Haiti Archive

Today marks the anniversary of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti. One journalist chronicles the missteps that have come from ‘well-intentioned’ individuals as the nation struggles to rebuild.

In the year since the earthquake, Haiti has become an architectural Eden, where no one has “plans” or “designs” — just “solutions.”

There are 800,000 homeless people here, 180,000 houses damaged and $5.7 billion pledged. All two hours from Miami. American entrepreneurs appeared in Haiti just days, and sometimes, hours after the earthquake. But they weren’t the only ones.

Charities that never before set foot in Haiti appeared within hours — photographers in tow and dollar signs in their eyes. Shelter is “sexy” humanitarian aid. Houses and tents are photographable. Try telling your donors, “We helped 100 people urinate in a toilet today!” or “The trash on the street is now in a pile!”

But for most, the easy deal never materialized. Though more than $1 billion has been spent in Haiti since the quake hit a year ago Wednesday, only about 1,000 permanent houses to replace the ones that crumbled have actually been built here. And none in Port-au-Prince, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Program, which tracks the numbers. At this rate, Haiti will be “Built Back Better” by the year 2110.

Read more—>http://aol.it/dWxbc0