WASHINGTON, United States, March 6, 2009- The World Bank's Board of Directors has approved a US$5 million grant to help Haiti rebuild public primary schools damaged by hurricanes and tropical storms that struck the country in August and September last year.

The grant will rebuild schools and set in motion a new strategy for safer school construction. "Investing in prevention and preparedness, and improving construction standards will contribute to make Haitian schools more resilient to future natural disasters," said Yvonne Tsikata, World Bank Director for the Caribbean.

According to official statistics, it is estimated that 964 schools were seriously damaged in the 2008 hurricane season, affecting more than 200,000 children.

"The project will set the foundation for the revision of school designs, the use of some schools as community shelters in times of crises, and increased community ownership in the schools to be rebuilt," added Michael Drabble, World Bank task manager for the project.

The Emergency School Reconstruction Project will contribute to rebuilding and refurbishing an estimated 15 public primary schools, as well as reducing the vulnerability of educational infrastructure through the use of enhanced construction standards. It is expected that all new educational infrastructure will use these construction standards.

Specifically, the project will support the finance the reconstruction and rehabilitation of about 15 primary schools that have been destroyed or seriously damaged, the construction of new schools that will use better standards and building norms, attempting to prevent further collapse of school buildings and the development of a National Action Plan for Safe Schools (NAPSS).

Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Date: 23 Dec 2008

NEW YORK, 23 December 2008 – UNICEF called today for more concerted action to make schools safe for children.

"Whether caused by poor construction or natural catastrophes, school collapses invariably have disastrous effects on children," said Cream Wright, UNICEF Global Chief of Education. "Schools must be safe places where children can learn and thrive."

The year 2008 was marked by a number of school collapses – many of them fatal – in various parts of the world.

Following the 3 May cyclone in Myanmar, more than 4,000 schools still need to be repaired or rebuilt to provide permanency and security to affected children.

On 12 May, a devastating earthquake struck Wenchuan County in China's Sichuan Province. It is estimated that the resulting number of child deaths is in the thousands. The quake damaged more than 12,000 schools, or 40 per cent of all the schools in Sichuan, and another 6,500 schools in neighbouring Gansu Province.

In Pakistan, the earthquake that hit the northeastern areas of Balochistan province on 29 October damaged some 300 schools in the worst affected districts of Ziarat, Pishin and Harnai – 85 per cent of schools in these areas - as well as 124 schools in the neighbouring Quetta district. More than 31,000 students were affected.

On 7 November, more than 90 children and teachers perished in Haiti after their school collapsed because of poor infrastructure. Hurricanes and tropical storms that pounded the country in August and September damaged nearly 1,000 schools.

Schools are unlikely to topple when natural disasters strike if they have a strong structural design, their construction is closely monitored and they undergo regular maintenance.

Safe construction is an essential component of child-friendly schools and learning spaces, a model which UNICEF strongly advocates for all children. Under this model, school environments must be safe, healthy and protective, endowed with trained teachers, adequate resources and appropriate physical, emotional and social conditions for learning.

Such environments benefit schoolchildren as well as the communities in which they live. "Safe schools don't just save children's lives," Wright said. "They can also serve as temporary shelters for communities in times of disasters."

About UNICEF:

UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Attention broadcasters: B-roll is available free of charge.

For further information, and for b-roll, please contact:

Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, +1-212-326-7162, nmekki@unicef.org

Kate Donovan, UNICEF New York, +1-212-326-7452, kdonovan@unicef.org

Haiti celebrates hero in tragic school collapse

Reuters
November 14, 2008

By Joseph Guyler Delva

An unemployed man who risked life and limb to pull children from the rubble of a collapsed school was celebrated as a national hero on Thursday by the impoverished Caribbean nation's president.

More than 90 people were killed in the disaster involving the La Promesse school, a ramshackle three-story building that collapsed in a slum on the outskirts of the Haitian capital.

Ronaldo Charilus, 29, said he rushed to the structure soon after it caved in last Friday.

"When I arrived on the site, I prayed and said to myself my life was not mine anymore. I left it in God's hands," Charilus told Reuters. "And from that moment on, I stopped thinking about my life but about the innocent children's lives."

Charilus, dubbed "Ronaldo the Hero" by the Haitian media, saved the lives of several dozen children trapped under the debris while putting his own life in almost constant danger, according to numerous eyewitness reports.

