Haiti Earthquake 1 year later: This article in the AnglicanJournal.com points out the continuing struggles for recovery, and the vast challenges ahead as the nation of Haiti works to rebuild and care for its people.
Haiti one year later: Is recovery possible?
By Marites N. Sison in AnglicanJournal.com
A year after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake reduced Port-au-Prince to rubble, leaving more than 200,000 dead and 1.5 million displaced, questions remain about whether or not recovery is possible, and if so, what that would look like.
Today, a million Haitians continue to live in sprawling tent cities. Only five per cent of the 24 million metric tons of debris has been removed, and refugees continue to flock to struggling rural communities. Crowded and unsafe conditions have given rise to spiraling rates of domestic violence, and rape of women and girls and exploitation of children in the sex industry has reached a four-year high, according to Unicef.
Charities have acknowledged that the relief phase of the humanitarian mission to Haiti is far from over. An outbreak of cholera, which killed more than 3,000 people and infected 157,000 others, has hampered progress. So has “a year of indecision” by the Haitian government, and lack of co-ordination among donors as main culprits, according to Oxfam, an aid organization.
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“…the earthquake has exposed the suffering of the Haitian people,” said Constantine Triantafilou, executive director of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC). “Much remains to be done to address the long-term needs for permanent housing, clean water and sanitation, and other basic necessities that will help to restore justice, dignity and peace to the people of Haiti.”