The U.S. military will end its Haiti disaster relief effort on June 1, six months after the island was struck by a 7.0 earthquake that left an estimated 200,000 people dead and 1,000,000 people homeless.
The military has slowly been pulling out of the impoverished nation with around 2,200 troops still stationed down from the 22,000 assigned at the height of relief efforts.
Although disaster relief is expected to end in June, there will still be 500 National Guard and Reserve personnel stationed in the country.
U.S. Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Ken Keen tells the BBC that the military is stepping back because of “the increasing capacity of non-government organizations that are really running much of the humanitarian efforts within the country.”
