Longterm challenge in Haiti is to rescue ‘shattered society’: Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the long-term challenge facing Canadian and other relief efforts in quake-stricken Haiti amounts to nothing less than “the rescue of a shattered society.”

Canadians have been “profoundly moved” by the suffering in Haiti and through words and actions they have asked his government to do everything in its power to help, Harper told the Conservative caucus on Friday.

Led by the Canadian Forces, co-ordinated by Canada’s diplomats and involving a “small army” of emergency-aid workers, Canada’s relief effort is unprecedented, he said.

“Their challenge in the coming days and weeks as part of the multi-national relief effort amounts to nothing less than the rescue of a shattered society,” Harper said.

“And the even larger task in the months and years that will follow is to rebuild Haiti, to transform its unimaginable grief into a sustained hope for the future.”

He promised Canada will remain steadfast in its commitment to assist its Haitian neighbours and to “help them find their way to hope.”

Even before the Jan. 12 quake, Haiti was Canada’s No. 2 aid recipient after Afghanistan. In 2006, Ottawa pledged $555-million over five years to alleviate poverty and boost development in Haiti.

Canada has committed up to $135-million in additional funds to the relief effort, and ordinary Canadians have donated more than $40-million to aid groups working in the disaster zone.

Estimates of the total number of dead in the magnitude-7.3 quake now number 200,000 or more.

The number of confirmed Canadian deaths is at 16. There are 306 Canadians still missing in Haiti, and 1,892 have been located.

Ottawa estimates there were more than 6,000 Canadians in Haiti when the earthquake struck. Almost 1,900 had been located and 1,765 had been evacuated by early Friday.

 About 1,000 Canadian soldiers, sailors and air crew are on the ground or off the coast of Haiti and that number is expected to double over the next week.

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