ONE YEAR after the January 12th earthquake in Haiti claimed a quarter of a million lives, a million displaced people are still living out under “temporary” tents and tarpaulins in the capital Port au Prince. The quake destroyed 105,000 homes, damaged 208,000 and created 20 million cubic metres of rubble. To date, only 5 per cent of the rubble has been cleared and only 15 per cent of the temporary housing need has been met, according to aid agencies Oxfam and Concern.
The misery has been compounded by the epidemic of cholera which has so far taken 3,400 lives – it is estimated that there are 100,000 cases, with the UN warning the number could rise to 400,000 over the year unless the situation is tackled decisively. The issue has become highly charged with unsubstantiated claims that Nepalese UN troops were responsible for the outbreak leading to demonstrations and attacks on the contingent. UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon has been forced to appoint a UN expert inquiry. And Amnesty has also expressed concern about escalating sexual violence by armed men preying with impunity on women in displacement camps.
A massive humanitarian operation to relieve immediate distress has had some notable success. However it seems it has yet to move seriously into a reconstruction phase. It has been frustrated, say aid organisations, by the scale of the need, disease, and political chaos, but also by failures of leadership and co-ordination from the Haitian government and the international community, a “quagmire of indecision and delay”, according to an Oxfam report.
An international donors conference last March pledged to use the opportunity of the catastrophe to replace Port au Prince’s teeming slums with new, higher standard homes. But such an aspiration remains little more than a dream, a reflection of the reality that of $2.1 billion then pledged by the international community only some $900 million has as yet been disbursed.
The earthquake crippled the already weak Haitian state apparatus and administrative machinery, which has scarcely recovered, a challenge compounded by the political chaos associated with presidential elections marred by low turnout, disorganisation, fraud, and intimidation of voters. A second round will not be completed until February.
And Oxfam’s report is highly critical of the ineffectiveness of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) led by former US president Bill Clinton and Haiti’s prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive. Supposed to improve co-ordination of international aid projects, build state capacity for implementation and bring donors and government actors together to lead the reconstruction, it has met only a few times and been plagued by “often contradictory policies and priorities”.
In the short term Oxfam says it is difficult to be optimistic about progress. Haiti remains a human tragedy of colossal proportions, still desperately in need of international aid and your donations.