Quake-hit Haiti needs 11.5 billion dollars to rebuild

Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Mar. 18 : The Dominican Republic of Haiti has told its partners that it needs 11.5 billion dollars to rebuild from earthquake damage.

Haiti was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 12 this year that left more than 220,000 dead and large swaths of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the estimate comes from a draft Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment (PDNA) that was released as delegations from 28 delegations from various countries and organizations wrapped up a two-day meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, today.

The assessment will be presented to a donor's conference for Haiti on March 31 in New York.

The draft lays out specifics on what Haiti's financial needs will be over the next three years to rebuild the homes, schools, roads, government offices and businesses destroyed.

It also lays out a vision for a new Haiti, which includes a stronger sense of government and justice and a plan to decentralize power and economic opportunity to lessen the pressures on Port-au-Prince.

The report was presented by the Haitian government, and included input from a slew of international organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations.

It puts losses and damages at 7.9 billion dollars, which represents 120 percent of the country's GDP.

Seventy percent of the loss was from the private sector, while 2.37 billion dollars was public, such as roads, schools, and hospitals.