Haitians remain in dire circumstances as media attention wanes

Rome, Italy, Feb 24, 2010 / 12:06 pm

The Vatican's newspaper reported on Tuesday that just six weeks after the catastrophic earthquake, the plight of Haitians has already become old news, even though the situation remains "dramatic."

L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) observed that the decrease in interest can be seen in the declining presence of international media on the island and in the fact that relief and reconstruction activities are suffering from a lack of supervision.

Illustrating the desperation that prevails in the country, LOR recounted an attack on a food supply convoy in the city of Limbe earlier this week. Residents threw rocks at U.N. vehicles on their way to deliver milk and food rations to another city and made off with at least one truckload.

The president of Haiti, Rene Preval, expressed his concerns to members of the Unity Summit of Latin American and Caribbean nations in Mexico this week, saying that despite the enormous amount of support offered to the nation, the recovery will be slow, expensive and difficult.

President Preval drew attention to the fact that "every day a million Haitians sleep in the street, with problems made even graver by the rains of these days."

The president has ordered 50,000 tents from China which will arrive this week in anticipation of the rainy season, according to the Herald Sun. The rainy season in Haiti usually starts at the end of March or beginning of April. He said that 900,000 people are still in need of shelter and asked the international community for at least 200,000 more tents.

Adding to the difficult situation are aftershocks that continue to rock the island, the last of which hit Monday and measured 4.7 on the Richter scale.