Hamburg - January 12, 2010 was a catastrophe for Haiti. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the Caribbean state - plunging the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere even deeper into misery. The numbers behind the horrors are enormous, hard to believe: almost 230,000 dead, about 190,000 destroyed houses, 3,978 broken or badly damaged schools, 30 collapsed hospitals, 19 million cubic meters of rubble.
Almost two years have passed since then, but reconstruction is slow. Large parts of the capital Port-au-Prince are still like a debris field. According to estimates by the United Nations (UN), only about half of the mass of debris has been removed so far. Many densely built-up areas are hardly accessible to machinery, the removal of debris in these places is extremely tedious.
According to the UN, around half a million Haitians still live in sometimes miserable shelters - for example in one of the narrow, dirty tent camps in Port-au-Prince. Aid organizations are there to provide the bare necessities, but life in the homeless camps is particularly dangerous for women. According to human rights organizations, several thousand women in shelters have been victims of sexual violence.
Half a million cholera patients
Medical care has always been poor in Haiti, but after the earthquake, the situation has worsened again. The world's worst cholera epidemic claimed thousands of deaths. UN peacekeepers from Asia are said to have infiltrated the potentially deadly bacterium shortly after the disaster.
Nearly 7,000 people in the country have already died of cholera, about 515,000 Haitians ill, reported the "Huffington Post" end of December 2011, citing information from aid organizations. Thus, more than five percent of the approximately ten million inhabitants of the country are affected by the disease. However, the number of daily new cases has fallen significantly compared to October, according to the aid organization "Doctors Without Borders".
And there is also progress in reconstruction. For example, the German Red Cross (DRK) has built two schools and one university faculty last year. In addition, just the last of a total of 3000 homes would be completed. It also created toilets and sanitation - something that is not self-evident in Haiti. Last of the 12,000 provisional toilets required, only one third was in operation.
"We still need money for Haiti"
"The situation is very complex and difficult," says Malteser spokeswoman Claudia Kaminski. Her relief organization operates in Port-au-Prince cholera prevention in 18 shelters. "Because other organizations have withdrawn from these camps, we had to expand our help there," says Kaminski: repair tents, clean latrines, hygiene education. There are a total of nine international forces of the Malteser relief organization, including some Germans. They are supported by 121 local employees.
The Maltese have received 8.6 million euros in donations since 2010. 2.6 million euros have been spent each year. Among other things, it was used to finance a health center in Darbonne in the south of the country, which will be handed over to Haitian hands this year. "We still need money for Haiti," says Kaminski.
The road from the first emergency and transitional aid to true development cooperation is difficult. The emergency shelters should under no circumstances become a permanent solution. "The purpose of our help is different: people should be able to return to their neighborhoods," said the Maltese spokeswoman.
Criticizing slow plans
"We have tried to keep the overall picture in mind," says Astrid Nissen, head of the DRK team on site and has been in Haiti continuously since the beginning of 2005. "Wherever we gave a house to a family, we also carried out hygiene projects and disaster preparedness such as first aid courses or risk analyzes."
The DRC raised more than 33 million euros in donations for Haiti in 2010. To date, 30 million of them have been spent or planned. About half of the money, according to the German Red Cross, was used for the construction of houses or schools, and one third for health projects. "Today, Carrefour has a functioning premature infants clinic, which did not exist before the earthquake, so the aid has really brought about a long-term improvement compared to before the disaster," says Nissen. Nevertheless, says the 40-year-old, one must still be careful not to be overwhelmed by the big problems.
Meanwhile, many of the structural difficulties that existed before the disaster came to the surface again. "That's why the big challenge now is getting long-term programs up and running," says Nissen. In addition to the construction of houses and latrines and disaster preparedness for the annually recurring hurricane season, it is now particularly about as many people as possible to be able to earn their own income.
The Red Cross trains Haitians in different building techniques. The strengthening of agricultural production and fisheries are also among the objectives of the aid organization. "For people who come back from the city to the countryside, we offer technical advice and support," says Nissen. Basic tools or seeds for the first harvest are provided by the Red Cross. "We show fishermen how to keep the cold chain going so that they can better market their products," says Nissen.
The Caritas draws a positive interim balance of their construction work. "Despite all the problems that complicate our work, we are very satisfied with the achievements," says Caritas President Peter Neher. Pupils were taught modern curricula in new, earthquake-proof buildings, and craftsmen were trained in a vocational school center, which were important for further rebuilding. An old people's center and a medical center were also built.
Neher criticized the fact that the long-announced master plan of the government of Haiti for reconstruction is still not available. This lacked important urban planning plans. The slow pace of the construction work is documented by these pictures.