PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — For nearly three years after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, Haiti’s main public square was a densely crowded tent city packed with makeshift huts made from cardboard, plywood and bedsheets in the shadow of a ruined presidential palace.
Walk through the Champ de Mars today and the displaced survivors of the quake who once called it home are long gone — replaced by ice cream vendors, novice student drivers and a new government administrative corridor in the center of the city.
The razed palace still hasn’t been rebuilt, but several of the 44 public buildings that crumbled in less than a minute, including the Supreme Court, have been reconstructed, while a new $89 million Parliament complex is underway even as lawmakers flee downtown Port-au-Prince for the hills due to rising violence.
As a disaster-prone Haiti marks the 10th anniversary of an unimaginable catastrophe, Haitians and the international community that pledged to help the country rebuild can point to a few signs of progress.