Life in Haiti has never been easy. But when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck in the country's urban centre on Jan. 12, 2010, Haitians were catapulted into catastrophic conditions.

Now, a year later, the conditions in Haiti remain desperate and frustrating, though the Haitian people have never faltered to show the international community their hope and their pride.

Rosemary McCarney, president and CEO of Plan Canada, says there are a few images of Haiti that she just can't get out of her mind.

"I'll never forget the peaceful dignity of parents who were walking their kids back to school for the first time since the earthquake," she told CP24.com in a recent interview.

She said the children looked clean and were impeccably dressed. The girls wore perfectly tidy hair tied up in ribbons that bounced ever so slightly as they walked through the squalid conditions.

"We chatted with them and they were bubbly like kids often are," she said. "They were eager to speak with each other and were trying not to see who was no longer there."

More than 230,000 people were killed in the earthquake. Bodies continue to be pulled out from piles of rubble that remain on the ground since the day devastation struck. Officials estimate that less than five per cent of the rubble has been cleared.

Recovery efforts

Recovery efforts have been progressing slowly despite the outpouring of support from the international community.

"It was just in the summer that the roads were cleared," McCarney said. "If you just see all of the pancaked buildings you would know that it will take years to clear all the rubble."

Part of the problem behind the clearing -- and more importantly rebuilding -- of properties is Haiti's antiquated land registry. Finding out who owns and is responsible for the land has been an arduous task.

McCarney says that in all her years working in war zones and other regions devastated by natural disasters, Haiti's unique conditions posed a special challenge.

"It was a huge learning experience to be doing the work in an urban context," she said.

Haiti's earthquake struck just outside Port-au-Prince, the country's capital city. Officials say about 1.5 million people were displaced as a result of the tremor.

"Thirty hospitals were destroyed, three out of four medical schools were destroyed, killing a second-year class of students," she explained. "With the density of an urban setting, it's not like you can travel down the road to the next town and the next hospital."

Criticism

The criticism against the recovery efforts has been harsh.

Some are blaming the disorganization of the hundreds of international aid agencies that descended upon Haiti after the quake. Others are blaming an ineffective government.

The aid group Oxfam said in a recent report that the international community was not doing enough to support the Haitian people.

"(They) have not done enough to support good governance and effective leadership in Haiti," the report says.

"Aid agencies continue to bypass local and national authorities in the delivery of assistance while donors are not coordinating their actions or adequately consulting the Haitian people."

McCarney says the agencies and government can't be blamed when the sheer scope of the devastation is considered.

"Too slow? Help is never going to come fast enough for these people," she said. "First the earthquake, then election campaigning, then rainy season, then hurricane season, then a deadly cholera outbreak, then a violent trip to the polls…"

She does however say smaller, independent relief groups would have been more effective if they had joined larger aid organizations.

"The larger NGOs know the terrain, they have clearance, they're coordinated and they meet regularly with locals," she said.

For instance, Plan Canada has been in Haiti for 36 years. Before the earthquake struck, they had 150 locals working for them on the ground. Today they have 280 Haitians working for the organization.

In the last year in Haiti, Plan Canada has:

• Spent US$23 million and donated US$13 million in gifts

• Helped rebuild classrooms, train teachers and supply equipment for schools

• Secured a $13 million donation of essential drugs and vaccinations

• Provided 23,000 people with water sanitation kits and education

• Provided work and shelter to locals

There were about 900 NGOs on the ground with the same goal of helping out and doing good work.

The problem, McCarney says, is that the smaller groups come and then leave. They might come back once they've replenished but their work is usually short-term and unfortunately, short-sighted.

Again, she says, the government can't be blamed for not coordinating their efforts.

"Nobody has the capacity to coordinate that type of patchwork aid, not even the government of Canada," she said.

Looking forward

McCarney says she's confident the next 12 months will show faster progress as the government settles and makes key decisions about how to distribute foreign aid.

For a look on how Canada has contributed to the relief efforts, click here.

"A lot of the plans are in good shape, so when the trigger is pulled, things will move a lot faster," she said. "We should see a visible acceleration in the next 12 months. The plans are ready and the budgets are attached."

Despite what lies ahead in the next 12 months, relief workers around the world will never forget what they've seen in the last year.

Deep, mournful wails came from every direction as people lay in makeshift tents with broken limbs and other ailments.

They lay in the scorching sun, waiting patiently for doctors to finish treating thousands of other patients who suffered much more devastating injuries.

Nor will they ever forget the site of dead babies, children, mothers and fathers lying on the ground discarded, as others shrieked for help from beneath insurmountable piles of rubble.

The screams have since died down but the stench of desperation lingers. It will continue to do so in the next year as progress moves slowly through Haiti.

In the meantime, Haitians continue to show their bright spirits and cling to hope that one day the 2010 earthquake will be a distant memory.