It’s Already Been 10 Years Since Some 220,000 People Died In Haiti

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Jan. 13, 2020: Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020 marked the 10th year death anniversary of some 220,000 people who died in Haiti due to the 2010 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

Some 300,000 people were injured and 1.5 million become homeless during the 35-second-long tremor.

Haitians on Sunday paid somber tribute to the thousands who died in the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, as grief mixed with bitterness over failed reconstruction efforts and continuing political instability. Thousands of Haitians flowed into churches for masses celebrated in the memory of the dead even as several including President of Haiti Jovenel Moise and U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison along with Assistant Administrator for USAID John Barsa laid flowers at the mass graveyard where many bodied were buried together.

Marking the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy, Secretary General António Guterres renewed the commitment of the United Nations to helping the country and its people build a better future.

But 10 years on, the percent of $2.4 billion in donor provided humanitarian assistance that went to the Haitian government from 2010 to 2012 is put at just 0.9 percent according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

CEPR says also the total USAID spending for Haiti since January 2010 is $2,479,512,152 while the percent of that amount that went to contractors inside the Beltway is 54.1 percent compared to 2.6 percent that went directly to local Haitian companies or organizations.