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Superstorm Sandy Victims Resettle Thanks To Small Town's Efforts

Credit Neena Satija / WNPR

Deborah Rassi, 59, cleans her new kitchen. She's holding a bag of donated clothing, one of many that volunteers left in the new mobile home.

Credit Neena Satija / WNPR

Robert Rassi, 67, in his family's kitchen. After losing everything when their Staten Island home flooded during Sandy, they can live here rent-free for one year.

Credit Neena Satija / WNPR

This brand-new neighborhood of mobile homes in New Milford, Conn., is home to 13 families from New York who relocated after Superstorm Sandy. They've agreed to move out after a year, and will have a chance to buy the mobile homes afterward.

By editor

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 5:11 pm

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Thousands of Superstorm Sandy victims are still displaced more than two months after the storm. So, some locals in Connecticut hatched a plan to relocate some of them to a brand-new neighborhood with homes of their own.

Deborah Rassi and her family from Staten Island, N.Y., have been in the small, rural town of New Milford, Conn., for three days.

She was happy to be unpacking at her brand-new mobile house, which came with bags of donated clothing.

3:38 pm

Fri January 11, 2013

Police: BBC Entertainer Jimmy Savile Committed More Than 200 Sex Crimes

By Philip Reeves

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 8:56 pm

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A British police report released Friday found the late entertainer Jimmy Savile committed more than 200 sex crimes, "unprecedented in the UK." The report summarized a three-month investigation into charges against Savile, who died in 2011.

It's All Politics

3:37 pm

Fri January 11, 2013

Post-Election Americans Perceive Less Class Conflict and Tension Over Immigration

By editor

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 4:19 pm

You might think that after a pretty rancorous election season there would be lingering acrimony between people who belong to groups embroiled in some of the campaign's most heated debates. But if there is, a new study by Pew found that many Americans don't feel that way.

3:22 pm

Fri January 11, 2013

Former Marine Who Shot At The Pentagon Sentenced To 25 Years

By Bill Chappell

Yonathan Melaku, the former Marine who admitting to shooting at several U.S. military buildings in the Washington, D.C., area in 2010, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, in a plea deal that makes his sentence non-negotiable. After his arrest, Melaku was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

3:19 pm

Fri January 11, 2013

Despite Billions In Aid, Many Haitians Still Live In Squalid Camps

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Jacqueline Syra has been living in the La Piste camp for three years. She says she has no idea when she will be able to leave.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Construction workers overlook the hills above Port-au-Prince near Petionville, where an 18-unit complex is slated to go up this year. Despite billions of dollars in international donations for earthquake relief, only about 5,000 permanent houses have been built.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The 16/6 project, funded by the Haitian government, was initially intended to allow the closure of six relocation camps and return nearly 5,000 families to 16 neighborhoods. But construction has been extremely slow in the three years following the devastating earthquake.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Rose Lermonis spent months living in what she described as an "awful" camp in Petionville. A rental subsidy program helped her move out, but she ended up homeless again when the money ran out. She now lives in a room owned by her sister.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The La Piste camp in Port-au-Prince held 50,000 residents at one point. Some people have left, but the camp is still overcrowded. Residents say they have few options for work.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Workers finish the cement walls on a multilevel building in the hills above Port-au-Prince near Petionville. They plan to finish the 18-unit housing facility in 2013.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

A man measures a completed section of a retaining wall at a construction site in the hills above Port-au-Prince near Petionville.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Bibeta Louissaint (left) stands in her makeshift shack with her 2-year-old son, Sebastian, in the Fort National neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. This area was home to many people living in the camps around the national palace. Louissaint received a rental subsidy last year to move.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Bibeta Louissaint (left) and Beatrice Rochelain are neighbors in the Fort National neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. Many people who received cash and subsidies to move out of the camps have returned to the area.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

A man works on his steel gate outside of his ramshackle house near Camp Corail, just north of Port-au-Prince.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

A boy stands on a pile of rocks used for the construction of new homes in the hills overlooking Camp Corail, just north of Port-au-Prince. Squatters are streaming into the area and setting up communities, with little government oversight.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

The La Piste camp in Port-au-Prince held 50,000 residents at one point. Some residents have left, but the camp is still overcrowded. Residents say they have few options for work or even hope to leave.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

This flimsy three-story house, which was rebuilt after the earthquake in January 2010, will have to be demolished to make way for an 18-unit housing project. Many homes that were rebuilt after the quake are even more dangerous than the original ones.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Clement Belizaire directs relocation and rehabilitation in Haiti's reconstruction program.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Rose Lermonis spent months living in what she calls an "awful" camp in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. A rental subsidy program helped her to move out temporarily.

By Jason Beaubien

Originally published on Mon January 14, 2013 8:06 am

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Saturday marks the third anniversary of the powerful earthquake that destroyed much of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The quake killed roughly 200,000 people and left 1.5 million Haitians homeless.

Despite billions of dollars in international aid and pledges to help Haiti rebuild from the disaster, very little new, permanent housing has been built. And about 350,000 Haitians are still living in squalid, makeshift camps — where they face an array of health challenges.

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