Aid for Haiti

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NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI ON 3 AUGUST 2011


HAITI REMAINS WITHOUT PRIME MINISTER

Haiti's President, Michel Martelly, has not yet succeeded in electing a Prime Minister (PM). Martelly has now made two attempts, but a majority in the Haitian Parliament has rejected his candidates.

Michel Martelly was elected president 3 months ago.

Martelly's latest PM candidate was Haiti's former minister of Justice, Bernard Gousse.

16 out of the senate's 30 member voted NO. And the rest abstained from voting!!

Bernard Gousse has been under suspicion of pursuing political opponents.

(Text-TV on Danish DR1 and Swedish SVT)



TROPICAL STORM "EMILY" THREATENS THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI


The tropical storm "Emily" moves toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti. There 630,000 remains homeless after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

The storm with torrential rain and very strong winds is - according to calculations made by meteorologists - expected to reach the island of Hispaniola - on which the Dominican Republic and Haiti are located - later Wednesday.

Experts are in particular warning against MASSIVE FLOODS.

(Text-TV on German ZDF / ZDF Text)

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14399524

4 August 2011 Last updated at 15:32 GMT

Rain hits Haiti as Tropical Storm Emily looms offshore

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians in makeshift camps are bracing for heavy downpours as Tropical Storm Emily approaches.

Rain has damaged several hundred homes in the Artibonite region, the civil protection agency head told AP, but so far no deaths have been reported.

Haiti is still struggling to recover from the January 2010 earthquake.

President Michel Martelly took office in May but has not yet managed to form a government, complicating aid efforts.

Tropical Storm Emily has been bringing rain and strong winds to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola.

At 1500 GMT on Thursday, Emily was reported to be nearly stationary 145km (90 mile) south-south-east of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

While maximum winds were put at 85km/h (50mph), the main threat was from torrential downpours.

"This storm has a lot of heavy rainfall with it," meteorologist Diana Goeller told the Associated Press.

Forecasters said 15-30cm (6-12in) of rain could fall, but with up to 20in possible in some regions.

The head of Haiti's civil protection agency, Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, said rain had damaged buildings in the Artibonite region.

She also said a cholera treatment centre had been damaged in the Central Plateau region.

Stalemate

Haitian officials had issued a red alert and urged people to leave camps, many of which are sited on deforested hillsides.

"People living in unsafe housing will be the worst affected if flooding hits," Harry Donsbach from charity World Vision told AFP.

"Landslides are of courses a threat, but even simply heavy rain has the potential to worsen the volatile sanitation conditions in camps, which, with cholera still prevalent in Haiti, is a serious concern."

According to the International Office of Migration, some 634,000 Haitians still live in camps, although other estimates of what is a necessarily fluctuating population put the figure at 375,000.


On Tuesday, Haitian lawmakers voted against Mr Martelly's new choice of prime minister, Bernard Gousse, following their rejection in June of his first pick, Daniel-Gerard Rouzier.

President Martelly needs a prime minister in order to assemble a government that can work with international agencies involved in the task of rebuilding after the 2010 quake.

The lack of an administration is also hampering planning for potential disasters.

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AT LEAST 4 KILLED BY TROPICAL STORM "EMILY" ON THE ISLAND OF HISPANIOLA HOUSING THE TWO STATES - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PLUS HAITI

7,000 were evacuated in the Dominican Republic where 3 men were killed. 1 man died in the south-western part of Haiti.

"Emily" is continuing towards FLORIDA and is once again developing into a tropical storm according to the US Hurricane Center.

Text-TV on German ZDF / ZDF Text

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14514905

13 August 2011 Last updated at 06:27 GMT

Head of aid agency Oxfam in Haiti resigns amid inquiry

The director of Oxfam's operations in Haiti has resigned amid an inquiry into allegations of misconduct by staff.

The UK-based aid agency said Roland Van Hauwermeiren felt he needed to resign as he had been in charge at the time.

