

25 August 2012 Last updated at 18:09 GMT

 

Tropical Storm Isaac heads for Cuba after lashing Haiti

 

A tropical storm is rolling towards Cuba after bringing flood misery to the south coast of Haiti, where four people were killed.

 

The Cuban government has declared a state of alert in six provinces and evacuated thousands of people from high-risk areas.

 

There were no immediate reports of major damage in Haiti but heavy rain continued after the storm passed.

 

The US state of Florida has issued a storm warning on its coast.

 

Officials organised shelters and urged holiday-makers to leave the Florida Keys as Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency to make sure emergency services would be ready when the storm made landfall on Sunday.

 

Further north, Tampa is preparing to host the US Republican National Convention on Monday but weather forecasters believe it is unlikely Isaac will hit the city head-on.

 

'Sleeping in mud'

 

In HAITI, a girl of 10 died when a wall fell on her in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The British aid charity Oxfam said it knew of three other deaths.

 

The poorest country in the Americas is still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake and many of the 400,000 people still living in tent cities had no option but to weather the storm under canvas.

 

"From last night, we're in misery," Cite Soleil resident Jean-Gymar Joseph told the Associated Press news agency.

 

"All our children are sleeping in the mud, in the rain."

 

At one site, more than 50 tents collapsed, forcing people to search the mud for their belongings.

 

 

THE TROPICAL STORM ISAAC REACH HAITI SATURDAY MORNING CAUSING MASSIVE LANDSLIDES AND FLOODINGS. Parts of the capital Port-au-Prince were flooded.

 

A 10-year-old girl died when the water masses ravaged part of the tent camps where more than 400,000 people are still living after the earthquake in January 2010. The aid agencies have warned of water-borne diseases such as cholera.

 

Haiti's PM admitted that the authorities' ability to help those in need were "very limited".

 

Source: Swedish SVT text, but also Norway, Denmark and German media have mentioned the ravaging of the storm in Haiti and that it is heading for Cuba and Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI ON 1 SEPTEMBER 2012

 

 

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL WARNS OF CHOLERA EPIDEMICS IN HAITI

 

UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, warns that Haiti has difficulties in handling the cholera epidemics that has claimed thousands of human lives.

 

The conditions in the tent(ed) camps are getting worse and worse as the aid agencies are leaving Haiti due to shortage of funds/money.

 

In a report to the Security Council, the secretary-general writes that the number of cholera cases has risen since the rainy season started early in March.

 

The World Health Organization, WHO, estimates that the death toll may reach 112,000 cases in 2012.

Source: Danish TV2 News (nyhederne.tv2.dk)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Update about "400,000 Homeless Still Wait For a Plan: Support Housing Rights in Haiti"

 

(September 11, 2012) Housing activist Reyneld Sanon is beginning a tour to key cities in the United States. The tour will raise awareness about Under Tents, the international campaign for housing rights in Haiti. The campaign is a joint initiative of Haitian grassroots groups and more than 30 international organizations that are demanding a solution for Haiti’s homeless.

 

The January 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless.

 

In its wake, survivors spontaneously created more than a thousand temporary encampments throughout Port-au-Prince. There has been no long-term planning for a solution to the country’s housing crisis, and the Government of Haiti has no comprehensive plan to relocate the majority of people into safe, permanent homes. Indeed, fewer than 6,000 houses have been constructed since the earthquake. Nearly 400,000 Haitians are still living in displacement camps, where they face high rates of gender-based and other violence, forced evictions, lack of clean water and toilets, and cholera.

 

“People simply want a space where they can live like human beings,” said Sanon.

 

Last month, tropical storm Isaac hit Haiti, underscoring the crisis affecting those still living in temporary shelters, which are often not much more than a tarp. Thousands of shelters were destroyed in the storm’s 60 mph winds and heavy rain resulted in the flooding of camps. In all, 24 people were killed.

 

Beverly Bell, coordinator of Other Worlds, said, “It is past time to resolve the crisis of the hundreds of thousands of homeless people who’ve been forgotten. The billion-plus in U.S. government aid to Haiti has not resulted in the completion of one single house in earthquake-impacted area. We in the U.S. need to step up and ask our government to make funds available to resettle those suffering inhumane conditions.”

 

As part of the Under Tents campaign, Haitians are calling on their government to quickly designate land for housing and to implement a social housing plan. They also call on the Haitian government and international community to allocate funding to realize this plan.

