Haiti: Two Years Later
Cholera cripples Haiti, two years after quake: A woman
suffering cholera symptoms is pushed in a wheelbarrow
to a hospital Wednesday in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-
au-Prince. (Ramon Espinosa / Associated Press)
Life in Devastated Haiti
Post-Quake Haiti: One Year Later
Misery and Despair Plague Haitians
Haiti's Cholera Epidemic Sparks Outrage
Haitian Suffering Under Imperial Occupation
Haiti's Cholera Outbreak: A Disease of Poverty
Haiti's Cholera Epidemic: Mounting Illnesses and Deaths, Inadequate Aid
On January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a calamitous earthquake. Port-au-Prince was devastated. Property destruction and damage were extensive. As many as 300,000 or more died. Many others were injured. Impoverished Haitians enduring crushing hardships lost everything, including loved ones. Two years later, relief efforts belie unaddressed human needs.
A January 11 AFP article headlined, "Haiti quake victims stuck in a time warp," saying:
Port-au-Prince suburb Petionville symbolizes conditions. Around "2,500 people subsist in a crowded public park near open ditches flowing with human waste, a grim scene frozen in time two years after Haiti's earthquake disaster."
Homeless, half-clothed, barefoot children "chase a worn football across a filthy clearing, past puddles of putrid waste water."
Over half a million survivors endure appalling conditions in hundreds of makeshift camps. They remain homeless, struggling to survive.
Billions in promised aid never came. Grandiose visions proved pipe-dreams. Most rubble remains. Reconstruction is inadequate to meet enormous needs.
"The problems facing Haiti are vast, if not insurmountable, in the short term." Hundreds of thousands who lost everything live in legal limbo. Cholera's devastating thousands. Culpable UN Blue Helmets won't accept blame.
Understated reports show 7,000 deaths and over half a million infected. True figures may be double or more. UN Haiti chief humanitarian officer said:
"What we are looking at in Haiti is not just recovery from the earthquake. It's not just dealing with a cholera epidemic. Those came on top of a country which was structurally broken" by neglect, persecution, and exploitive US dominance.
One victim told AFP, "My hope is God, not the leaders of this country" who've done pathetically little to help.