Birnin Zana
Honorary Wakandan
First people of African descent who freed themselves from slavery? From an African, the Haitian people will ALWAYS have my respect.
The spanish had the whole island at one point. Once the spanish set the eyes on a muxh more lavish place called Mexico(and others), they left small amount of soldiers/enforcer on the haiti side.htf you divide an Island into two countries yo
Three years after a massive earthquake ravaged Haiti, President Michel Martelly said Saturday the country was slowly rebuilding, despite the ongoing day-to-day misery of many survivors.
An estimated 250,000 people were killed in the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Hundreds of thousands are still living rough in squalid makeshift camps, and they now face rampant crime, a cholera outbreak and the occasional hurricane.
"I bow in memory of the victims. I can still hear the cries of pain from families who lost loved ones, but dry your tears," a visibly moved Martelly said on the grounds of the presidential palace, which collapsed in the quake.
"Despite all the suffering, Haiti is recovering."
Government ministers, officials and diplomats attended the somber memorial ceremony in the capital Port-au-Prince, at which a police siren rang out in honor of the dead.
While the presidential palace had been reduced to a heap of stone and metal, "the flag remains aloft and proud," Martelly said, vowing to rebuild his impoverished Caribbean country from the ground up.
The president was due to lay a wreath later in the day at a mass grave north of Port-au-Prince where the remains of tens of thousands of people are buried.
Residents of the capital flocked to the city's churches, signing mournful hymns in memory of lost loved ones.
The rebuilding process has been slow in Haiti, which was already one of the world's poorest countries when disaster struck three years ago.
Beyond the presidential palace, several other ministries remain in ruins and unusable. The parliament has been razed and Port-au-Prince's cathedral has been reduced to rubble. Other churches and schools were destroyed.
In tough comments to journalists on the eve of Saturday's anniversary, Martelly said he was "not satisfied" with progress, and urged foreign donors to have more faith in his administration to lead reconstruction efforts.
"Where has the money given to Haiti after the earthquake gone?" he said late Friday, charging that only a third of the international aid recorded so far was actually handed over to the Haitian government, urging an overhaul.
"Most of the aid was used by non-governmental organizations for emergency operations, not for the reconstruction of Haiti.
"Let's look this square in the eye so we can implement a better system that yields results," he added.
The European Union on Friday pledged another $40.7 million in help, with aid commissioner Kristalina Georgievasaying the bloc "remains committed to helping Haitians in need and the country with its reconstruction."
In the past two years, hundreds of housing units have been built, and the government has set up shop in pre-fabricated buildings, the best option until ministries can be rebuilt. But the reconstruction process has been slow.
"We have recorded damages of nearly $13 billion," said Martelly, who came to power in the nation of 9.8 million people a little over a year after the quake.
"My dream is to see the country turn into a sprawling construction site."
In the streets of Port-au-Prince, however, Haitians say they have waited long enough.
"If our leaders don't do something to get us out of these tents, we will take to the streets one day," said Jacky, an unemployed father of three.
Ary Adam, who is in charge of the office tasked with the reconstruction of public buildings and housing, said Haiti needs 400,000 homes to house the 1.5 million people left homeless by the quake.
But the money is not there. Adam says private investment may be a solution, but not in the short term.
ain't that something but the dam i didnt knowsome good press
remember all those phony pledges of help from the western nations after the earthquake? all talk and no action.
Major power boost for Haiti as Chinese firm agrees to finance $240m dam
10 February 2015 | By David Rogers
A memorandum of understanding was signed yesterday (pictured) between Chinese contractor Sinohydro and the Haitian government that opens the way to the construction of a $240m hydroelectric power station, which will be largely finance by Chinese money.
Evans Paul, the prime minister of Haiti, commented on the government’s website: “We have been trying to build this dam for the past 39 years. Now the Artibonite 4C will have a big impact on the regional economy and its productivity.”
The government estimates that the dam will create 7,500 jobs, irrigate 3,500ha of land and boost agricultural production by at least $10m a year.
The Artibonite 4C dam will add 32MW to the country’s installed capacity of about 270MW. It is estimated that the project could provide electricity for as many as a million people in 200,000 households.
Currently the Haitian electricity system, which reaches about 12% of the island’s population, is mostly provided by ageing infrastructure that is inefficient and expensive to maintain.
Haiti’s Artibonite river, which offers the prospect of renewable electricity for 200,00 homes (Wikimedia Commons)
The early work on the dam was financed by grants of $1.5m from the Inter-American Development Bank and $2.5m from the government of Brazil. A feasibility study was carried out by the Brazilian army, and the government pledged $40m towards the final cost.
However, the Ministry of Public Works then struggled to find funding for the project from aid donors or development funders, until the Chinese stepped in with an offer to provide the money to build the scheme.
Construction is expected to take between 36 and 42 months. One problem facing the project is a cholera epidemic that has followed the course of the Artibonite River.
The disease, which is thought to have been introduced by a Nepalese soldier in a UN peacekeeping unit, has affected 720,000 Haitians and killed almost 9,000. The UN has estimated that eradicating the disease will take 10 years and cost $2.2bn.
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