One Year Later: Haiti Still Suffering From Earthquake
PORT-AU-PRINCE (CBS4) -- This week marks one year since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The powerful magnitude-7 jolt threw an already impoverished nation into even deeper devastation. More than 230,000 people were killed, more than a million remain homeless and countless numbers of children were made orphans.
Marie Calvaire has vivid, painful memories of the moment when her sons found her trapped beneath two slabs of concrete.
"My son said, 'Here's my Mom, under the wall, let's get her out of here."".
In addition to the deaths and devastation, the earthquake left thousands of amputees. Calvaire lost her right leg and part of her left foot but aid organizations have been trying to help. They've responded to the crisis and brought prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation equipment which is vital for people who depend on their arms and legs to survive.
"If you can't walk in Haiti, you're in big trouble," said Dennis Acton of the Nebco Foundation. "You can get water, you can't do anything. You can't get food. You've become a burden to your family."
Dennis Acton works for a New Hampshire aid organization that helped Marie Calvaire get a wheelchair, a new leg and trained local Haitians to teach her how to use it.
It's far from perfect but with her husband's help, she can still wash and cook.
Beyond rehabilitation in a devastated nation, amputees in Haiti also have to confront a culture that often rejects people with missing limbs. But the earthquake, which brought so many wrenching changes, ironically, may have also brought a change of attitude about amputees.
"Just about every family has someone who was injured in the family, so that has changed the perception somewhat, not entirely, but it's improving," according to Acton.
But the past year has not been a year of recovery for many Haitian people, as crisis upon crisis has followed the quake. A cholera epidemic broke out in the fall, taking nearly 3,000 more lives. Not all the financial aid promised Haiti has reached the people and the country once again faces political turmoil, with the results of a dysfunctional November presidential election still unclear.
Haitian Aliodor Pierre asks the United States why such a world power would allow Haiti to continue living in poverty. The 28-year-old father of two, who's been living in a shack since the quake says, "God is the only one we have hope in."
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