President Rene Preval, who visited the disaster site several times, told an awards ceremony at the National Palace on Thursday that Charilus was tireless in his efforts.

"The young man was all over the place. He worked with so much energy that he grabbed my attention," Preval said.

Though his dogged efforts continued day and night for several days running, Preval noted that Charilus was officially unemployed like so many other people in the poorest nation in the hemisphere.

"When I asked Ronaldo if he had slept, he replied to me by saying, 'Mr. President I can't sleep and I will never be able to sleep as long as I know there are people still trapped under the rubble,'" said Preval.

Several other rescue workers also were recognized for their service at the ceremony, but Charilus was clearly the star.

"He crawled like a snake through the rubble and squeezed himself into holes from which he was not sure whether he would be able to come out," said Gael Pinson, who worked alongside Charilus at the school site.

The school disaster, blamed on shoddy construction, struck as Haiti was struggling to recover from four tropical storms and hurricanes that killed more than 800 people and destroyed 60 percent of the nation's crops in August and September.

Charilus, the father of a 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, said he acted as if his own children had been caught up in the tragedy.

"You know there is nothing a loving and responsible father won't do to save his children in immediate danger," he said.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Vicki Allen)

Dear God in heaven, what a horiffic tragedy in HAITI. How devastating!! Please help these poor children, their parents, the rescue workers, and the city!

o bon dieu sak kap pase haiti cheri mwen an fo nou priye bondieu pou li pa fini peri paske nan tan sa se sel bon dieu ki ka fe yon bagay pou nou

PETIONVILLE, Haiti (AP) — U.S., French and Haitian firefighters used sonar, cameras and dogs Monday in the search for victims at a collapsed Haitian school, but hopes dimmed for finding any more survivors, and the stench of death grew from beneath the rubble.

Three days after the school collapsed during a children's party, killing at least 94 students and adults and severely injuring 150 more, the scene at College La Promesse was grim.

"We have not abandoned the search. We are continuing searching and we are taking a lot of precautions," civil protection coordinator Nadia Lochard told The Associated Press.

Several bodies were pulled out Monday, caked in concrete dust. But there have been no indications of survivors since four children were pulled from the wreckage Saturday morning, said Daniel Vigee, head of a Martinique-based French rescue team.

Rescuers were probing spots where neighbors claimed to have heard voices or received cell phone calls from trapped survivors, without success. Finally, before dawn Monday, they opened up new areas to search by tearing down a two-story high concrete slab that had been hanging precariously since the collapse.

Firefighters flown in from Fairfax County, Virginia by the U.S. Agency for International Development had previously warned that removing the wall could be too dangerous to rescuers and any potential survivors, but as hopes dimmed that people below were still alive, they removed it anyway using hand-held power tools.

An eight-person military team from the U.S. Southern Command also helped the rescue effort.

It was unclear how many people were in the building when it collapsed, though the school is believed to have had about 500 students. Haitian officials said some had time to escape when it began to fall, and it was not known how many were pulled out unharmed on Friday.

Some students weren't at the school during the collapse because La Promesse was holding a party requiring a donation of about 50 cents that poorer families could not afford, said Deputy Steven Benoit, who represents the area in the Chamber of Deputies.

"A lot of students had their lives saved because they couldn't get in," Benoit said.

The tragedy at the school — built along a ravine in a slum below a relatively wealthy enclave near Port-au-Prince — has brought more attention to chronic poverty in Haiti, where neighborhoods rise up in chaotic jigsaws and building codes are widely ignored.

President Rene Preval has made several visits to the disaster site, blaming the collapse on constant government turnover and a general disrespect for the law.

"There is a code already, but they don't follow it. What we need is political stability," Preval told the AP.

More than 1.8 million of Haiti's 9 million people, according to one lawmaker's estimate, live in ramshackle slums that blanket mountainsides with squalid homes, shabby churches and poorly constructed schools like the one that tumbled down Friday.

Anger and frustration over the painstakingly slow pace of the rescue effort has boiled over. On Sunday, about 100 people rushed the wreckage and began trying to pull down the massive concrete slab. Thousands of onlookers cheered them before Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers drove them back with batons and riot shields.

The school's owner and builder, Protestant preacher Fortin Augustin, turned himself in to authorities Saturday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, police spokesman Garry Desrosier said. Minister of Justice and Public Security Jean Joseph Exume said the case was still being investigated but the owner could face up to life in prison.

