Friday, June 17, 2011

Information On Haiti Reconstruction Effort

By Marsha Silva


Haiti reconstruction efforts are still going on. Its been way over a year ago the earthquake caused major damages to the area. Money is still needed as well as fixing structures.

Much of the inner city lies in ruin. Small areas are rebounding. Money has been donated not only by Red Cross but other governments and churches.

Celebrities came to their aid with a telethon to raise money. There are other celebrities that are actually visiting Haiti and putting in a real effort to help the country. Several have spent months in the area, helping in rebuilding, and in social work.

You can read many stories of the work going on with the many missionaries that are stationed there. They have their own personal blogs as well as social networks they post on. This country is dealing with elections in addition to the earthquake and its aftermath.

Progress is slow even with funding still coming in. There are schools and roads that have been rebuilt. With all the money that has been donated, many people question why more has not been done. The area is difficult to get heavy machinery and supplies into. There was also major damage to the port.

The first part of the relief effort was food and shelter for people. Now the focus is reconstruction and long term help. For buildings that were not destroyed in the earthquake, they are evaluated for earthquake proofing. When there is a lack of manpower, these projects get behind.

There are still many volunteers that come to the country to assist, but they need to get basic training on what is needed of them. Many of the churches have taken in families and helped them rebuild homes and have also had to rebuild many of the churches there.

The biggest need is for an organization of groups to get construction teams moving with the design teams that can rebuild properly in these earthquake zones. By building sustainable building, they are planning for the future in case of another disaster. Having structurally sound buildings will allow them to withstand a catastrophe.

Early warning systems need to be put in place. These systems can give advance notice and save many lives. By monitoring seismic activity, this would allow residents to get to safe locations and out of buildings that can fall. The local governments should work in conjunction with the USGS to use the data of this activity and warn heavily populated areas of possible earthquakes. These systems are already in place in other areas of the world. Read more about: haiti Reconstruction




About the Author:



No comments: