Vice President Joe Biden met with representatives of the Haitian community at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami on Monday.
Biden opened his brief remarks by reminding the 26 community leaders in the room of the message he delivered back in January, shortly after their country was
devastated by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12.
“We’re in this for the long haul,” Biden said. “This wasn’t about just showing up to deal with the emergency that existed at the time. We realize just because the earthquake may have receded from the front pages, and I say to you that, we’ll be here even when the crawler under the CNN news headline does not continue to mention Haiti, We are going to stay.”
He added: “We have no reduced commitment. The president continues to remain committed to rebuilding Haiti, and rebuilding it better. We made a promise and it is a promise just not to pick up the rubble but also to try and get Haiti on its feet, and quite frankly on their feet in a way they haven’t been for some time.”
Biden’s meeting with the Haitian community leaders follows an earlier visit which he paid in January, within days of the massive earthquake that ravaged much of Port au Prince and against the backdrop of a major donors conference at the end of March in New York.
The international community has pledged some $5 billion to help re-build Haiti over the next 18 months and all together just under $10 billion. Biden said that the U.S. was pledging $1.15 billion for reconstruction.
Biden also said that the US government had provided more than $1 billion in earthquake response–more than $352 million for shelters, sanitation
for ; $68 million for food; $35 million in cash for workers and other transition initiatives; $422 million for logistics, provision of health and medical.
“This money had made a real difference in the lives of Haitians,” Biden said. “1.2 million people have access to treated water, actually a 50 percent increase in pre-earthquake levels.”
Biden said that the U.S. administration is committed not only to restoring Haiti to its past, but to building a better future.
He said there is a great deal to be done and that the devastation is unimaginable, but “The administration is going to stay the course. We are going to work with
the people of Haiti, we are going to work with the Diaspora, we are going to work with all of you.”
Source: Miami Herald/pool
