The horrific Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti caused building collapses in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs that killed at least 300,000 people. It left an uncounted number injured and 1.5 million homeless.
Four years later, according to the Ministry of Public Works, an estimated 20 percent of the ruble has yet to be removed. Only 7,515 units of public housing have been built and what has been built suffers from major shortcomings. (Haiti Grassroots Watch, Jan. 8)
The massive devastation of Haiti touched off a worldwide outpouring of sympathy and solidarity. Governments promised $14 billion in aid. However, not much has substantially improved in the lives of the Haitian people.
The U.S. government put together an aid package worth $128 million to build an industrial park in Caracol on the northwest coast of Haiti that was supposed to supply 60,000 jobs. (Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2013) At the end of 2013, only 2,590 people were working there and many of them weren’t paid even Haiti’s minimum wage of $4.54 a day. (New York Times, Jan. 10)
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