Over 2,000 people have died from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that devastated the southern region of Haiti this past weekend.
Per Haiti's Civil Protection Agency, the death toll sits a 2,189 and continues to rise as search and rescue missions have been deployed all over the region. Still, dozens more remain missing while thousands of homes and buildings have been completely destroyed.
While a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local nonprofits have banded together to administer aid in the form of temporary shelter, food, and medical care, there is still dissatisfaction with authorities' slower rollout of governmental aid, especially in the city of Les Cayes which was hit hardest.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared that there would not be “repeat history on the mismanagement and coordination of aid," alluding to the aftermath of the earthquake which primarily impacted the capital in 2010.
"As a judge, I must not have a political opinion. But as a man, as a man concerned about the situation of my country, nothing is working," Les Cayes Judge Pierre Cenel told Reuters. "They didn't do anything to prepare for this disaster."
Memorably, billions of dollars in aid were raised for the Caribbean nation in 2010 with no noticeable change in infrastructure and social conditions since then. It is this lack of infrastructure that many attribute to the inefficiency of aid distribution this time around.
