Haiti – 6 months after the earthquake
I have just returned from an assignment in Haiti documenting via film and photography the aftermath of the earthquake and the work of a small Scottish charity. It was my first time in Haiti and even after documenting the poverty of Africa and India, the situation in Haiti seemed even more desperate.
When the powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, aid workers poured into the country, along with pledges of security and billions of dollars in aid. It was a massive show of global assistance and solidarity – a sign of progress that the world acted rapidly and with care to a country already crippled with poverty. But six months on conditions for the victims have improved little, and in some cases it’s worse. The devastation caused by the earthquake of the 11th January 2010 was still very evident. Building after building in the capital Port Au Prince were partially collapsed or reduced to piles of rubble with thousands of bodies still remaining buried. Tent cities were everywhere – from roadside islands, to public parks, anywhere away from damaged buildings that Haitians still fear could collapse again in another earthquake. Life for the survivors in these tent cities has become increasingly desperate – and whilst crime has not yet spiralled out of control, many people are being victimized by petty thieves and violence, and rape against women is on the increase.
So far Haiti has not witnessed any large-scale reconstruction in the past six months, and the newspapers and media are full of reports and features about it. Haiti has slipped back into the public domain for a limited time for something as trivial as a ’6 month anniversary.’ There are fundamental issues about the billions of dollars pledged. Only two per cent of the pounds 3.5 billion promised in short-term international aid has reportedly got to Haiti, and how can you rebuild a country that was already suffering prior to the earthquake? In an ideal utopian world Haiti would have to be rebuilt from scratch.
But what won’t be reported is the small but significant stories of those smaller and local led NGO’s that have made progress. The organisation I was documenting - Mary’s Meals – and their US partner have already rebuilt schools and re-instated a school feeding programme that was feeding tens of thousands of children before the earthquake. There will no doubt be similar unreported stories of small but effective NGO’s and charities who are doing similar good work in Haiti, but for the meantime, the focus is quite rightly on the disgrace that Haiti finds itself in 6 months on. The next media spotlight on Haiti will be the one year anniversary in Jan 2011 – Haitians are praying that these next 6 months will see recovery in their country that is so desperately needed.
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