Haitians tire of waiting, start own rebuilding
<http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182796/haitians-tire-of-waiting-start-own-rebuilding>
01/30/2010 | 07:12 AM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Defying pleas to wait for Haiti's
reconstruction, families lugged heavy bundles of wood and tin up steep
hillsides Friday to do the unthinkable: build new homes on top of old
ones devastated in the earthquake.
The defiance reflects growing anger and frustration among Haitians who
complain that their leaders — and any rebuilding plans — are absent
more than two weeks after the Jan. 12 earthquake damaged or destroyed
thousands of homes in the capital.
Few tents have been supplied, rubble remains strewn in many streets,
and signs begging for help in English — not Haitian Creole — dot nearly
every street corner in Port-au-Prince.
It could take another month to get the 200,000 tents needed for Haiti's
homeless, said Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, the culture and
communications minister. Haiti now has fewer than 5,000 donated tents.
In the concrete slum of Canape Vert, an area devastated by the quake,
dozens of people were pooling their labor and getting on with
rebuilding.
"I have 44 years' worth of memories in this house," said Noel Marie
Jose, 44, whose family was reinforcing crumbling walls with tin and
wood.
"I got married here. I met my husband here. My mother braided my hair
there where these walls used to stand," Jose said. "Even if it's
unsafe, I can't imagine leaving. Even if the government helps, it will
come too late. This is how it is in Haiti."
Surrounding her, concrete homes were either crushed or had toppled down
a hill. Jose and other families said they were worried both about the
coming rainy season and fears they may lose their plots after
demolitions because they either lack clear title or the government does
not want them to rebuild on land it considers unsafe.
Reconstruction, resettlement and land titles are all priorities of the
government of President Rene Preval — but so far in name only. The
government has been nearly paralyzed by the quake — its own
infrastructure, including the National Palace, was destroyed — and so
far it has been limited to appeals for foreign aid and meetings with
foreign donors that have yet to produce detailed plans for the
emergencies it confronts.
Its first priority is moving people from areas prone to more
earthquakes and landslides into tent cities that have sanitation and
security but have yet to be built. Preval has engaged in dozens of
meetings with potential outside contractors to discuss debris removal,
sanitation and other long-term needs. Albert Ramdin, assistant
secretary of the Organization of American States, has offered help in
creating a new Haitian land registry — a process that could take months
if not years because countless government records were destroyed in the
quake.
Haitians ardently defend their property rights. If a family has
occupied land for more than 10 years, they gain ownership rights even
without a deed. For some families, small homes have been passed on
through the generations. Few Haitians have insurance, and the loss of
what few assets they have has crippled countless families.
Many have tired of living in tents improvised from tarps, sheets and
bedspreads, opting to rebuild their homes rather than find new plots.
Lassegue said such rebuilding wouldn't be tolerated — and that the
government wants to develop and implement a comprehensive
reconstruction plan that might feature building codes, an anomaly in
this impoverished nation.
"We've been sleeping outside but the rains will come soon," said
Merilus Lovis, 27, taking wooden planks and erecting them for walls
inside the foundation of his former home, where his wife and daughter
died. "I'm scared of the floods on this hillside but I don't think that
God would let such bad things happen twice."
Paul Louis, a 45-year-old porter, has started a business buying wood
from scavengers and selling it on the street. He purchased a cracked
and worn 1-by-8-foot board for about $2 and was selling it Friday for
$3.
"People are afraid to build with concrete now," Louis said.
In another neighborhood, people dug through destroyed homes to salvage materials. Women did the wash amid the ruins.
"I have stayed, but I lost my home," said Thomas Brutus, who lives
perched precariously on a debris-strewn hillside in a shack made from
the remains of destroyed homes. "So I made this little house, even
though I know it's dangerous. We have been here for 14 days and have
received no help."
Many residents say they're staying because they grow vegetables on
their small plots. Thousands of others have swarmed to improvised tent
camps, where Elisabeth Byrs, an official of the U.N.'s humanitarian
coordination office, said there is a "major concern" about sanitation.
About 200,000 people are in need of post-surgery follow-up treatment and an unknown number have untreated injuries, she said.
In other developments:
• Teams of looters overwhelmed private security guards in the downtown
commercial district, carting off refrigerators and washing machines as
well as wood and steel from damaged businesses. Hundreds of bystanders
protested the failure of Haitian police to stop them, and cheered "Viva
US military!" as a patrol from the US 82nd Airborne Division came in to
restore order. Police belatedly arrested the men.
• Haiti hopes schools outside the capital not affected by the
earthquake can open in coming weeks and that those not destroyed in
Port-au-Prince could start operating in March, Lassegue said. An
estimated 200 schools in Port-au-Prince were destroyed or partially
damaged, many of them collapsing on students. Getting children into
schools would help protect them from predators taking advantage of the
quake that orphaned unknown thousands and separated thousands more from
their parents. Haiti has always had a problem with traffickers looking
for child and sex slaves.
• The United Nations asked for a $700 million agricultural investment
fund for Haiti to boost food production and create jobs. The 18-month
plan is part of the government's strategy to rebuild the country, the
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said. Top needs are seeds, tools
and fertilizers so farmers can plan for spring planting season.
"The food situation in Haiti was already very fragile before the
earthquake and Haiti was highly dependent on food imports," Alexander
Jones, FAO's emergency response manager in Haiti, said in a statement.
• The United States has distributed some 43,000 radios to people in
Port-au-Prince so they can hear public service announcements.
• The US Drug Enforcement Administration said it had suspended
operations in Haiti so its agents can focus on the disaster.
Traffickers have long favored Haiti as a transit point for South
American drugs. - AP