Haiti: Starting Over
With devastation like this, three months barely makes a difference.
The rescues are largely over here in Port-au-Prince. Now comes the much, much harder part: restoring a government, economy – a nation that was teetering on the edge before the January earthquake took 230-thousand lives and caused more damage than the value of the Haitian economy.
Today, President Rene Preval will ask 100 donor nations assembled at the United Nations in New York City for $3.9 billion to rebuild the nation. One billion is designated to re-establish the Haitian government, which was already politically weak, but who’s parliamentary and presidential buildings are completely decimated.
But many Haitians worry it will wind up back in the pockets of the internationals themselves, or the their corrupt Haitian leaders. One effort to curb that – is setting up what will be called the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which will have leaders of the donor community, NGO’s and Haitian government officials. Still, many believe this is the world’s best chance of reconstructing Haiti from the ground up.
“If we are going to do this, we’ve got to do it smartly, and that does mean that it’s about partnership with the Haitians,” Sarah Muscroft, deputy head of the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs here in Haiti said.
I saw the impact first-hand on Tuesday, when I visited the Petitionville Club Camp. Once, a ritzy golf course in a wealthy part of town, it is now home to more than 10-thousand refugees in tents….and get this – roving pigs.
People and pigs co-exist virtually on top of each other on this hillside which aid workers fear will be a death trap once the spring rains come. Navy Seabees and USAID Contractor, CHF, are digging ditches this week to direct the water safely around the tents into a system of canals. CHF has a contract for more than $20-million to do this work as well as other debris removal.
“Get her done. If we can handle Iraq and Afghanistan, we can handle this,” Petty officer, Shawn Pidsanick told me.
Despite this, most of the people I met and spoke with were friendly and pleasant, sporting that famous Haitian smile of welcoming. The children fashioned kites out of bits of plastic and sticks to fly for hours…and a group of boys kicked a deflated ball down the dusty path. But at night, reports of sexual abuse and physical abuse are rampant. Several members of the 209th military police company stand guard. One guard told me he had only ever had to break up fights – no acts of abuse. Aid workers are focusing now on increasing protections for women and children.
While American-trained teams of Haitian inspectors are finding that 40% of the homes in the city can be lived in again, many Haitians are afraid to return for fear of after shocks, or simple superstition. And yet – the government has so far only been able to secure a total of 7 tracts of land for resettlement – two were already publicly held. Three had to be obtained through eminent domain from private landowners. The hope is to move the most vulnerable nine thousand or so people to one of those tracts by mid-April.
