PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haitians, many dressed in white in mourning, honoured victims of the devastating 2010 earthquake yesterday in a sombre anniversary clouded by pessimism over slow reconstruction and political uncertainty.
Thousands attended memorial services, including one at the ruins of the National Cathedral in the wrecked capital Port-au-Prince led by the Papal envoy to Haiti, other religious leaders, government officials and foreign dignitaries.
Many local mourners stretched out their arms, calling out aloud the names of dead loved ones and imploring God’s help.
In one sign of popular frustration over the sluggish pace of internationally backed recovery efforts, some 60 demonstrators at one point displayed banners in the city center criticising UN peacekeepers and aid non-governmental organisations. One banner condemned the “occupation” of Haiti, while others read “NGOs are wasting money”.
But in general the mood was quietly sombre in the ravaged coastal city, which is still filled with rubble from the massive quake that struck the poor Caribbean nation at 4.53pm a year ago, killing about 250,000 people.
Despite an outpouring of solidarity for Haiti from around the world, billions of dollars of aid pledges and a huge ongoing humanitarian operation, ordinary Haitians say they are still waiting to see a positive impact in the western hemisphere’s poorest state.
“If the reconstruction were serious, the Mass would be happening inside the rebuilt church,” Carla Fleuriven, a 19-year-old mother of three dressed in a white skirt and blouse, said outside the cathedral.
Reconstruction work has barely begun, profiteering by Haiti’s tiny and notoriously corrupt elite has reached epic proportions, and a national cholera epidemic has added to the misery of the quake-crippled country.
“God made the earthquake, but it’s our leaders who are selling our misery,” said Sephonese Louis (58), one of the protesters in the Champs de Mars, Port-au-Prince’s central plaza where thousands of families made homeless by the quake live in a sweltering tent city,
Former US president Bill Clinton, the special UN envoy for Haiti who heads its main disaster management body, attended remembrance services with other dignitaries and celebrities, such as Haitian-American hip-hop star Wyclef Jean. – (Reuters)