A small number of Oxfam workers in Haiti have been suspended, pending the outcome of an inquiry, it added.

The charity raised $98m (£60m) for relief operations after last year's massive earthquake but Oxfam said the allegations were not linked to fraud.

Oxfam has used the money to try to improve sanitation in the face of a cholera outbreak, said to have killed almost 6,000 people and made 420,000 ill.

The staff suspended are not thought to be British nationals.

Under Mr Van Hauwermeiren's direction, Oxfam was one of the few international aid agencies to openly criticise relief efforts.

On the anniversary of the quake in January, it said in a report that "the Haitian state, together with the international community, [was] making little progress in reconstruction".

"Too many donors from rich countries have pursued their own aid priorities and have not effectively co-ordinated amongst themselves or worked with the Haitian government," Mr Van Hauwermeiren said at the time.

Oxfam has been working in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, since 1978.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14195321

18 July 2011 Last updated at 21:53 GMT

A year and a half since an earthquake destroyed the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, it is estimated at least 600,000 people still live in settlement camps, many facing a daily struggle for survival.

Their story is one which Dr Paul Farmer - a US anthropologist and physician - tells in his new book Haiti: After the Earthquake.

For three decades Dr Farmer has worked to help the people of the island nation. In this interview with the BBC's Jane O'Brien, he says a cholera epidemic is still raging in Haiti, while most of the quake rubble has not been removed.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14625665

23 August 2011 Last updated at 07:22 GMT

Hurricane Irene strengthens as it swirls over Caribbean

A strengthening Hurricane Irene has swept over the northern Dominican Republic, bringing strong winds and heavy downpours.

The storm, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, had maximum sustained winds of 160km (100 mph).

Forecasters say Irene is set to intensify further as it heads north-west towards the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas.

The storm is forecast to reach the south-eastern US by the weekend.

At 06:00GMT, Irene, now classed as a category two hurricane, was 110km (70 miles) east-north-east of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said.

The hurricane is expected to be near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the south-eastern Bahamas by Tuesday night, forecasters said.

[COLOR="Yellow"]Irene was likely to strengthen further and could become a major hurricane within the next 72 hours as it moves over the warm sea waters.


On Monday, Irene knocked out power to more than half the island of Puerto Rico and affected water supplies to more than 100,000 people.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuno, said he had asked the US government to declare Puerto Rico a disaster area so it could gain access to emergency funds.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities closed schools and evacuated coastal communities ahead of the storm's arrival.

Emergency preparations were also stepped up in neighbouring HAITI by United Nations agencies operating there.

The country, which suffers from extensive deforestation and poor infrastructure, is particularly vulnerable to heavy rainfall.

Hundreds of thousands of people still live in makeshift camps after the January 2010 earthquake.


Hurricane Irene is on a projected path to reach the United States by the end of the week, possibly making landfall in Florida, Georgia or South Carolina.

[nancyk58]

HAITI: 600,000 are still living in camps after the devastating earthquake in January 2011, and journalists & reporters coming back can notice a deterioration in the camps during the past year.

Source: Danish TV2 News, live on 30 September 2011

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38 HAITIAN REFUGEES DROWNED OFF CUBA - 21 men + 17 women

Cuba's coast guard found their ship half-sunk about 100m off Point Maisi on the eastern part of Cuba. 87 other refugees including 4 children and 7 women were rescued and brought to an international refugee camp where help was offered.

Danish text-TV on DR1


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16328342

25 December 2011 Last updated at 04:10 GMT

Haiti migrants found dead off Cuba's coast

At least 38 migrants from Haiti have been found dead after their boat sank just off the eastern tip of Cuba, officials in Havana say.

Another 87 people from the boat were rescued, Cuban TV reported quoting civil defence officials.

It said the boat was spotted only 100m off shore. A search for more possible survivors is now under way.

Fatal incidents involving migrants from Haiti - the Western hemisphere's poorest nation - are not uncommon.

