Zeenews Bureau
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said an enormous set of challenges lie before quake-hit Haiti and that it was time the process of re-building starts.
Addressing a press conference at the White House along with his Haitian counterpart Rene Preval, Obama said, “There is an enormous set of challenges in front of Haiti and I personally thank the NGOs, who came forward to help the earthquake victims. Our heart goes out to the people of Haiti.”
Also present at the press conference were members of Congress, Haitian-American community leaders and organizations involved in the earthquake relief effort.
Obama further said, “We must draw lessons from the quake and Haiti should start the procedure of re-building the country now.”
Preval personally thanked Obama for the private and public US aid that flooded his country after the January 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 people.
Earlier, Obama had a meeting with Preval, who has come to Washington to thank Americans for the massive outpouring of earthquake aid and to outline what more is needed.
Preval saw Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday, on a mission that will prove critical to Haiti's rebuilding.
Among items on Preval's agenda were reconstruction, job creation and a moderation of the amount of donated food, which he said could hurt local producers.
While Preval was in Washington, the US military hospital ship Comfort lifted anchor off Haiti for return cruise to Baltimore, Md. The Comfort has been stationed off the country's coast for seven weeks, treating earthquake victims.
The US military is also scaling back in Haiti, where Comfort treated more than 800 patients.
The total number of US forces in Haiti is expected to drop to about 8,000 in coming days, from a peak of around 20,000 on February 1.
First Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 23:24