 

The campaign website is undertentshaiti.com and a petition is open for signatures at http://www.change.org/undertents.

 

Sanon will visit New Orleans (Sept 14 -15), Houston (Sept 16 -17), Washington D.C. (Sept 18-20), New York City (Sept 21-24) and Miami (Sept 25-26). For more information about speaking events in your area see undertentshaiti.com/schedule or contact Deepa Panchang ([email protected]).

 

Reyneld Sanon is a leader within the current social movement in Haiti for the rights of Haiti’s homeless, or IDPs (internally displaced people). He was a founding member of FRAKKA (Force for Reflection and Action on Housing), a coalition of 40 grassroots groups founded in March 2010, two months after the earthquake; and currently serves as the director of FRAKKA's executive committee. Sanon has been a founding member of a range of civil society groups and has three decades of experience as a community animator, coordinator, and consultant for a range of local and international organizations.

 

Contact:

In U.S.: Mark Schuller, [email protected], (805) 637-0159 (English, Creole)

 

In Haiti: Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds, [email protected], (+509) 3739-4695 (English, Creole)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

NEWS IN RELATION TO THE SITUATION IN HAITI - 22 OCTOBER 2012

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20024400

 

22 October 2012 Last updated at 05:04 GMT

 

Haiti cholera epidemic 'most likely' started at UN camp - top scientist

 

By Mark Doyle BBC International Development Correspondent, Haiti and Boston

 

New evidence has emerged about the alleged role of United Nations troops in causing a cholera epidemic in the Caribbean nation of Haiti.

 

A top US cholera specialist, Dr Daniele Lantagne, said after studying new scientific data that it is now "most likely" the source of the outbreak was a camp for recently-arrived UN soldiers from Nepal - a country where cholera is widespread.

 

Dr Lantagne was employed by the UN itself in 2011 as one of the world's pre-eminent experts on the disease.

 

The new evidence could have serious implications for the UN, which is facing an unprecedented legal and moral challenge in Haiti - as well as a multi-billion dollar compensation claim from victims' families.

 

More than 7,500 people have died from the cholera epidemic in Haiti since it started in late 2010. Hundreds of new cases are still being registered every week.

 

It is by far the largest cholera outbreak in the world in recent years - with more cases than on the whole of the African continent.

 

Prior to this outbreak, and despite Haiti's many other problems - including a devastating earthquake in January 2010 - the country had not recorded a single case of cholera for over a century.

 

Cholera is spread through infected faeces and once it enters the water supply it is difficult to stop - especially in a country like Haiti which has almost no effective sewage disposal systems.

 

After studying molecular data known as full genome sequencing on the strain of cholera found in Haiti - and that prevalent in Nepal in 2010 - Dr Lantagne said: "We now know that the strain of cholera in Haiti is an exact match for the strain of cholera in Nepal."

 

Mountain of claims

 

In 2011 Dr Lantagne was employed by the UN as one of a "Panel of Experts" tasked with looking into the outbreak.

 

The 2011 UN report - co-signed by her - acknowledged that inadequate toilets in the Nepalese UN camp in the mountain town of Mirabalais could have leaked the cholera bacterium into the nearby Meye River which flows into the country's main waterways.

 

But the report stressed that the outbreak "was not the fault" of any "group or individual".

 

The Panel of Experts added that the subsequent spread of the disease across Haiti was due to many factors - including the country's deeply inadequate water supply and almost non-existent sewage disposal systems.

 

Now, Dr Lantagne says the new genome data (in addition to other evidence) has changed her view since she had co-authored the UN report which effectively said no-one was to blame.

 

"We can now say," Dr Lantagne said, "that the most likely source of the introduction of cholera into Haiti was someone infected with the Nepal strain of cholera and associated with the United Nations Mirabalais camp."

 

The UN's Head of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti, Nigel Fisher, acknowledged the new information but said he could not comment on its substance.

 

"I know there's new information there," Mr Fisher said.

 

"But the investigation is still with the [uN's New York] legal office, so I'm not able to say anything at this time until that's gone through the due process."

 

Mr Fisher sought to stress, however, the work the UN was doing to mitigate the effects of the cholera.

 

"What I can tell you about is the work I'm co-ordinating to respond to that terrible epidemic and the fact that we've seen a significant decline in cases over the last year. If we take any encouragement, we take encouragement from that."

 

The UN's lawyers are facing a mass compensation claim being pursued by Haitian and US lawyers against the UN.

