Sunday, February 28, 2010

More deaths in Haiti 6 + weeks after earthquake. Why?

At least 11 people have been killed after heavy rain caused flooding in southwestern areas of quake-hit Haiti, according to officials.

Officials said on Saturday that heavy rains filled Haiti's third most populous city Les Cayes with more than one and a half meters of water.

The civil protection department said a prison flooded and more than 400 prisoners were evacuated.

In parts of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of thousands of people are living outdoors after their homes were destroyed in January's earthquake.

UN peacekeepers are helping Haitian police for emergency supplies. Les Cayes was unharmed during the quake that devastated the Caribbean nation.

Last month, the magnitude-7 earthquake in Port-au-Prince killed more than 200,000 people, leveled nearly every government ministry, and made 1.5 million people homeless.
(Report by Press TV )

From PVS Canal 16 Newsroom.


President René Préval has now a different view of the solution to the problem of big tent cities: move the people back to their neighborhood.  
According to Mr Préval, instead of having big tent cities of 1000 to 4000 people, it would be wiser to have smaller camps of 50 to 100 people near their homes.  How does that help in removing the rubles from the quake and rebuilding the country with those camps in every neighborhood? 

 The International community wants to set up big shelters outside Port-au-Prince.

The President...  Small camps inside Port-au-Prince. 

Who gets the last word?  Who has the experience, the manpower and the money to carry out an effective reconstruction effort?  Immediately after the quake, the President and the government were powerless and had let all the decision making to the International community.  LOTS of money have been donated to Haiti.  Having noticed that the financial donations are not going through them due to lack of credibility and accountability, the President of Haiti and the government have now decided to take charge of things.  Many International and national relief missions must now pay taxes for medical supplies and other goods donated to enter Haiti or hand them over to the National Civil Protection force.  The government who first opted for tarps has ordered 5000 tents for 5 million dollars from China and now wants people to camp near their neighborhood.  

Where did they get that money?
Unable to dip into the hundreds of millions of dollars donated by the International community, the government has asked the parliament to renew the state of emergency, allowing them to withdraw 165 million dollars from the Petrocaribe funds and spend it without going through regular process of accountabilty.  
The country is still waiting for reports on the spending of 197 million dollars from that fund said to have been spent after the Gonaives flood and that caused, according to many, the downfall of Prime Minister of Haiti Mrs Michelle Pierre Louis.


Are cases like that common in Haïti?
Could it be why the International Community is very reluctant in handing out the collected donations to the Haitian government?


Maybe this might help answer those 2 questions:
From February 1988 to February 2010 (22 years), Haïti has known 16 Prime Ministers with 2 times vacant positions and 14 Presidents.  Here are the lists...


Prime Ministers of Haiti (1988-Present)

  • Martial Célestin (9 February 1988 - 20 June 1988)
  • Post abolished (20 June 1988 - 13 February 1991)
  • René Garcia Préval (13 February 1991 - 11 October 1991)
  • Jean-Jacques Honorat (interim) (11 October 1991 - 19 June 1992)
  • Marc Louis Bazin (19 June 1992 - 30 August 1993)
  • Robert Malval (30 August 1993 - 8 November 1994)
  • Smarck Michel (8 November 1994 - 7 November 1995)
  • Claudette Werleigh (7 November 1995 - 27 February 1996)
  • Rosny Smarth (27 February 1996 - 20 October 1997)
  • Vacant (21 October 1997 - 26 March 1999)
  • Jacques-Édouard Alexis (1st time) (26 March 1999 - 2 March 2001)
  • Jean Marie Chérestal (2 March 2001 - 15 March 2002)
  • Yvon Neptune (15 March 2002 - 12 March 2004)
  • Gérard Latortue (12 March 2004 - 9 June 2006)
  • Henri Bazin (acting for Latortue) (23 May 2006 - 9 June 2006)
  • Jacques-Édouard Alexis (2nd time) (9 June 2006 - 5 September 2008)
  • Michèle Pierre-Louis (5 September 2008 - 11 November 2009)
  • Jean-Max Bellerive (11 November 2009 - Present

Presidents of Haiti (1988-Present)


  • Lesli Manigat 1988 overthrown
    Henri Namphy 1988 - 1989 overthrown
    Prosper Avril 1989 - 1990 overthrown
    Etha Pascal-Trouillot* 1990 - 1991 full term
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide 1991 overthrown
    Joseph Nerette* 1991 - 1992
    Marc Bazin (acting prime minister) 1992 - 1993
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide 1993 - 1994
    Émile Jonassaint* 1994
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide 1994 - 1996 finished remainder of term
    Rene Preval 1996 - 2000 full term
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide 2000 - 2004 overthrown
    Boniface Alexandre* 2004 - 2006
    René Garcia Préval 2006 -

    [*Provisional Leader]

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PVS Canal 16 started airing in 1990. It is the first on-air private television station licensed to operate in Haïti. Its programming has largely been based on Haitian culture and Haitian cinema promotion.