Former governor general Michaelle Jean vividly remembers the shock of seeing the country of her birth after it was hit by a catastrophic earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010.
"It was as if an atomic bomb had been dropped on Haiti," Jean said in an interview with The Canadian Press this week.
In an anguished voice, he told her of an "unimaginable catastrophe" -- entire neighbourhoods under rubble and fears that thousands could be dead. "He said, 'We can't reach the president. We don't even know who is alive,' " she recalled, so the Canadian government approved the plane's departure. Jean decided to visit the country, timing her trip to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8, because she considers women to be particularly vulnerable in disaster situations.
The challenge facing Haiti was monumental, she said, noting that 60 per cent of the country's civil servants perished in the earthquake. Hiring replacements was difficult as the state struggled to compete with international organizations that pay better.She has harsh words for the non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, that arrived en masse after the disaster.
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