In 2009, US Coast Guard officials called off their search for about 70 migrants from Haiti whose boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In May 2007, at least 61 Haitian migrants died when a boat carrying 150 people sank off the Turks and Caicos, a British territory.

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A TOTAL OF 7,000 PEOPLE HAVE DIED OF CHOLERA IN HAITI SINCE THE CHOLERA EPIDEMICS BROKE OUT IN OCTOBER 2010


Reports of 200 new cases of the disease every day.

Many have also died from the disease in the considerably richer/wealthier neighbouring country the Dominican Republic.

Health experts call the epidemics one of the worst hitting one single country for decades.

At the end of December 520,000 cases had been reported.

The source of the outbreak of cholera in October 2010 might be a camp inhabited by UN soldiers from Nepal.

Access to clean water is vital in fighting cholera.

Source: Danish text-TV on DR1 / Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende on 9.1.12

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2 YEARS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI ON 12 JANUARY, 2010


On 12 January, 2010 Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake killing more than 300,000 in one of the worst natural disasters in modern times.

Haiti is still facing a huge challenge, but the future for Haiti's population and in particular the children seems brighter.

This can be read in a new UNICEF REPORT.

More than 200 schools have been built / completed.

More children go to school now than before the disaster.

In the worst hit area the vaccination rate among children has risen from only 6 percent before the earthquake to 85 per cent.

[nancyk58]

http://www.care2.com/causes/haiti-tw...-can-help.html

Haiti, Two Years Later: Slow Progress But You Can Help

by Judy Molland January 12, 2012 12:45 pm

Two years ago today, on January 12, 2010, the worst earthquake in 200 years – 7.0 in magnitude – struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0.

The quake killed more than 200,000 and left 1.5 million homeless.

Around the world, ordinary people and governments sought to help. So far, according to USA Today, these are the top givers:

* $3.3 billion – United States
* $940 million – Venezuela
* $634 million – European Commission

But What Is The Reality Of Life In Haiti Today?

It’s true that many nonprofits and other agencies have been on the ground, rebuilding, providing supplies, and helping to re-create the economy.

But meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Haitians still live in miserable conditions and nearly half of $4.5 billion pledged by governments for reconstruction has yet to be disbursed.

Slow Progress

From USA Today:

“There’s been a remarkable lack of progress,” says Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which has followed Haiti’s recovery.

As Haiti today observes the second anniversary of a disaster that leveled 300,000 buildings and left its economy and government in ruins, half a million people still live in tents, the United Nations reports.

Few have access to water, sanitation and other basic services, 60% are jobless and the world’s largest cholera outbreak has killed 7,000 people and infected 500,000 more, the U.N. and aid groups say.

Now, money is running short. “Funding is not coming in as before and that is becoming a challenge,” says Francoise Gruloos-Ackermans, UNICEF Haiti representative.

The slow progress comes despite promises by the international community that the chronically poor nation with tremendous needs before the disaster would be rebuilt better than before. Since the earthquake, governments and international agencies have pledged $8.4 billion for humanitarian, recovery and development efforts — $4.5 billion of it for rebuilding.

The U.S. has disbursed 85% of $1.45 billion pledged for humanitarian relief and pledged $1.8 billion for recovery and development, 37% of which has been disbursed, U.N. figures show. Weisbrot says governments did not pledge enough aid for reconstruction, estimated to cost more than $10 billion, and money that has been pledged isn’t being doled out fast enough.

But There Is Good News

Despite the slow pace, funds are slowly being allocated as efforts shift from short-term humanitarian needs to long-term reconstruction: creating more jobs by helping small businesses, removing debris, preparing the country for future disasters and helping the Haitian government become a functioning body.

To provide just one example, as first reported in USA Today, Beth Hogan, director of the Haiti Task Team for U.S. Agency for International Development says U.S. funds have provided temporary shelters for more than 300,000 families and created 17,000 jobs.

And here’s something you can do now.