 

Dignified weeping

 

The victims' families have lodged an official claim at UN HQ in New York for $100,000 (£62,500) for those who died and $50,000 for those who fell sick. The total claim runs into many billions of dollars.

 

After spreading along rivers in late 2010 the number of cases exploded in the coastal town of Saint Marc - before moving on, with deadly speed, into the slums of the capital Port au Prince.

 

Dr Rosana Edward was the first doctor to encounter the disease in St Marc's main public hospital, the Hopital Saint Nicolas.

 

"I remember that day very well," Dr Rosana - as she is fondly known in the hospital - told me in a stiflingly hot ward.

 

"My first cases had fever and diarrhoea. I looked at their stool samples and I said to myself 'Hey!,I think this is cholera!' - but I was also confused because we don't have cholera in Haiti.

 

"The next day the hospital was full to overflowing," Dr Rosana said.

 

"There were patients all over the floor. They were reaching out and grabbing my feet

 

"'Help me'," they pleaded, "'Please, help me'."

 

I asked Dr Rosana if she had heard the reports that the UN was to blame for introducing cholera into Haiti.

 

"I've heard those reports," she replied, "but I don't know if they are true. I don't have the proof."

 

"Haiti doesn't need this cholera," the 40-year-old medic then said. "We have so many other problems."

 

And then - quietly and with great dignity - Dr Rosana started to cry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

News in relation to Haiti from Danish TV2 News live

 

HAITI has also been hit - here the hurricane claimed 52 lives, and 200,000 have become homeless.

 

The aid agencies fear an upcoming shortage of food in the aftermath of the hurricane Sandy that had a devastating impact on Haitian agriculture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NEWS ON 4 NOVEMBER 2012 IN RELATION TO HAITI

 

 

FAMINE IN HAITI AFTER THE HURRICANE "SANDY"

 

A state of EMERGENCY has been declared in HAITI hit by massive devastation caused by hurricane SANDY.

 

Rainfalls in connection with the hurricane destroyed the crops in vast parts of HAITI, and now America's poorest country is threatened by famine according to the authorities.

 

At least 60 people were killed in Haiti by SANDY, and thousands were made homeless.

 

HAITI is also suffering following the devastating earthquake in January 2010 when more than 220,000 people were killed.

 

Source: RTLtext

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI ON 10 AND 11 NOVEMBER 2012

 

 

 

HAITI AFFECTED BY FLOODINGS AFTER HEAVY RAIN, KILLING AT LEAST 16 INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN

 

At least 16 have drowned and several are missing after grave floodings in northern Haiti since Friday - so El Economista reports.

 

Intensive / heavy rain caused the rivers in the region to burst their banks resulting in substantial damage to both buildings and the agriculture.

 

The rain destroyed a big part of the crops causing fears among the aid agencies that Haiti might experience FAMINE soon.

 

Almost 1,600 people have been evacuated - they are now in shelters according to the local rescue service.

 

Haiti tries to recover from the damage caused by the hurricane "Sandy" 2 weeks ago when at least 54 died and 20 remain missing.

 

Particularly affected by the strong rainfalls was the city of Cap Haitien in northern Haiti.

 

Sources: German ZDFtext + Swedish SVT Text

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

HAITI COMMEMORATES THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

 

The Caribbean state of HAITI has commemorated the more than 220,000 people that died 3 years ago in connection with the devastating magnitude 7 earthquake.

 

The national flags were on halbmast and the government had declared today a day of remembrance and reflection.

 

President Michel Martelly led a memoria ceremony in the capital Port-au-Prince at the site where once the presidential palace was standing before it collapsed because of the devastating quake on 12.1.10. In his speach Martelly appealed to the population to contribute to the reconstruction of the country.

 

Aid organizations talked of progress towards a stabilization, but also stressed the enormous problems facing the very poor country.

 

The reconstruction work has been slow because Haiti has been politically paralyzed and because the relief efforts have been poor.

 

Hundred thousands of Haitians still live in makeshift camps.

 

Sources: German ARDtext + ZDFtext

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FAITH, HOPE AND A LITTLE HOUSE IN THE MOUNTAINS

 

HAITI in January 2013 - 3 years after the earthquake

 

Translation of the essential contents of an article published in Danish Newspaper Berlingske Tidende on 12 January 2013

 

Article written by Lars Rosenkvist // [email protected] / translated by Nancy Boysen

 

3 years after the devastating earthquake the Haitians still try to get shelter and rebuild their lives. Berlingske visited a housing project in Haiti’s mountains close to the epicenter

 

Port-au-Prince: During the trip through Haiti’s capital we passed the tent cities along the roads leading to the capital. The building of permanent housing is now top priority in the relief work.

