PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The number of Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake has dropped 14 per cent since February and now numbers about 421,000, a humanitarian group in the Caribbean nation said yesterday.
The International Organisation for Migration said in a statement that the drop marks the steepest decline in the camp population since early last year.
In this July 2011 file photo, a man stands on a tent’s roof at a refugee camp, once a golf course, set up for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince. (Photo:AP)
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Some 73 per cent of the original population has now left the gloomy camps that sprang up after the January 2010 earthquake, when an estimated 1.5 million people lost their homes, IOM said.
IOM also said that 58 camps closed between February and April, bringing the number of camps down to 602 from 660 in February 2012 and 1,555 in July 2010.
The decline can be attributed in part to a rental subsidy programme that awarded families in the camps $500 to find housing elsewhere. Many families in the settlements lost their livelihoods in the disaster and were too poor to afford lodging.
IOM also attributed the drop to a government program that cleared out six highly visible camps in Haiti’s capital and relocated them to their original neighbourhoods, also using rental subsidies. The project covered about five per cent of the camp population.
Haitian officials and the Canadian government are also helping move people from Champ de Mars, a public square across the street from the crumbled National Palace that became a visible symbol of the quake’s devastation. They hope to finish clearing out the plaza this summer.
Other displaced people have left the settlements because they were evicted by police or land owners seeking to reclaim their property.
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I dont think clinton did anything wrong,If I hated these people to, I would steal as much as I can.The blame falls on the haitian politicians,they are not doing their job. they are the ones that hate the haitian people.Clinton is just makin a few bucks,their’s nothing wrong with that.I like clinton,this is not personal to him,its all business,this is not his country he just came here to get paid.But to the haitian politicians,this is personal.Most of these guys come from poor backround and they are getting pay back for the misery they had all their life.Shame on these guys,they need to do their jobs.get the country fix and stop wasting time trying to look good with $5000 dollar suits and each politician having a fleet of $60,000 US SUV’s,each having more security than the president of U.S.–Haitians go to the U.S. and do the same thing like Clinton ,Just trying to get paid.–
when a haitian travels to another country and involve hisselve in elegle activitys (drugs/conterfiting/forming an elegle criminal organization) he gets arrested by the government of that country.In Haiti theirs “NO Government”, its a free for all,you can go thier and do what you want.Thats why all the organizations keep going their.Dont hate Clinton, he not the problem,go to the source.They are not doing their jobs,but they are all livin a good life.How can a country so poor have so much rich politician’s.