海地国会的新家(1/2)

Haiti marked another milestone in its recovery from the devastating earthquake of January 12th, 2010. On November 22nd of this year, in the presence of Haitian President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Garry Conill, the Haitian Parliament and the United States Government inaugurated a temporary building complex that will be the official center of legislative power. The previous Parliament building partially collapsed during the 7.0–magnitude earthquake of 2010. Two members of Parliament and 32 staff members were among the estimated 316,000 people who died in the disaster. Records and archives were buried, and representatives from both the lower chamber and the upper chamber were left without meeting and office space at a time of urgent need for efficient, responsive governance. With the Parliament buildings too damaged to be rehabilitated, the U.S. Government pledged to provide semi-permanent office space as a replacement. Until new quarters could be constructed, the Parliament worked out of the Police Academy, and then a damaged Parliament office building. The new $1.9 million Parliament complex, funded and constructed through the United States agency for International Development's office of Transition Initiatives, was completed in October through a subcontract with TEMPO Construction, a Haitian firm. It will serve as home for Parliament for several years until a permanent National Assembly building can be constructed.