91ÊÓƵ

Reconstruction efforts in Haiti are moving as slowly as the vehicles that attempt to travel on the country’s unpaved, rubble-filled roads.

One year ago, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, killing hundreds of thousands of people and leaving many more without basic shelter. Oregon building professionals have since made multiple trips to Haiti to assess damaged structures and promote modern construction techniques.

Craig Totten of since early 2010 has worked with the to train Haitian builders in confined masonry construction, and with global nonprofit to rebuild schools. He planned to return to Haiti at the end of December, but a cholera epidemic and political unrest have postponed the trip.

“When I started working in Haiti early last year, I really thought things would be further along by this year,” Totten said. “The energy and enthusiasm I saw in January and March had disappeared by my last visit in August. Now, there is resignation to bureaucracy and the way things are done at such a slow pace in Haiti.”

Much of the money given to Haiti has not been spent, Totten said, because of fragmentation and confusion within Haiti’s government. The hesitancy to spend donated money, Totten said, comes from fears of allocating funds to the wrong project or organization. Groups of churches, global nonprofit groups and government agencies all are trying to sort through the rubble on their own, he added.

Plus, many of Haiti’s government officials perished at their desks in the capitol building when the earthquake hit, Totten said.

“This is a country that didn’t function well before the earthquake,” he said. “Then they lost most of their best people. Individual groups are trying to make projects happen on their own, but there is no coordinated recovery effort.”

Meanwhile, nearly 1 million people continue to live in tent cities, which are plagued by poor sanitation and the spread of disease.

Structural engineering firm has established an office in Port-Au-Prince, and engineer Kit Miyamoto has been working with the and Haiti’s public works department to assess damaged structures. More than 400,000 damaged structures have been assessed so far, Miyamoto said, and about 100,000 were either heavily damaged or completely destroyed. His group has repaired approximately 1,000 buildings.

“Big chunks of people still live in tents because their homes are unsafe to occupy,” Miyamoto said. “Tents are horrible places full of disease, violence and rape. I am hopeful that Haiti can become safe. Haitian engineers, masons and contractors are open to learning new skills and motivated to save their country.”

Political unrest, more than anything else, has slowed reconstruction efforts, Miyamoto said. Violence erupted during and after Haiti’s 2010 elections in November, when assessments became unsafe for an entire week.

Totten plans to return to Haiti as soon as possible. He wants to join the to finish a repair project at an orphanage. Its residents presently live in tents. He also is hopeful that a school design he worked on will reach BuildOn in the coming months, so that the nonprofit can start building new schools in the southern portion of the country.

Miyamoto’s group this year plans to rebuild homes in three different communities as part of a pilot project. The neighborhoods have approximately 2,000 slightly damaged structures, including many that housed at least two families, Miyamoto said. Getting people back in their homes, Miyamoto said, is the first step to greater recovery. He is hopeful that money this year will reach those who need it.

“When an event occurs where 300,000 people die, it takes time to figure out the damage,” Miyamoto said. “It seems to go very slow. But these deaths won’t be a waste. Haiti is going to be a better place with better cities built by the Haitian people. That’s the way it should be done.”