HAITI: Local Leaders Shut Out of Military-Run Relief Efforts

HAITI: Local Leaders Shut Out of Military-Run Relief Efforts, by Ansel Herz, Inter Press News Agency, January 28, 2010 Two gray 23-million-dollar hovercrafts sitting in the middle of a sandy tropical beach look like they are from another world. A pair of 15-foot-wide propeller fans sticks out from the back of each behemoth. Along the narrow dirt road to this seaside town's centre, families live under blankets stretched over sticks. A tent city occupies the town's main square, surrounded by crumbling buildings. Joseph Jean-Pierre Salam, the mayor of Grand Goave, about 15 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, estimated that some 70 percent of the city's important structures fell during the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12. More...