800,000 Haitians remain in refugee camps

Quake-affected Haitians have been living in "provisional" camps set up by international aid organizations working in Haiti since the quake on Jan. 12, 2010. Life in refugee camps is hard, and what makes it worse is that there is little hope that things will change anytime soon.

In a camp inside the yard of the Prime Minister's office, which is one with better living conditions compared to others in the country, Pierre Beauvais, a member of the camp's organizational committee, told Xinhua that a total of 5,133 people from 577 families have been living there since the earthquake.

The Haitian National Police and the United Nations Police (UNPOL) said that all camps in the country have around-the-clock surveillance, and that press reports about increasing crime in these camps are untrue. However, a policewoman in the camp in the Prime Minister's yard told Xinhua Sunday that maintaining order inside the camp is not their primary concern.

She and her colleagues are here around-the-clock, and they would intervene if something happens in the camp. But their main task is guarding the objects inside the Prime Minister's building. "Inside the Prime Minister's building there are still things, and we have to make sure that nobody takes them," said the policewoman, who declined to give her name.

Beauvais is in charge of receiving food and money for the camp and distributing them among the residents. The donations are claimed by the head of each family in the camp; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010 for full version