Haiti: The politics of rebuilding

Just weeks after the earthquake that took more than 200,000 lives and devastated Haiti’s capital city, a new normalcy is taking shape in Port-au-Prince.

The shock of so much loss has barely worn off, but the mountains of rubble are slowly being cleared. And where landmarks like the national palace and the cathedral once towered a new architecture has appeared.

special report

Hundreds of tent cities have been set up, camps of internally displaced people who have lost their homes. Food distribution points dot the city, run primarily by the UN, with support from US troops.

These structures might be temporary, but at the makeshift government head quarters, in donor conferences, and in the boardrooms of international financial institutions, attention is turning to the long-term plan.

As pledges of billions of dollars of international aid and investment are made, Avi Lewis travels to Port-au-Prince and to the Plateau Central and finds that debates over the vision of a new Haiti are already underway.

This episode of Fault Lines airs from Thursday, Feburary 11, at the following times GMT: Thursday: 0600, 1630; Friday: 0130, 0830; Saturday: 1130, 2330; Sunday: 0630, 2030; Monday: 1430; Tuesday: 1230, 1930; Wednesday: 0300.