It is not news that Corail-Cesselesse is not safe, but it should be news that there are at least 1.5 million victims of the January 2010 earthquake that killed upwards of 300,000 still living under tarps in other camps.
Wide shot of Camp Obama/Canaan
- by Georgianne NienaberIn fact, in May we looked just over the valley and saw over 5,000 residents of "Camp Obama" were still living under blue tarps and shreds of flapping clear white plastic that were more suitable for shopping bags than shelter. We had visited with them in March and not much had changed except the name. Leaders told us they had changed the camp name to "Obama" from "Canaan" in hope that they would get some help. It had not been forthcoming. Let's re-brand living conditions in Haiti and describe them accurately. The tent cities are really tarp cities and should be described as such. The media re-branded the BP oil "spill" as a "catastrophe" and a "disaster," and we can do the same for the Haitian tarp dwellers.
- by Georgianne NienaberThe recent cholera outbreak has added a new fear to the equation as health workers struggle to contain it.
1.5 million people have nowhere to go. Please examine the OCHA (United Nations) spreadsheet on relocation shelters. Do the math. Maybe, just maybe, the shelters can handle 50,000. 1.5-1.7 million are in the tarp cities. Millions more are still in their homes on hillsides vulnerable to flooding and landslides.
To suggest that they have options is ludicrous, but that is exactly what the press is doing.
We will be back in Haiti on Saturday and hope this time to use photos, each representing a thousand useless words, or more.
For further reports on Camp Canaan and Camp Corail, check out Mac McKinney's photo-essays on each:
1) Camp Canaan
2) Camp Corail
Photos by G. Nienaber with copyright removed in Haiti's interest.
Follow Georgianne Nienaber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nienaber
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