TOMORROW?marks the first year that Haiti was devasted by a massive earthquake taking in its wake about 300 000 lives and leaving almost 1.5 million homeless.
The 7.0 quake on January 12, 2010 caused widescale suffering and infrastractural damage, the effects of which are still being felt a year afterwards with tonnes of rubble and debris still in the streets of Port-au-Prince.
“Haiti is still living through a profound humanitarian crisis that affects the human rights of those displaced by the disaster,” said Walter Kaelin, secretary general Ban Ki moon’s representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).
Kaelin, who recently ended a visit to the country, said camp residents included both those who lost their homes and others fleeing poverty exacerbated by the January quake.
There are also reports that the birth rate has tripled since January leaving the country with not only a massive reconstruction bill but with thousands of children to feed and maintain over the next 20 years.
This is based on a new finding of a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report released by UNFPA’s State Of The World Population Report 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Haiti has also been severely affected by a cholera outbreak. (JS)
Here, Earthquake survivor Darlene Etienne showing a photo of her rescue shot by Associated Press photographer Ramon Espinosa to her grandmother. The 17-year-old was pulled from the rubble of her cousin’s home near the ruins of the St Gerard parish school by French rescue workers, more than two weeks after the January 12 massive earthquake.
