By Beverly Bell

August 29, 2012

As a native and resident of New Orleans who has spent three decades in and out of Haiti, and as director of an organization with offices in both places, this has been a harrowing week. The two locales sit squarely in Hurricane Isaac’s path. We don’t know yet how New Orleans will weather the giant storm. The official death toll in Haiti was 24, but many more will surely die from secondary effects of cholera or, for those who have lost their slim margins of sustenance, hunger. As has been the case since Haiti’s earthquake on January 12, 2010, those left homeless and living in displaced persons’ camps, roughly 390,000, have suffered most. Thousands of fragile shelters of plastic or nylon were damaged or destroyed by Isaac – a Haitian right-to-housing coalition estimates 45-50% in the cross-section of camps they have visited. (A new campaign launched by Haitians and their international allies, Under Tents, is calling on the Haitian and U.S. governments to provide permanent, quality housing for this forgotten population).

Read more here: http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/creole-connection-new-orleans-haiti-and-catastrophe

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