Haiti faces bleak prospects and its inhabitants are torn between uncertainty and pessimism, one year after an earthquake destroyed the capital and neighboring cities.

The quake, which killed 220,000 people, injured 300,000 and left 1.5 million homeless, increased the problemss this country has been suffering for centuries, and, 12 months later, no one can say for sure when everything will at least go back to the way it used to be before the catastrophe.

Haiti faces a huge challenge that it will not be able to solve without the aid of the international community, whose promises did not fully materialize despite the announcement of more than 10 billion USD for reconstruction efforts. Around 18 million cubic meters of rubble have to be removed in Port-au-Prince alone, a task that could take a decade to be carried out, according to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Only 20 percent of the promised aid has arrived in the country, aside from the cancellation of debts, according to Edmond Mulet, head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

After the earthquake, unemployment and poverty have grown, as well as vandalism, which is evidenced with the increased number of rapes of women and girls.

For now, Haiti is standing still and its capital and neighboring cities are waiting for the support of the world, which seems to have turned its back on Haiti.

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