Take Action!

Care2 has been working with nonprofit partner BRAC delivering signatures to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling on the U.N. to support programs to redevelop Haiti’s environment.

Even before the devastating earthquake, millions in Haiti lived in poverty.

BRAC is now working with families to provide them information about quality seeds, fertilizer and planting methods that will help them bring their families out of poverty. One pilot nursery is teaching children and adults how to plant and care for papaya, mango, and timber trees.

You can help reforest Haiti, by joining the 15,000 that have signed the petition and tell the U.N. that we need to bring more programs like this to the region.

And thank you.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/haiti-tw...#ixzz1jNmZgrq2

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17159167

24 February 2012 Last updated at 21:40 GMT

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille resigns

The prime minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, has resigned after a power struggle within the government.

His resignation is likely to set back efforts to re-build the country after the January 2010 earthquake which devastated the capital Port-au-Prince.

He was President Michel Martelly's third nomination when appointed in October, ending a long stalemate.

For several weeks there have been reports of power struggles that prompted the UN to intervene.

On Thursday Mariano Fernandez, the special representative of the UN secretary general in Haiti, said there were "repeated crises" between the parliament, president and prime minister.

"[These] undermine the proper functioning of the institutions and the democratic process," he said.

So far President Martelly has not announced any replacement or caretaker prime minister.

UN experience

One of the issues causing division was a parliamentary commission investigating the nationality of government ministers.

Many officials in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean spend considerable time overseas.

The commission is investigating whether some senior administration officials have dual citizenship, which is prohibited under the constitution.

Mr Conille originally trained as a doctor and had previously worked with the UN.

He was an aide to former US President Bill Clinton when he was a UN envoy to Haiti.

When Mr Conille took office he pledged to create thousands of jobs by attracting foreign investment to help rebuild the country.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...article2349773

Haiti PM’s sudden resignation threatens earthquake reconstruction

TRENTON DANIEL

The Associated Press

Published Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 8:46PM EST

Last updated Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 8:49PM EST

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille abruptly resigned Friday after less than five months on the job in a setback for President Michel Martelly, whose struggle to fill the top government post had hampered earthquake reconstruction and other development efforts.

The government announced Mr. Conille's resignation in a brief statement. The president did not immediately announce his proposed replacement for the top administrative post in his government.

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HAITI EARTHQUAKE IN JANUARY 2010 – THE FORGOTTEN CATASTROPHE

2 years after a devastating earthquake in Haiti, hundred thousands are still living under poor conditions - without work, without shelter and without money.

Despite massive media coverage when the quake occurred, only half of the pledged emergency aid has reached the civilian population.

28-year-old Valerie Loiseau is standing in front of her little white tent in a public park in the suburb Petionville not far from the centre of the capital Port-au-Prince with her daughter running about bare-foot.

Beside the tent there is a brook. It is full of trash and garbage. But that does not prevent little boys and girls from running about playing something that looks like football between puddles and clothes hung out to dry between tents – and showers.

Valerie Loiseau remembers the awful tremors that made her run to the park with her two children of which the youngest was only a few months old – shortly before 6 o’clock 2 years ago.

“I came here minutes after the earthquake without anything but my children. Nothing else”, she says before adding that most other people in the camp were in the same situation then and now.

“I am still here”, she snaps and continues that like so many other places time has stood still in the camp since the quake.

She has not noticed the pledged help from abroad and from the government.

The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale and caused devastation of close to biblical dimensions in Haiti that was already extremely poor. To this day, nobody knows how many died. Guesses from experts vary between 200,000 and 300,000. The United Nations talks of 220,000 deaths.

According to official figures from Haiti’s government the quake hit 15 percent of Haiti’s 10 million inhabitants who were either killed or lost their homes.

Today well over 520,000 quake victims live in 800 tent camps close to the already overpopulated capital where there is only little chance of getting a job. The poverty is enormous, so experts say. Many of the hundred thousands who lost their homes are involved in juridical conflicts regarding compensation for the damage. This is due to the fact that they had no proof of their possessions.

