Haitian president gives plea for continued aid, financial assistance
Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: News
(MCT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti President Rene Preval said Wednesday the country needs sturdy tents and paying jobs immediately to avert a long-term catastrophe, and U.S. health officials said they are working to improve sanitation and prevent disease in the hundreds of squalid encampments where nearly one million homeless now live.
"Help the people with tents. Create employment so people can buy food in the country. That is what's most important," Preval said at a press conference with Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza.
Citing an early analysis of quake damage in the capital, Preval said 25,000 buildings had collapsed or partially collapsed, and another 225,000 houses had done the same.
An analysis of the injured also was under way by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which said there is a great need for post-operative facilities in Haiti to relieve overcrowded hospital rooms.
"We know the needs are great and not yet met," said Ronald Waldman, coordinator of U.S. government health efforts in Haiti.
Haitian officials said the Jan. 12 earthquake interrupted efforts to build roads and bridges, and forced the Haitian government to focus on infrastructure projects for areas outside Port-au-Prince, which traditionally has received the most attention and money.
"We have no other choice," said Jean-Charles Moise, 43, a senator from Milot. "It's like a river that is bursting and you can't do anything to stop it."
Preval said reconstruction "will not happen today or tomorrow," and that the country must not rush to rebuild in haphazard fashion.
"There are no miracle solutions," he said.
Preval said government officials want to prevent shoddy reconstruction, which is taking place in some of the capital's slums.
While an estimated 30 percent of Port-au-Prince's residents use gas generators, U.S. military officials said they are working to restore the country's electrical grid.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti President Rene Preval said Wednesday the country needs sturdy tents and paying jobs immediately to avert a long-term catastrophe, and U.S. health officials said they are working to improve sanitation and prevent disease in the hundreds of squalid encampments where nearly one million homeless now live.
"Help the people with tents. Create employment so people can buy food in the country. That is what's most important," Preval said at a press conference with Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza.
Citing an early analysis of quake damage in the capital, Preval said 25,000 buildings had collapsed or partially collapsed, and another 225,000 houses had done the same.
An analysis of the injured also was under way by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which said there is a great need for post-operative facilities in Haiti to relieve overcrowded hospital rooms.
"We know the needs are great and not yet met," said Ronald Waldman, coordinator of U.S. government health efforts in Haiti.
Haitian officials said the Jan. 12 earthquake interrupted efforts to build roads and bridges, and forced the Haitian government to focus on infrastructure projects for areas outside Port-au-Prince, which traditionally has received the most attention and money.
"We have no other choice," said Jean-Charles Moise, 43, a senator from Milot. "It's like a river that is bursting and you can't do anything to stop it."
Preval said reconstruction "will not happen today or tomorrow," and that the country must not rush to rebuild in haphazard fashion.
"There are no miracle solutions," he said.
Preval said government officials want to prevent shoddy reconstruction, which is taking place in some of the capital's slums.
While an estimated 30 percent of Port-au-Prince's residents use gas generators, U.S. military officials said they are working to restore the country's electrical grid.
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