Amnesty International: Displaced Haitians still live in despair 4 years after earthquake

In this July 2011 file photo, a man stands on a tent’s roof at a refugee camp, once a golf course, set up for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince. (Photo:AP)

KINGSTON, Jamaica – More than 170,000 people are still living in more than 300 displacement camps, often in appalling conditions, four years after the earthquake devastated Haiti, according to Amnesty International.

The January 12, 2010 disaster killed around 200,000 people and left some other 2.3 million homeless in Haiti.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that tens of thousands are still suffering in despair,” said Chiara Liguori, Amnesty International’s researcher on the Caribbean. “Four years on, the Haitian government is not delivering on its obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right to adequate housing in Haiti”.

Amnesty International issued a statement on Thursday describing the condition of the majority of those still living in displacement camps “with no access to essential basic services such as clean water, toilets and waste disposal”.

While the dire sanitation conditions leave them exposed to the risk of cholera and other diseases, the lack of solid shelters makes them vulnerable to flooding and other adverse weather conditions especially during the hurricane season, the statement continued.