Americas

Americas

Confidence restored in Haiti two years after earthquake

12 January 2012 18:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Haitians’ efforts to rebuild their country from the ruins of a catastrophic earthquake two years ago are finally giving the people a reason to look forward, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

A ceremony is scheduled to take place in Titanyin, where a memorial has been built near the largest mass grave for victims of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, which killed about 300,000 and left the country in tatters.

Marc-Andre Franche, deputy director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), observed the exceptional strength the Haitian people displayed to help the country get back on its feet.

He noted that in the past year alone, Haiti was able to remove more than half of the 10 million cubic meters of rubble, recycle 20 percent of the debris and cut the number of refugees from 1.5 million to 550,000.

About 83 million U.S. dollars was spent on the reconstruction and 88 percent of the funds committed for various projects had been transferred, Franche said.

The Haitian government said the country’s education system is gradually returning to normal, with 903,000 children back at school and receiving transport and lunch in 2011.

Haitian President Michel Martelly said the government’s housing program, which provides houses for refugees for about 500 dollars, has helped thousands of families.

In mid-November last year, Martelly participated in a ceremony that declared Place St. Pierre, an emblematic area in Port-au-Prince which was occupied by hundreds of homeless, free of refugees.

The central and local governments had implemented 30 percent of the recovery projects, even in the midst of an electoral crisis that resulted in a five-month period without a prime minister, Franche said.

Despite looming social crises and its previous impoverished state, Haiti had risen fast, he said.

Martelly has promised that 2012 will be a year with a "dynamic economy" and predicted an 8 percent increase in GDP for the country, higher than the region’s average.

The Haitian government also intends to create thousands of jobs, initiate reforms to increase revenues without collecting more taxes and keep the inflation rate below 10 percent.

Despite notable achievements, the Caribbean island still faces many challenges. Unemployment and poverty remain widespread, and 80 percent of the children still live in refugee camps.

The pace of reconstruction outside the capital is lagging. One example can be found 30 km southwest of the capital at Leogane, where 7,000 people died in the earthquake and 90 percent of the population were left homeless.

"Almost nothing has been done here," Leogane Mayor Alexis Santos said.