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2 months after Haiti quake, housing still elusive
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With the rainy season expected any day now, time is running out for 600,000 Haiti quake survivors who are still living under tarpaulin, tents, or simply bed sheets.
Torrential rain typically starts to fall around April the 1st.
And there have already been deadly floods west of the earthquake zone.
The government has yet to relocate a single person, despite pledging that people would be moving into resettlement areas by early February.
People in the crowded camps say they cannot wait much longer for better conditions.
Marie Nicole Francisse, Temporary Camp Resident, said, "We can't live here because it's too hot. It's this hot because it's a tent. I have a lot of kids with me so this is not at all good for me."
With so many quake survivors still living like this, fears are growing that this year's rainy season has the making of a second major crisis.
Aid organizations have plans to build at least 140-thousand shelters, but they're unable to do so because they don't have the land.
Alex Wynter, Spokesman International Red Cross, said, "We are ready to go now with this prototype, that we are standing in right now but we still don't have clearance on a building site. In simple terms, we don't have a place where to put them yet."
Haiti's government says it will seize private property to build camps, and has promised to compensate the landowners, despite its limited funds.
The country's chief adviser on relocation says 86 million US dollars will be needed to build the relocation sites, and another 40 million to secure rights to the land.
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