11 Jul 2010

In Haiti, the Displaced Are Left Clinging to the Edge

Hundreds of displaced families live perilously in a single file of flimsy shanties planted along the median strip of a heavily congested coastal road here called the Route des Rails.

haiti

A planned tent city in Corail-Cesselesse, about 10 miles north of Port-au-Prince, is now home to about 5,000 displaced people whose previous camp was at risk from flooding or landslides.

Vehicles rumble by day and night, blaring horns, kicking up dust and belching exhaust. Residents try to protect themselves by positioning tires as bumpers in front of their shacks but cars still hit, injure and sometimes kill them. Rarely does anybody stop to offer help, and Judith Guillaume, 23, often wonders why.

“Don’t they have a heart, or a suggestion?” asked Ms. Guillaume, who covers her children’s noses with her floral skirt when the diesel fumes get especially strong.

Full story on NYTimes.com