Neighbors said they have long complained that the three-story school building was unsafe, and people living nearby have been trying to sell their homes since part of it collapsed eight years ago.

"You can see that some sections just have one iron (reinforcing) bar. That's not enough to hold it," said 55-year-old Notez Pierre-Louis, who pulled her children out and sent them to a less expensive school

Angry relatives storm school
Slow progress in search for victims sparks confrontation with Haitian police
By JONATHAN KATZ The Associated Press
Mon. Nov 10 - 5:50 AM

A relative of a victim argues with police at the site of a school collapse in Petionville, Haiti, on Sunday. Haitian police were holding the owner of the school that collapsed, killing at least 88 people and setting off a desperate search for survivors trapped in tons of rubble. (Ramon Espinosa / AP)

PETIONVILLE, Haiti — Angry Haitians have stormed the twisted wreckage of a collapsed school to demand rescuers speed up a search for victims. At the same time, officials worried about the stability of other buildings across the desperately poor country. The collapse crushed at least 88 students and adults in a slum below a relatively wealthy enclave near Port-au-Prince.

It has brought global attention to a country where chronic poverty and unrest spawn chaotic jigsaws of neighbourhoods and building codes are widely ignored.
President Rene Preval, who has made several visits to the disaster site, blamed continual government turnover and poor oversight by building inspectors for the deadly collapse at the College La Promesse.

Stephen Benoit, Petionville’s representative in Parliament, called the tragedy a golden occasion to address anarchic construction.Benoit estimated that as many as two million Haitians live in ramshackle slums across the Caribbean nation of nine million.

Haiti’s mountainsides are blanketed with squalid homes, shabby churches and poorly constructed schools like the one that tumbled down Friday. Rescuers, including a U.S. crew from Fairfax County, Va., and French firefighters from Martinique continued searching for survivors and the dead for a third day Sunday.

They are using pole-mounted digital cameras and are cutting through concrete with saws. Anger boiled over as thousands of Haitians looked on in the blazing sun, with the stench of rotting bodies beginning to rise from the rubble. About 100 men rushed the unstable pile at one point, hammering at the debris and trying to pull down a massive concrete slab that firefighters worry could trigger a second collapse.

Thousands cheered them on, chanting: "We don’t need money to do the work!" Rumours have circulated that the international rescuers were working slowly to inflate their wages. Baton-swinging Haitian police and UN peacekeepers in riot gear drove the men away, only for them to return and throw rocks.

Tensions eased after authorities let several dozen locals help clear rubble under UN supervision. "Everybody is frustrated. We smell the bodies," said 25-year-old Emmane Petitehomme. "If they don’t do something quickly, we may have to leave here for a few days."

Some have reported hearing voices from the pile or receiving cell phone calls from trapped survivors. Rescuers say they investigated those claims but couldn’t confirm them. The school’s owner and builder, Protestant preacher Fortin Augustin, was arrested late Saturday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, police spokesman Garry Desrosier said.

Neighbours said they have long complained that the three-storey school building was unsafe, and people living nearby have been trying to sell their homes ever since a section of it collapsed eight years ago.
"You can see that some sections just have one iron (reinforcing) bar. That’s not enough to hold it," said 55-year-old Notez Pierre-Louis, whose children used to attend the school.

"I said all the time, one day this is going to fall on my house." Kaje Pierre, a 27-year-old food vendor who lives up the street, said he fears for the rest of the neighbourhood, where many homes are worth about $9,000 — several years’ salary for most Haitian workers.

"I’m worried these other houses might fall because they’re too close to the ravine," he said. "But we have no choice. This is what you can get for the money we have." The tragedy has elicited shock and sadness around the world. Pope Benedict sent a message expressing his condolences, Vatican Radio said Sunday. In addition to the 88 students and adults found dead, at least 150 people have been treated for injuries in the collapse.

USAID has dispatched search and rescue teams from Fairfax to Haiti. The French are also sending staff and equipment. Search and Rescue continues. Several years ago, there was a shortage of cement. Vendors switched the formula, adding sand, gravel, and other ingredients to stretch the cement further. People are very concerned that we might be seeing now are the structures built with poor quality cement starting to degrade. This tragedy has deeply affected the residents of Port au Prince.