Deforestation (together with corruption and violence) had brought Haiti close to environmental collapse even before this week’s tragic earthquake. See, for example http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/01/13/world/americas/1247466532047/haiti-s-legacy-of-environmental-disaster.html. See also some attempts to protect sensitive areas by the Haiti Environment Foundation.
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Dear Dianne,
Truly Haiti has a challenging environmental situation and deep poverty linked to low levels of education and literacy. The earthquake has essentially destroyed whole sections of the country and especially Port au Prince, both in the main town and up the hills and mountains where whole neighborhoods slid people to a certain death. Having been there recently to work on the national policy and strategic plan for early childhood development, I can attest to the spirit of Haitians to improve their country and that they were beginning to really improve the development of their country. A wide array of bilateral and multilateral assistance agencies were truly collaborating and coordinating their efforts with the Haitian leaders and people. On TV we are seeing valiant and noble efforts of Haitians to save their families and their nation against overwhelming odds.
I predict that the level and sustainability of international support for Haiti will be astounding, and we are already witnessing this as it occurs. Many of us are talking about staying there long-term. This situation presents an opportunity for reconstructing Port au Prince and many flimsy, damaged structures elsewhere, for improving services and developing new education, health, nutrition and economic programmes to build a new Haiti, and to reverse some of the environmental degradation that has occurred their over the centuries due principally to poverty and a lack of knowledge about protective measures that could be taken. I hope your readers will donate today to UNICEF, Medecins sans Frontiers, or any NGO of your choice. UNICEF's offices were destroyed but the excellent technical staff are OK (however many of their families have been hurt or lost). However, they are currently camped out at the airport and they are coordinating aid and helping to ensure it goes to the right places.
To each of you who help at this critically important time, thank you so much!!!
Emily
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thank you so much, Emily