More than one year after a powerful earthquake struck southern Haiti on Aug. 14, 2021, one family is still living in the same makeshift tent they created in the days after the 7.2-magnitude quake hit. Like hundreds of others, they still wonder if anyone will help them.
The cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people.
In one camp, friends of the property owner are trying to take back the land where the refugees settled. Thugs have ripped apart the shacks, thrown rocks at families and tried to set the camp on fire twice in recent months. Those living in the camps say they've heard on the radio that local government officials have met with international leaders about the post-earthquake plights, but they question if they'll ever be helped.
But UNICEF warned last week that more than 250,000 children still have no access to adequate schools and that the majority of 1,250 schools destroyed or damaged have not been rebuilt. It noted that a lack of funds and a spike in violence have delayed reconstruction. Cassendy Charles, emergency program manager for the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Mercy Corps, estimates it could take five years for the region to fully recover from the earthquake. The organization has been forced to use boats and planes to ferry supplies to the south, but even that is complicated because the port is located by the Cite Soleil slum, where more than 200 people are believed to have been killed recently as rival gangs fought over territory.
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Many still seeking food, shelter a year after Haiti quakeThe cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people.
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Many still seeking food, shelter a year after Haiti quakeThe cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people.
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