The government of Haiti has floated a plan to tear down the shanties of earthquake victims whose homes were never rebuilt, despite government promises. Now the makeshift housing is slated for demolition to make way for a flood-deterent project that will protect nearby affluent Petionville from flooding. So, basically, the Martelly government proposes to tear down one neighborhood to make improvements to another one.
More than a thousand Jalousie residents marched in protest against the destruction of their homes. Law enforcement responded by tear gassing them. Meanwhile, the few hundred homes that the government is building nearby will not house anywhere near the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the 2010 earthquake.
Tell Haiti not to tear down the shanty town until decent housing can be provided for all its inhabitants!
We the undersigned note that the residents of the Jalousie shanty town don't really want to live in dangerous, makeshift dwellings that can be carried off by a flood. But they lost their sturdier homes in an earthquake, and government has entirely failed to provide decent housing for these disaster refugees. To tear down the only homes they have, however precariously constructed, to make improvements to wealthy Petionville is obscene. Don't tear down those shanties until you have provided safe housing for every last earthquake victim!
