The cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people.
In the days after the magnitude 7.2 quake hit, they gathered sheets, tarpaulins and wood and made a shelter for themselves and their three children. More than a year after the Aug. 14, 2021,, quake, they are still living in the same makeshift tent like hundreds of others, and still wondering if anyone will help them.
If recent history is any guide, few people will. The Associated Press visited several camps surrounding the southern coastal city of Les Cayes, which was one of the hardest hit areas, and over and over again people complained that no government official had visited them despite repeated promises that they would come to help. As the family waited for help, Ernest died of prostate cancer last year. So today, Castel is alone, fighting for her family's survival like many struggling to restart their lives after the quake. On Thursday morning, she tried to get her 9-month-old daughter to suckle. But after a year of surviving on scraps in a makeshift camp, Castel had no milk. The tiny girl, Wood Branan Ernest, fell asleep during her failed attempt.