Displaced Fear Expulsion from Makeshift Camps

Displaced Fear Expulsion from Makeshift Camps, by Ansel Herz, Inter Press Service, April 8, 2010
Within days of the January earthquake, the sparse concrete grounds of the Gonazague secondary school became home to nearly 11,000 Haitian families, driven out of destroyed neighbourhoods in central Port-Au-Prince. Now the school's director wants to reopen the school. The government encouraged schools to resume classes on Monday, calling it another small step towards normalcy. The potential reopening of the school has inspired anything but calm among internally displaced people at Saint Louis de Gonzague. They have been threatened with expulsion by force. "Everyone is nervous right now. If they force us to leave it will be second catastrophe," said Elivre Constant, smoking a cigarette in the middle of the crowded camp. "A lot of people here don't have anywhere to go. They have kids. They won't be safe." More...