Haiti honors victims of massive earthquake 12 years later

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Flags at half-mast flapped within the wind Wednesday as Haiti honored the estimated 316,000 individuals who died in a devastating earthquake that hit 12 years in the past.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry and different authorities officers clad in black fits visited the monument topped by a big rock that commemorates the victims of the 7.0 magnitude quake that struck on Jan. 12, 2010.

“We nonetheless have lots to rebuild,” Henry mentioned. “January twelfth didn't destroy one home solely. It destroyed the financial system of the entire nation. It’s going to take a very long time to return to the way in which we had been earlier than the quake.”

The quake destroyed greater than 100,000 buildings and broken one other 200,000. Henry mentioned that billions of dollars had been spent within the title of Haiti however that nobody has proof of the place a part of that cash went.

Henry, who's searching for to construct a coalition authorities after the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in a rustic scuffling with a spike in gang violence, mentioned Haitians don’t have the facility to cease pure disasters however can put an finish to violence.

He mentioned that with out peace, Haiti can’t rebuild its financial system or democratic establishments, open faculties or maintain the overall elections scheduled for later this 12 months.

“January twelfth is an efficient time to ask ourselves the place we wish to go along with the nation,” Henry mentioned. “It’s not the time to proceed combating.”