Eight months after a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated Haiti, recovery efforts there offer a decidedly mixed portrait. The humanitarian effort – vital after a natural disaster that claimed about 200,000 lives and left untold numbers homeless – was generally prompt and effective. Work to clean up the massive amount of rubble left by the quake and to begin rebuilding, however, is almost nonexistent.
Experts say, for example, that only about 2 percent of the debris in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital and largest city, has been removed. Near paralysis of the city and the nation is the result.
That’s hardly surprising. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, barely functioned before the earthquake. The government was ineffective at best and corrupt at worst. Public services were almost nonexistent and the economic climate so dire that internal and external investment was more a dream than a reality. The earthquake made matters worse.
Many of those displaced by the quake still live in tent cities. Most of the camps, while Spartan, provide safe haven for quake victims. That’s because they are run by foreign agencies and organizations, not the Haitian government. In some camps, however, refugees are closely crowded and lax security allows a range of crime, from robberies to rape.
There’s no likelihood at the moment that the tent cities will disappear. That can’t happen until the rubble is cleared, but the Haitian government apparently is unable to manage that work. Indeed, the government of President Rene Preval has yet to name a person or agency to take charge of rubble removal, and there is no overall plan for cleaning up the debris. Consequently, little work has been done.
The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, set up following the quake to manage the billions of promised aid to the stricken country, hasn’t been able to do its job because of bottlenecks within Haiti. Just one example: The commission approved a multimillion-dollar plan to clean up six neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, but officials can’t or won’t select the neighborhoods to be cleared. As long as that remains the case, Haitians will find it impossible to attempt to resume more normal lives.
What needs to be done to jump-start the process of reviving civic and economic activity in Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country is plain. Rubble removal should move ahead before tropical growth covers it and makes an already tough task more difficult. Public infrastructure – civil service, utilities, etc. – should be recreated or started anew. Domestic economic development should be encouraged so international investment will follow.
That’s a tall order for a poor nation. The quake and its aftermath compounded perennial problems. Much of the world still stands ready to provide money and assistance to help rebuild Haiti, but it is increasingly reluctant to do so until Haitians signal that they can at least start the long-term process on their own. Stepping up the pace of rubble removal would be a sign that Haiti is willing and able to do so.