Haitians are facing a Herculean task: rebuilding their country following a devastating earthquake. Municipal leaders are turning to their counterparts in French-speaking communities 小蝌蚪APP and to the 小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP for information and guidance.
On Jan. 12, the epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude quake struck Haiti小蝌蚪APP檚 most densely populated region, near Port-au-Prince. At the time, about 2 million of the country小蝌蚪APP檚 almost 10 million citizens were living in or near the nation小蝌蚪APP檚 capital. The Haitian government estimates that 230,000 people died as a result of the quake. Seventy percent of the buildings in Port-au-Prince were damaged or destroyed, including government buildings, schools and hospitals.
Six months later, there are few signs of recovery, according to a June 22 report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Buildings still lie in ruins, rubble blocks streets. Millions of displaced residents are living in tents.
In mid-June, about 30 Haitian mayors attended a conference in Lafayette focused on rebuilding strategies at the municipal level. The international workshop, 小蝌蚪APP淩econstruction of Cities for a Lasting Development: Challenges and evaluation of practices of reconstruction,小蝌蚪APP was hosted by Le Centre International de Lafayette, Lafayette Consolidated Government小蝌蚪APP檚 international trade division. Joey Durel, LCG小蝌蚪APP檚 city-parish president, is a member of the Association Internationale des Maires Francophones (the International Association of Francophone Mayors), which sponsored the conference.
Philippe Gustin, director of Le Centre, said the Haitian mayors were searching for solutions in hurricane-prone south Louisiana, where community leaders have experience in emergency-planning and rebuilding strategies. 小蝌蚪APP淭here小蝌蚪APP檚 also a cultural connection because we share a common Creole heritage,小蝌蚪APP Gustin said. Since most of the mayors in attendance speak only French, translators were on hand throughout the conference.
Jordan Kellman, an associate professor of history at UL Lafayette, gave a presentation about Haiti小蝌蚪APP檚 and Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 shared heritage as former French colonies. 小蝌蚪APP淚 talked about the emergence of a new generation of French speakers that is beginning to see itself as part of the broader French-speaking world. This is a new phenomenon in the French-speaking world.
小蝌蚪APP淲hen the Haitian mayors arrived, they were unsure about how the conference and its participants could help them. Part of the work of the conference was to begin to build a coalition of people with various areas of expertise,小蝌蚪APP he said.
Shannon Strother, applied research and outreach manager for UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute, presented information about NIMSAT小蝌蚪APP檚 development of Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 Business Emergency Operations Center. The center, which is activated during emergencies, coordinates communication and resources among public agencies, businesses and volunteer organizations. NIMSAT conducts research and develops technologies to improve disaster preparedness and response.
小蝌蚪APP淲e were able to show them a model for cooperation between the public and private sectors,小蝌蚪APP said Strother.
Paula Carson, UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 assistant vice president for institutional planning and effectiveness, was a conference facilitator.
Carson said one of the mayors made a profound comment. 小蝌蚪APP淗e said, 小蝌蚪APP業n many ways, we小蝌蚪APP檙e not reconstructing Haiti. We are constructing a country from scratch小蝌蚪APP,小蝌蚪APP she said.
Even before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the poorest and least developed countries. Less than 30 percent of its population had access to electricity and about 80 percent of its citizens lived on less than $2 a day. Deforestation has left the once-lush landscape barren, undermining agriculture and making the region more vulnerable to natural disasters. Decades of political upheaval have also contributed to economic and social instability.
小蝌蚪APP淭raditionally, Haiti has been a centralized nation,小蝌蚪APP Carson explained. 小蝌蚪APP淭he whole country was controlled in Port-au-Prince.
小蝌蚪APP淲hen the central part of your network goes down and you don小蝌蚪APP檛 have any alternate hubs, the entire system is compromised. There was no way to distribute goods and supplies. All of the roads lead in and out of Port-au-Prince, so people in smaller towns were cut off from the central hub and effectively cut off from each other.小蝌蚪APP
Haiti小蝌蚪APP檚 largest employer is its federal government, which was also based in Port-au-Prince. Because all taxes and fees are collected and controlled by the federal government, local governments depend on it for their operations.
小蝌蚪APP淭hey are absolutely between a rock and a hard place,小蝌蚪APP Carson said of the mayors. 小蝌蚪APP淭hey小蝌蚪APP檙e faced with a myriad of problems with no clear solutions 小蝌蚪APP not only any good solutions but almost no solutions at all.
小蝌蚪APP淭hey haven小蝌蚪APP檛 had a lot of autonomy. They haven小蝌蚪APP檛 had the opportunity to engage in a lot of decentralization or develop their own city capacity because it was such a centralized nation.小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淭hey小蝌蚪APP檙e also faced with the expectations of citizens. We小蝌蚪APP檙e not talking about days or weeks or months 小蝌蚪APP we小蝌蚪APP檙e talking five to 10 years 小蝌蚪APP before people might begin to resume what they consider to be a good quality of life. How do you communicate to people that they have to be patient and wait, when they don小蝌蚪APP檛 have a place to live, food to eat or medical care?小蝌蚪APP
Haiti has no unified system for recording property ownership. 小蝌蚪APP淭here are foreign investors who are willing to invest resources and share the dividends, but a great problem in Haiti is that no one exactly knows who owns the land. Who小蝌蚪APP檚 going make a multi-million dollar investment when you can小蝌蚪APP檛 get clear title?小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淭he other thing we小蝌蚪APP檒l have to help them put in place are metrics. Here小蝌蚪APP檚 where you are now and here小蝌蚪APP檚 where you want to be. How are you going to prove to the world that you小蝌蚪APP檙e making progress and that the monies that have been entrusted to you are being spent wisely?
小蝌蚪APP淭hey don小蝌蚪APP檛 have a system for tracking progress, for benchmarking. Being accountable to the outside world is going to be critical to their recovery.小蝌蚪APP
Carson said the primary goal of the conference fundamental: put the mayors in contact with one another to identify specific needs. 小蝌蚪APP淟ocal people know best what their communities need. There小蝌蚪APP檚 a great concern that if you abdicate responsibility for reconstructing your own country, it may not be built the way you want it to be built. That can present a real problem for the preservation of culture.
小蝌蚪APP淲hen the population becomes dispersed, settlement patterns change. You lose linguistic patterns, familial traditions, traditional ways of thinking and being. In the long term, those losses can cause great suffering to a country, as well.
小蝌蚪APP淚t小蝌蚪APP檚 hard to sit around and talk and plan when you have people in urgent need. But Haitian leaders really do need to plan, so they don小蝌蚪APP檛 do anything in the short term that will sacrifice their long-term vitality.小蝌蚪APP