Mitt Romney tries to pivot from disaster in the northeast to the final week of campaigning in Florida. Meanwhile, the death toll rises in Haiti as a result of Sandy.
There's one more presidential debate left, and it takes place in the most crucial swing state of them all. Host Phil Latzman along with panel of journalists, politicians and an academic discuss U.S. foreign policy and domestic issues important to Florida voters.
The head of the United States Agency for International Development was in South Florida to speak to Florida International University students about possible volunteer service with the government organization.
Rajiv Shah stopped by the WLRN-Miami Herald studios and spoke at length about his agency’s work in earthquake-devastated Haiti.
“I’m very confident that Haiti will emerge a stronger and more resilient country."
Carmen Maria Romero was one of the four medical workers in Haiti whose voices you heard in After the Quake: Patients and Healers. She’s a physical therapist who had already been volunteering in Haiti for ten years, and who traveled there last January to help with the relief efforts.
Romero was so moved by the suffering and the resilience of her patients that she decided to quit her job and relocate to Haiti.
When an earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, the United States stopped deporting Haitian immigrants to the devastated nation. But deportations resumed last January, and Franco Coby, 24, of Fort Myers, found himself banished from the country he grew up in since the age of 6.
If you’ve ever visited Little Haiti, you’ve probably seen Miami muralist Serge Toussaint’s work, which is sprinkled throughout the city. How can you tell it’s his work? His signature is a dollar sign instead of an “S” in Serge. He spends most of his time in Little Haiti, but his work can be seen in Liberty City, Little River, Allapattah, the Miami River and all the way to Fort Lauderdale.
Haitian earthquake survivors Agathe Jean-Michel, Marie Jubert Attagant and their daughters speak with translator Dr. Marie-Denise Gervais at the health clinic at North Miami Beach High School.
Credit Trina Sargalski
Muralist Serge Toussaint painted this scene at Northeast 79th Street and Second Avenue in Little Haiti to commemorate the 2010 earthquake.
After the earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, thousands of Haitians fled to South Florida to escape the devastation in their country. Some were able to leave Haiti on tourist visas. Others came as guardians to their injured children. No matter how they came to the country, most have been living in limbo in the United States.
One of the aftereffects of the earthquake in Haiti is that local journalists have found new freedom. Many are now airing the kinds of political commentary and criticism that used to invite violence and censure– even death.
The shift comes across loud and clear on Haiti’s airwaves, where most people get their news.
Jennifer Maloney brings us the story of Haitian radio host and reporter Makenson Remy, known to listeners as “Four-by-Four” because of his rugged brand of go-anywhere reporting.
While InnoVida has not yet been able to erect the prefabricated homes designed by architect Andres Duany, they have been able to start this small project in Port-au-Prince.
Credit InnoVida, LLC
A small InnoVida project in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
In March, 150 nations pledged more than $5 billion dollars to rebuild Haiti. Construction firms around the world, and especially in South Florida, began jockeying for those funds. Developers and planners from South Florida bid on contracts to build roads, construct housing, and remove debris. And not just developers and planners. Even Royal Caribbean, based in Miami, bid on housing contracts.
After the earthquake, nine-year-old Peterson Exais was trapped under rubble for four days. Once he was rescued, Peterson was rushed to a tent hospital in Port-au-Prince. Chad Perlyn was the first doctor available. He is a pediatric plastic surgeon at Miami Children’s Hospital.
Perlyn knew the tent hospital was not equipped to treat Peterson. So he put the boy on a list for treatment at one of the U.S. hospitals that were tending to young earthquake victims– hospitals in far-flung cities like Orlando, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.
