Martelly thanked Penn for keeping the spotlight on the Caribbean nation.

Peep the full story at The Grio. 

Two years ago today, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Haiti, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and devastation. BET's 106 & Park is dedicating today's episode to highlighting the continued efforts being made to help the island rebuild from the unfortunate tragedy.

On hand with hosts Terrence J. and Rosci Diaz will be Pras of the Fugees, while his cousin Wyclef Jean will be speaking to viewers directly from Haiti via Facetime. Although there has been progress made in the island nation's recovery, there is still much work to be done.

Video of Wyclef's last appearance on 106 & Park below. Today's live episode of 106 & Park airs at 6 pm, EST.

"I Made a Difference" is rapper Cormega's attempt to assist in the Haiti relief efforts.

The song will be available on iTunes and 100 percent of the proceeds are going to Sean Penn's J/P HRO charity to help the people that are still struggling a year after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Take a listen to "I Made a Difference" below, and to help, purchase the single when it lands on iTunes.

More Wired Tracks Here

Today (January 12), many people reportedly wore white, a color associated with mourning in Haiti, and sang hymns while navigating through collapsed buildings and rubble caused by the quake.

President Rene Preval and former U.S. President Bill Clinton attended a ceremony to create an earthquake memorial at the National Tax Office, where many workers were killed in one of the blows to the public sector that helped paralyze the government following the earthquake.

The people are prideful, but in the 12 months since the earthquake, there is still pressing issues that the Haitian government is still trying to tackle.

At least a million displaced people, including 380,000 children, are still in some 1,200 tent-and-shack encampments that sprung up after the quake.

Aid groups say only about 5 percent of the rubble from the quake has been removed and the capital is cluttered with some 20 million cubic yards of collapsed concrete.

And despite the compassion of many who pledged billions in promised aid, the government of Haiti has only received $824 million of $4.6 billion pledged.

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that rocked the country of Haiti.

Haitian ambassador and artist Wyclef Jean has been adamant about helping his native country and now one year later, Clef says that Haiti still needs help.

The founder and head of Yele Haiti reportedly sent over $1 million to help those affected by the tragedy but still says it's not enough.

He tells Power 105.1,

“There's still 1.2 million people living in tents…we think the International community, America and all the powers that be, with all the money that was collected and the billion dollar funding---we need to start allocating some of the funds so we can get to work.”

Clef also took to Twitter Wednesday to post a picture of him reuniting with his fellow former Fugee Pras.

The two made headlines in 2010 for their ongoing war of words after Pras said he would not endorse him during his run for President of Haiti.

According to Clef however, the two have reconciled and made peace for Haiti.

“On my way 2 Haiti ran into Praz, what should I do make peace or go sit somewhere Else! I Made peace 4 Haiti!”

 

Listen to Wyclef talk the devastation in Haiti below.

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As previously reported the former Fugee's organization Yele Haiti contributed over $1 million to the country's relief efforts.

Now according to Clef, the relief efforts are far from over and he says the progress is going at the “speed of a turtle.”
Wyclef reports that at least 1.6 million people are still homeless and living in tents and the country's unemployment rate is at 70 to 80 percent.

Wyclef shared the shocking news in a blog for CNN saying,

“It's been almost six months since the January 12 earthquake that devastated my beloved Haiti. Speaking for myself -- not for my organization Yéle Haiti -- I will say it: Speed is of the essence. I feel that progress is being made at the speed of a turtle.

With the amount of money that has been raised to help our country, I was expecting to see construction projects. I was expecting to see thousands of heavy tractors and loaders lifting up rubble. I was expecting to see people relocated from tents and starting to get into temporary housing. And yet, during my last visit, just a few weeks ago, I saw very few, or none, of these…”

Clef also says he and his wife Claudinette spoke with Haiti's special envoy to the United Nations and shared with him an idea to make temporary housing that would eventually turn into a city called “Exodus.”

"Then we showed him the most important project we're working on: the temporary housing that we want to create that would become permanent homes. We're proposing a city called Exodus. We could then start to relocate families who don't have homes into this new place…the goal for Exodus is to eventually build 1,000 homes, which translates to housing for 5,000 people. We are working with the government on agreeing to a site in the area of Croix-des-Bouquets for building our first hundred units.”

Ultimately Clef wants the speed of Haiti's progress to increase, with a renewed focus on jobs and education.

“We need to bring business back to Haiti, we need to focus on jobs -- and, of course, education. As we reach the six-month mark, let's make a renewed commitment to cooperate, collaborate, do whatever it takes to make sure the next six months are eventful in terms of real progress. Let's do what we have to do to see things start to move more quickly. No more turtle speed; let's try to pick up the pace of Haiti's rebirth.”

Check out the rest of Wyclef's CNN blog here.

World Bank made the announcement Friday saying that the country could use the money for reconstruction efforts after January's earthquake.

Haiti's debit was owed to the bank through its International Development Association, a program for its poorest borrowers.

World Bank made the decision to cancel Haiti's debt after receiving requests from Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France.

President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick released a statement on his institution's decision saying,

"Relieving Haiti's remaining debt is part of our effort to pursue every avenue to help Haiti's reconstruction efforts.”

How convenient that it takes a natural disaster to alleviate the country's debt that was undoubtedly oppressing it for years.

As previously reported, Haiti's been restricted financially for hundreds of years, dating back to when it was determined that it should pay France $21 billion for the loss of its slaves from the Toussaint L'Ouverture revolt.

Check out more of our coverage on injustices to Haiti here.

Being confirmed by a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission Saturday, there will be a full-out investigation on the shooting of dozens of prisoners during a jail riot that occurred around the time of the earthquake.

"As far as we're concerned there was a major human rights violation in that prison," U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst told The Associated Press after the newspaper's story was released.

According to reports, The New York Times had initially posted a story speaking on the riot and allegations that police were behind murders in the town of Les Cayes, along with the claim that Haitian officials were doing their best to keep the even under wraps.

Reportedly taking place on Jan. 19, a week after the quake that had already taken the lives of close to 300,000 people, 12 to 19 prisoners were murdered and 40 were wounded by gunshots.

In regards to what sparked the riot, prisoners tried to escape after becoming shaky by the aftershocks.   In response, Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers surrounded the facility to prevent the escape with the authorities rushing the building and opening fire, at some point.

An internal inquiry was opened by the U.N. close to May 12, with Wimhurst reasoning the delay to the earthquake and the toll that was taken on the organization, including a collapsed headquarters.

There have been no statements released by police or prison officials since the announcement.

The three recipients selected by Clef and his Yele Haiti foundation are young ladies who lost limbs during the tragedy.

The organization worked alongside the Global Medical Relief Fund to fly the ladies and their families to New York where Wyclef took them to a local K-Mart for a shopping spree.

Speaking to the media about his plan to smiles on the amputees' faces, Clef said,

“When you come from a country where you make $1 a day, giving them $1,000 is like giving them $10,000…they need to know there are people like them and they're normal. Today they're not thinking, ‘I don't have a leg.' They're just being kids and they're happy."

The three recipients of the shopping spree were 17-year-old Margarette Pierre who lost her arm, 17-year-old Chantal Mori who lost her arm as well, and 8-year-old Sarah Maurice who lost her leg above the knee.

The ladies will be flown to Philadelphia in June where they'll receive free treatment for their prosthetic limbs.

From Left to Right) Chantal Mori, Wyclef Jean, Margarette Pierre and Sarah Maurice

Wyclef and 8-year-old Sarah Maurice

Claudinette Jean, Wyclef Jean and Sarah Maurice

***Photo credit: Bill Davila for LookToThe Stars.org***

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.”