(Port-au-Prince) The international community pledged, at a meeting held Wednesday in Port-au-Prince, to give 600 million US dollars to finance the reconstruction of the south of Haiti, devastated ago six months by an earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people.
Posted at 9:51 p.m.
“These contributions go well beyond our expectations,” said Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry at the end of the day’s meeting.
These pledges only correspond to 30% of the plan for the reconstruction of the regions devastated by the earthquake of August 14, valued at nearly two billion dollars over four years, but more than the 25% initially estimated.
Nearly a billion dollars is needed for the reconstruction of housing alone: more than 130,000 houses did not resist the powerful earthquake.
While three out of four schools in the region were also destroyed or severely damaged during the disaster, the education sector needs more than $400 million in funding.
Despite this challenge of finding the money necessary for the long-term recovery of the southern peninsula of the Caribbean island, the United Nations especially wanted to welcome the new approach of foreign humanitarian aid to the Haitian State, to the reconstruction plan initiative.
“These donations, large and small, demonstrate that the international community is committed to working with the government and the people of this country,” said Amina Mohammed, UN Under-Secretary-General, who came to Port-au-Prince for the visit. ‘event.
In 2010, after the terrible earthquake that had killed more than 200,000 people and thrown one and a half million Haitians into the streets, the scale of international aid had not been coordinated at all and ultimately revealed very inefficient.
Twelve years after the tragedy, downtown Port-au-Prince, including several ministries and the presidential palace, has still not been rebuilt.
For lack of organization in the rehousing of the victims, the anarchic constructions gained whole zones of the capital, often not constructible, placing thousands of families at the mercy of a next natural disaster.
While Haiti is today plunged into a deep crisis of governance, without a legitimate leader seven months after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the donors assure that the management of the promised funds will be controlled to avoid corruption and embezzlement.
The investment fund, developed by the United Nations, “will ensure that donor money is disbursed in a responsible, efficient and thoughtful manner, in order to bring the maximum possible transparency and impact in the lives of Haitians”, has said Amina Mohammed.