Anger is simmering as sense of abandonment grows
A year after a terrifying earthquake ripped apart the country’s most densely populated region and as a persistent cholera epidemic endangers the health of virtually everyone in the impoverished nation, anger and a sense of abandonment grows.
Archbishop Louis Kebreau of Cap-Haitien, president of the Haitian bishops’ conference, said that life in a tattered tent in a crowded makeshift camp with no alternative on the horizon, threats to personal safety and the need to scramble for food and clean water are fueling the anger.
“The people of Haiti are tired of misery,” Archbishop Kebreau said in a interview with Catholic News Service during a visit to the Washington headquarters of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. “They are tired of living in their tents. The people are saying they are not happy. They’re frustrated and angry. That provokes violence.”
More than one million people continue to live in hundreds of settlements that sprouted after the 35-second magnitude 7 earthquake. At least 230,000 people were killed.
The archbishop expressed concern that the surge of hopefulness felt by Haitians at the world’s compassionate response immediately after the January 12 quake has given way to a feeling of abandonment. People don’t think their pleas are being heard any longer, he said.
Citing the widespread cholera epidemic that has claimed 3,650 lives since mid-October, Archbishop Kebreau called upon Haitian authorities to openly discuss the source of the disease and acknowledge the concerns of Haitians.
Catholic Herald report. More at:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/01/09/archbishop-haitians-feel-abandoned-by-world/
See also report “One year on, Haiti still in ruins” by Mike Thomson,
BBC Today programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12113844