One year Anniversary of Port Au Prince Earth Quake - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Sylvanfan · 01-12-2011, 09:27 PM

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/c...entid=27215336

A year later, and things are still pretty chaotic in Haiti.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from the quake was more than 316,000, raising the figures from previous estimates on the first-year anniversary of the disaster. The victims included 58 Canadians. One million people were left homeless, and about 800,000 of them still live in makeshift tent cities.

Given the state of things in that country, I suspect the population of those tent cities to grow. On the news tonight they claimed some charity tried to send 18 wheel chairs to that country...held up in customs until a $5000 import tax per wheel chair is paid. The recent election there was an absolute disaster too.

TylerSVT · 01-12-2011, 11:47 PM

You would think they would be working hard to get things fixed... doesn't seem that way.

Dynamic · 01-13-2011, 01:00 AM

Hrmmmm........that means a year ago I was vacationing in the Dominican. Actually me and the wife were waiting for our flight home at Punta Cana airport when we seen everyone huddled around the tv. Thought we might be close enough to feel something but I didn't.

Pinner · 01-13-2011, 06:28 AM

I wonder how much money was donated, and how much of that went to the needy ?

I suspect a lot of people have "made" a lot of money from the donations.

FlamesAddiction · 01-13-2011, 07:00 AM

I know a guy who has been over there for several months and just went back after coming home for Christmas. He is part of a charity group that builds pre-fab houses for people that were made homeless from the earthquake.

One of the issues that they are dealing with is that a lot of people were essentially squatting on land they were living on to begin with and to build a home for a family, they need proof that they either own the land or have permission to build on it. Many of the people that own the property have used the earthquake as a way of evicting squatters by refusing to give permission to rebuild.

It amazes me that how the wealthy in poor countries are the last ones that want to help their own people.

HOZ · 01-13-2011, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It amazes me that how the wealthy in poor countries are the last ones that want to help their own people.

They are wealthy because they are part of the system of cleptocracy. If that system were to change so that the poor would be helped they would cease to be wealthy.

Sylvanfan · 01-13-2011, 07:56 AM

It seems that the poorest factions of society are that way because the people at the top of the money chain are the least equitable with how they move the money down the line. Haiti seems to be similar to the poorest countries in Africa where corrupt officials at the top make outrageous demands and keep as much for themselves as they possibly can and do nothing to help out their people.

mykalberta · 01-13-2011, 09:38 AM

What is the birth rate in a place like Haiti?

The hard truth in alot of these places is people need to stop having so many kids. A landmass can only support so many people.

Canada has a negative birth rate and would be declining in population if it wasnt for new citizens - this is in a country that has more freebee natural resources than almost anywhere else on the planet. A place like reasonable should have no more than 5mil max population for a decent standard of living for all. Currently they are at 10mil.

I am really surprised someone hasnt bought up a large chunk of coastline to turn it into a tourist destination. With its proximity to the US you would think one could make a killing on investing down there. I guess the problem would be lack of infrastructure to support such a project.

amorak · 01-13-2011, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerSVT

You would think they would be working hard to get things fixed... doesn't seem that way.

Please, give us more detailed accounts of what they're not doing well there!

I would like a poll - Who thinks Tyler's opinion is based on

A) His firsthand travels to Haiti

B) His extensive research and reading on the issues and challenges that are stalling a swift rebuild

B) His second glance at the DeWinton Herald's front page in February 2010.

GirlySports · 01-13-2011, 10:02 AM

Hard to rebuild an entire city in one year. It would take decades to rebuild that city. Trillions of dollars and millions of man hours with proper equipment need to be dedicated to it.

An entire city was razed in the blink of an eye. There is no infrastructure in Haiti. There are no building standards in Haiti. To think you can get that city up and running in a year is laughable. It takes 1 year to expand a C-Train platform!

HOZ · 01-17-2011, 08:02 AM

Oh Hey!!!! Good News....

"Baby Doc" Duvalier has returned!

All good news this....

This being Haiti, whose chronic tragedy is so often served with a helping of banana-republic bizarreness, that's what it got Sunday afternoon when Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier landed in Port-au-Prince for the first time since being thrown out of the country and packed off to France almost 25 years ago. "I came to help my country," the 59-year-old former despot declared as some 2,000 of his supporters met him at the airport. But it's hard to imagine how Duvalier's reappearance, which Haitian officials insist took them by surprise, could do anything more than throw Haiti into even deeper turmoil as it tries to rebuild after last year's disaster.

FlamesAddiction · 01-17-2011, 08:15 AM

I heard from my friend that works over there about another issue that complicates things. Apparently there is a fairly sizable and influential immigrant community in Haiti from the Middle East (Lebanon and Syria). They have access to funds that Haitian born people do not have and some having been taking advantage of the situation by buying resources up and creating inflation.

Will Haiti become the next Cuba? The seeds are in place for a class war.

CaptainCrunch · 01-17-2011, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOZ

Oh Hey!!!! Good News....

"Baby Doc" Duvalier has returned!

All good news this....

This being Haiti, whose chronic tragedy is so often served with a helping of banana-republic bizarreness, that's what it got Sunday afternoon when Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier landed in Port-au-Prince for the first time since being thrown out of the country and packed off to France almost 25 years ago. "I came to help my country," the 59-year-old former despot declared as some 2,000 of his supporters met him at the airport. But it's hard to imagine how Duvalier's reappearance, which Haitian officials insist took them by surprise, could do anything more than throw Haiti into even deeper turmoil as it tries to rebuild after last year's disaster.

Geez can anyone else predict the headline in the next few weeks (Coup in Haiti, Baby Doc promises to heal the sick and rebuild the nation using voodoo?)

I was also reading that they don't think that the Cholera epidemic has even come close to hitting its peak yet.