Washington D.C., Jan 12, 2011 / 23:09 pm
On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital, three committee chairmen at the U.S. bishops' conference have outlined concrete steps to help the troubled island nation's recovery efforts.
The three bishops –Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, and Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami– made their proposals as they marked the first anniversary of the earthquake that killed 250,00 Haitians and left much of Port-au-Prince in ruins.
A million residents of Port-au-Prince remain homeless, with many still living in emergency tent housing. Catholic Relief Services told CNA on Jan. 11 that the recovery was proceeding slowly due to a lack of infrastructure in the dangerously overcrowded city, which is still filled with rubble from collapsed buildings.
Bishop Hubbard, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, acknowledged the slow pace of progress in Haiti. He noted that recovery was “particularly challenging” for a country that has long faced “grinding poverty and its effects” in addition to the natural disaster and a subsequent ongoing cholera epidemic.