Six months later, many in Haiti feel, 'it just happened'

From ENI-

Some Haitians feel as if it happened just days ago, the Rev. Kerwin Delicat, an Episcopal (Anglican) priest based in the city of Léogâne, said as people prepared to mark six months since a calamitous earthquake struck on 12 January.

While some progress is discernable such as students being back at school for some time, Léogâne, like the capital of Port-au-Prince, is still years from recovery.

"Eventually, there will be a return to normal life," Delicat said in interview. "But it's been just less than six months. It's like something that just happened."

Many residents still mourn loved ones. For some, trauma is less palpable than immediately after the quake. But others are still struggling to resume their lives, Delicat said.

"It will take a long time for many families to restart a normal life, because the consequences have been so huge," Delicat said in an interview with ENInews. "A man works 30 years of hard labour, then, in one day, in one instant, he loses his wife, his children."

Léogâne, a coastal community 29 kilometres (18 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, was at the quake's epicentre. Nearly nine out of 10 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Even today, most people in the city live out of tents because their homes were destroyed or damaged, or due to people's fears of concrete structures.

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http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=4255