23374: Vedrine: Natural Disasters And Haitian Government Response (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>


Natural Disasters And Haitian Government Response

These are two ideas to be debated. Will history repeat itself or has it
repeated itself? Does the destruction of Haiti have to do with destiny? (a
philosophical question some of us may as). These are two important
questions that may be asked concerning the country’s destruction.

In one year (precisely right after the recent coup), we have seen a lot of
Haiti’s destruction in terms of natural disaster with the flood - first in
Fond Verette & Mapou, and the recent one in Gonaives (birth of the
Declaration of Independence - January 1,1804).

The recent natural phenomenon, in a way, coincides with the country’s
bicentennial birth but not a curse that is being put on The First Black
Republic because natural disasters happen everywhere and any time and
Hurricane is one of the themes in Caribbean literature but to many of  us,
some interesting questions that can be raised are the followings: Does the
Haitian government have the responsibility  to supervise where people are
building houses? What does the Haitian do to protect the environment? Is
anything going to be done, taking into consideration the destruction of some
areas of the country?

We have TABARRE for instance (which is part of the Cul-de-Sac flat land,
basically for agriculture) where many people, including those who have $$
have turned into a suburb (of Port-au-Prince) and what is ironic is that
former president Aristide even built his castle there. Tabarre has a water
reserve and if we dig less than 6 feet we will find water. The problem also
appears in Port-au-Prince (in terms of construction where are building
houses anywhere) which give rise to the multiplication of  “bidonvilles”
with no supervision of government.

e.w.vedrine