2010-02-19 CNN
And nearly half a million homeless people are still living in those makeshift settlements in Haiti today. Only a tinny tiny percentage have made it to organize tent cities. The rest are making do with whatever building materials they can find hidden in that rubble.
CNN's John Vause has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a hammer and machete, Charles Jonas is building a new home.
"The corrugated iron came from my old house," he says. "The wood I got from around here."
He doesn't know how long he'll live like this with his wife, but with a shortage of tents he says he had to do something.
Across Port-au-Prince, it seems, there are hundreds of thousands of people just like Charles.
Sprawling shanty towns seem to grow larger and more permanent every day. This one is just across from the presidential palace. Street vendors have set up shop, and the women with the buckets, are walking pharmacies.
(On camera): So the people here are building these homes with whatever they can find. Sheets of corrugated iron, pieces of wood, this is actually what's left over from an outdoor billboard.
We asked this lady if we could go inside, have a look at the house, she said yes, so come on in. So inside here, this is all she has left. There's a bed, another bed, a mirror, some pots and pans. And inside this dark, hot, cramped house, she lives with her husband, her sister, and her four children.
(Voice-over): On the streets garbage is piling up and a pungent smell is a sharp reminder there's no sanitation. Ideal conditions for the spread of disease, say health workers.
(On camera): You got to get these people out of these conditions? And soon?
ISAAC BOYD, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES: As quickly as possible.
BOYD: I haven't seen anything like this, really, before. And that's saying a lot. I work in the different -- a lot of different context.
VAUSE: Thousands of tents are being given out, but that's just a fraction of what's needed. Medicines (INAUDIBLE) or Doctors without Borders say these are strong enough to weather a hurricane. Welcome news for Frank (INAUDIBLE).
(On camera): He's been sleeping out in the open for almost a month now.
(Voice-over): So when he walked inside for the first time, he took off his shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
VAUSE: John Vause, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.