Ever since Haiti's National Palace collapsed in the earthquake on January 12, Haitian President Rene Preval has been without a home. In this video, NewsHour correspondent Ray Suarez talks to Preval about his efforts to help the people of Haiti.
In the interview, Preval talks about the impact of previous natural disasters in Haiti and discusses the upcoming rainy season, which will bring in a host of new problems for people who have been living without proper shelter for weeks.
Preval also responds to criticism that he has been out of the public eye since the earthquake.
Quotes
"I don't do politics, OK? I'm not interested in a political career. I'm interested in managing a country. Those interested in political career, you would have seen them going to a hospital, kissing kids and sick people with a camera crew behind them. My work, the work of somebody who is trying to manage a crisis, is to find ways to ease the pain of those suffering, instead of trying to be photographed with journalists, with people who suffer." - Haitian President Rene Preval
"This catastrophe happened only 15 days ago. That's not a lot of time. We need 200,000 tents, and they don't exist in the world.
We're talking about protecting one million people in the street. It's a lot. The day before yesterday, we had just 3,500 tents in Haiti. That's so far from what we need." - Haitian President Rene Preval
Warm Up Questions
1. Where is Haiti? What do you know about Haiti?
2. What do you know about the earthquake on January 12? How has it affected the country?
3. What should a president do after a major catastrophe like an earthquake?
Discussion Questions
1. How well do you think that Haiti's president is responding to the crisis? Do you think that he should be more visible to his people?
2. Preval says that he is more interested in managing his country than being a politician. How do you think that a nation's leader should act during a crisis?
3. If the earthquake had occurred here in America, how would you expect the president to respond? What kinds of things would you want him to do?
4. How have American presidents responded to crises in the past?
Additional Resources
