Haiti tent camp
One year ago today Haiti was devastated by an Earthquake that claimed approximately 230,000 lives. The Earthquake that lasted no more than 30 seconds has caused so much damage for this country that a year is not nearly enough time to resurrect it.
According to USA Today:
The United Nations, U.S. aid officials and Haiti's government insist that progress is being made though it's hard to see amid the widespread devastation. Still, that progress is piecemeal, a reflection of Haitian poverty and institutional weakness before the quake, the scale of devastation after, and the challenge of coordinating an international cast of actors carrying out their own rebuilding objectives, say aid experts.
The U.N. reported in December that the number of people left homeless by the quake had dropped from 1.5 million to 1 million. Even that possible sign of progress may not be what it seems, because the U.N. isn't sure whether those who left camps set up for the homeless had found decent housing. Elsewhere in this nation of close to 10 million that was struggling with poverty long before the quake, there is little sense that things have improved.
The unemployment rate here is the highest in the hemisphere. The U.S. government reports that as many as two-thirds of Haiti's workers have no job or are working very little. Most homes, schools and buildings that toppled in the quake have not been rebuilt; even the rubble has not been cleared. Crime is going up.
