The Hill News

One year after a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, the country is still devastated.  A million displaced Haitians are still living in tent camps, mountains of rubble are piled in the streets, and billions in assistance pledged by the international community has yet to be delivered.  Meanwhile, recent elections have been widely discredited and are unlikely to result in a government capable of leading recovery and development efforts.
So it’s with a heavy heart that I issue this statement today because I am very disappointed about the pace of both humanitarian relief and democratic recovery in Haiti, though I remain in awe of the strength and resiliency of the Haitian people.

The massive earthquake that struck Haiti one year ago today killed 230,000 people, displaced an estimated 2 million people from their homes, and affected one third of the country’s population.  The main port, the presidential palace, the parliament, the majority of minist! ry buildings, more than 50 hospitals and health centers, 1300 educational institutions, and more than 105,000 homes were left in ruins.  The earthquake, which came less than two years after a series of devastating hurricanes, left millions of people in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country living in absolutely horrific conditions.

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