Wednesday January 12, 2011 marked the anniversary of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti. Killing around 300,00 people and leaving 1.5 million injured or homeless.

After the quake Haiti had $5.3 billion pledged donations in the reconstruction of Haiti. So far only about half the pledges have actually been materialized. Aid experts say it takes quite a while to turn a pledge into cash money. There are a few steps to getting the pledge exchanged of course. First the legislature must approve the fund then the actual spending plans must be shown and approved.

Haitians don’t understand how a year into one of the worlds biggest humanitarian and reconstruction operations, there is so little done. In nearly every open space of the wounded city the tents of the homeless quake survivors are everywhere. Collapsed and still falling buildings are still all over the city. There are mountains of trash and sewage.

Also, there was an unexpected out break of cholera, which began in an area not infected by the quake and is thought to have been brought by UN Nepalese peace keepers.

Despite all the problems there are very small signs of progress. A few business’s are doing well thanks to small rebuilding efforts. the number of the quake survivors living in tents is falling. there is some clearing of debris on main roads and near the capital. A few weeks ago the Haitian government put 50 million toward a 260 million project to build two apartment complex’s. around 5% of the rubble has actually been cleaned up.

Hatians are angry and frustrated, but the reality is these things do take time. Even in much wealthier and stronger governed countries, recovery from a natural disaster takes years. LIke in the recovery of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Indonesia’s banda acen from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. They are showing signs of progress which is good.

Just be patient.