Haiti feels quake effects still
Haiti's President Michel Martelly does a little dance after announcing that, with the help of Canada's government, nearly 20,000 people who have been camped across the street from the collapsed National Palace since the 2010 earthquake will be relocated to homes north of the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti (Jan. 11, 2012) Credit: AP
On top of everything else that Haiti has endured in the two years since its devastating earthquake, the island nation is still coping with a cholera epidemic and governmental dysfunction that eclipses the mess in Washington. It raises again the question: When does Haiti catch a break?
The earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, left 300,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless. Two years on, 500,000 people are still living in tents. Add to that the cholera outbreak, which has killed 7,000 and infected more than 500,000. Worse, it is now widely believed that the arrival of UN troops from Nepal, along with sloppy UN handling of waste disposal, created the outbreak. It's truly sad that those who are supposed to help have also spread pestilence.
Nor has the government improved matters. President Michel Martelly, a singer with no real political experience, was inaugurated in May. But he and lawmakers in Parliament clashed. They balked at his initial choices for prime minister, and it took him six months to get one in place to form a government. Last week, he admitted that he made mistakes and said that recovery is still a long way off.
The world has been generous, but the presence of 12,000 aid groups has not ended the misery. The needs remain acute: electricity, running water, jobs, education and permanent housing.
Haiti's government and the world community must find ways to cooperate better and make real progress -- long before the quake's third anniversary.
