Police and U.N. forces in riot gear drove away Haitians trying to pull away pieces of wreckage at a collapsed school. Haitians have been demanding effective rescue at the collapsed school, where at least 89 people died on Nov. 7.
The collapse of the College La Promesse Evangelique in Petion-Ville, a slum below a wealthy neighborhood near Port-au-Prince, has been attributed to faulty construction and the owner has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. A mass burial was originally planned, but in response to public outcry, the government will now provide $2,500 per victim for burial expenses.
A young girl whose sister attended the school and whose mother sold cookies outside the building asked if the school, which is being removed entirely, would be made safer when rebuilt. A rescue worker responded, “They will make it prettier.”
More than 1.8 million people live in poverty in the hills below wealthy enclaves in Haiti. The country came under U.N. occupation following the U.S.-engineered overthrow of the progressive government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