A cholera epidemic broke out one year ago and is still not under control. So far, well over 7,000 have died during the epidemics, whereas well over ½ billion are infected. Local authorities say that the epidemic came from UNs peace-keeping soldiers from Nepal.

Shocked at the gigantic devastation, the international community pledged over the equivalent of 25 billion Danish kroner in aid to bring Haiti on its feet again. Less than half of this pledged amount has been transferred to Haiti, and that can be felt by the victims. Many aid agencies came to Haiti after the quake. But they are running out of money and provisions.

Another important explanation why the reconstruction is so slow is that Haiti has had no operative government. Haiti’s president, the entertainer Michel Martelly, was sworn in – in May last year, but it took him 6 months to appoint a prime minister who then formed a government.

“It has all been very unorganized and without throroughly prepared plans”, says the president of the World Bank in Haiti, Josef Leitmann who has started to be more positive about the situation.

“The government has now a vision about where to go. Now the vision is to be explained to the population and it is to inspire them with optimism”, he says.

By Clarens Renois / Ritzau / AFP

Source: Article published by MetroXpress.dk on 12 January 2012


THE QUAKE IN HAITI

The magnitude 7.0 quake was the most powerful quake for decades in Haiti. With more than 200,000 deaths it was one of the worst natural disasters in modern time.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Two thirds (2/3) of Haiti’s 10 million people are living for very little every day, and 5 million are without water supply.

40% of Haiti’s population is less than 14 years old. Even though the infant mortality in Haiti is one of the highest in the world, there is a 2% population increase every year.

The earthquake destroyed most of Haiti’s already fragile / weak infrastructure.

Before the quake Haiti exported rice. Today Haiti imports 80% of all provisions (food).

Source: UN, AFP and BBC

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HAITI: 6 DEATHS AFTER LANDSLIDES

At least 6 people died in landslides. The houses of 2 families at a mountain near the capital Port-au-Prince were torn away by masses of mud. In this connecction 2 men, 3 women and a child were killed.

This accident follows days of heavy rain.

The poor Caribbean state is still suffering from the consequences of the devastating eartquake well over 2 years ago.

Around 500,000 people are living in tents and are threatened by flooding.

Source: German text-TV / ARDtext

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NEW CHOLERA EPIDEMICS THREATENING HAITI

Haiti is facing a new cholera epidemics, and the country does not have sufficient resources to fight it according to Medecins Sans Frontieres / MSF (Doctors without borders).

In April the number of cholera cases treated by the organization quadrupled to 1,600 alone in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Last year more than 200,000 cases of the deadly disease were reported during the rainy season May to October.

Since the first outbreak which occurred a few months after the devastating earthquake in January 2010 more than 7,000 people in Haiti have died of cholera.

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT Text

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18589546

26 June 2012 Last updated at 01:00 GMT

Haitians protest against Port-au-Prince shanty eviction

More than 1,000 people have marched in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince in protest at government plans to clear poor neighbourhoods.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, some of whom chanted threats to burn down affluent neighbourhoods.

The government says their homes, perched precariously on steep hillsides, are at risk from landslides.

The residents say they cannot afford to live anywhere else.

The eviction plans are part of a government flood-control project.

An official from the environment ministry, Pierre Andre Gedon, said the government would build channels and reforest the hillsides in Jalousie in an attempt to curb the flooding which affects the capital in the rainy season.

The government is still struggling to house tens of thousands of people displaced in the 2010 earthquake, which devastated much of Port-au-Prince.

One of the protesters said he felt the poor were being unfairly targeted.

"These decisions are always made against the poor; the rich have huge homes that aren't affected," he told the news agency.

Minister for Human Rights Rose-Anne Auguste said the government would offer new homes to those displaced by the project.

"We can't allow people to endanger their lives in slums that can collapse any moment," she said.