Over 200,000 people have died due to the tragic earthquake that hit Haiti three weeks ago, and despite the aid efforts, protesters are still not getting much from the Haitian government:
The death toll in the Haiti quake has topped 200,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday as angry protests over the slow arrival of aid flared on the rubble-strewn streets. More than three weeks after the 7.0-magnitude quake, Bellerive said his tiny Caribbean nation had been ravaged by “a disaster on a planetary scale” and detailed the tragic toll suffered by his people.
“There are more than 200,000 people who have been clearly identified as people who are dead,” he told AFP, adding another 300,000 injured had been treated, 250,000 homes had been destroyed and 30,000 businesses lost. At least 4,000 amputations have also been carried out due to horrific crush injuries — a shocking figure which is likely to strain the impoverished nation’s already meager resources for years to come. Despite a massive aid operation, a lack of coordination and the extent of the damage has hampered the distribution of food and water leading to mounting tensions among a million people left homeless.
“The Haitian government has done nothing for us, it has not given us any work. It has not given us the food we need,” said Sandrac Baptiste bitterly, as she left her makeshift tent to join angry demonstrations Wednesday. Another 200 protesters marched toward the US embassy, crying out for food and aid, and about 50 protesters also gathered late Tuesday outside the police headquarters where the Haitian government of President Rene Preval is temporarily installed.
“Down with Preval,” demonstrators shouted at the president who has only spoken to the people a few times since the disaster struck. “There are no tents! There is no food!” protested Bousiquot Widmack, while demonstrators who said they were government workers complained their homes had collapsed, they had not been paid, and they had nothing to eat.
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