 

Most of the rubble has been cleared, and the most damaged houses have been demolished. The most noticeable tent cities – by the airport and in the parks of the capital – have been evacuated and cleared. The Haitians are in desperate need of housing.

 

3 years after the earthquake, a depressing number of Haitians are living in badly damaged houses and home-built huts, whereas 350,000 are still staying in the remaining about 500 tent cities.

 

After driving 1 hour on Route Nationale 2 we reach the town of Gressier from which – via a holey dirt road - we reach the village Ti Boukan and Institute de Technologie et d’Animation aka. ITECA.

 

Director Chenet Jean-Baptiste shows us the small plant / factory where concrete blocks are produced before we end in front of the pièce de résistance of the institute: A fully completed model of the 41 squaremeter standard house planned for the homeless population in the mountains close to the epicenter of the earthquake.

 

The house is said to be earthquake-proof and is equipped with a gutter running all the way round the housing and ending in a rainwater tank.

 

Despite being holiday season, all the men are working. The project’s Canadian sponsors have put an unrelenting pressure on them after several setbacks and delays. Now the Canadians want to see 50 houses completed by the end of January. And 400 houses in June.

 

The earthquake on 12 January, 2010 had a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale and destroyed most houses in the mountains in Haiti’s southern peninsula.

 

Aid organizations came to see the damage caused and then urged the inhabitants to come down from the mountains and to gather around the big towns where it would be easier to distribute aid.

 

But ITECA – a more than 30-year-old agricultural organization – persuaded the inhabitants to stay on their land. 1,700 families that had lost their homes were registered in the region. ITECA suggested that if the inhabitants built a temporary/makeshift house on their land, then ITECA would help them build new, permanent houses.

 

After the visit we drove up in the mountains to see some of the plots of land where peasants are building the new houses.

 

The makeshift / temporary houses in which the inhabitants had been living since the earthquake 3 years ago could hardly be called houses. But the optimism is enormous.

 

On the way back to Port-au-Prince I am told the reason for the visit.

 

“We have allocated almost 5 million dollar to the project, and our partner, Development and Peace, a little more than 1.6 million, says Erin Cosgrove from the Canadian equivalent of the Danish International Development Agency, Danida – a Danish organisation inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, set up to provide humanitarian aid and development assistance to other countries, with focus on developing countries).

 

“It is important that such projects are successful because Haiti is in lack of permanent housing”.

 

“As late as in 2012, temporary / makeshift shelters were still built. I have read somewhere that a total of 215 million dollars was spent on permanent houses, whereas 1.2 billion dollars was spent on makeshift / temporary accommodation”, says Erin Cosgrove who has been in Haiti for almost 2 years.

 

“Therefore, we are willing to give ITECA a long leash. Such projects must success”.

 

But housing in Haiti is a slow and frustrating affair that is i.a. made difficult by the fact that there is no registration of the actual owners of the land. Add to this a weak government, ideological disputes, logistic and contractual problems, shortage of skilled labor/workers and even the weather: In October 2012, the hurricane “Sandy” destroyed most of 2012’s crops and triggered massive landslides in the forest-poor country.

 

Consequently, the aid organizations have so far chosen not to deal with housing. Instead the aid organizations concentrated on the sectors in which they are experts: Transportation, health, education, water and sanitation.

 

“The reconstruction money was not spent on real reconstruction”, said UNDP’s country manager for Haiti, Jessica Faieta when she resigned from the post last autumn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

UN SUED BY HAITI CHOLERA EPIDEMIC VICTIMS

 

Lawyers representing the cholera epidemic victims in Haiti will sue UN in New York.

 

According to them UN relief workers from Nepal are to blame for more than 650,000 Haitians been hit by cholera.

 

More than 8,000 - around 8,300 - have died of cholera since October 2010.

 

The outbreak of cholera in Haiti followed the gigantic earthquake on 12.1.10.

 

The organization CDC thinks that there are indications that UN relief workers from Nepal are the source.

 

The outbreak of cholera was traced back to a river at a camp that had been the base of Nepalese UN soldiers, and the same type of cholera is widespread in Nepal.

 

UN claims legal immunity in relation to the epidemic, but that is rejected by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH).

 

Sources: Norwegian NRK News / international and Swedish SVT Text

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...