As rescue efforts in Haiti wind down, the rebuilding challenge just begins

It’s been almost two weeks since the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and the government has formally called an end to the search and rescue efforts. The focus of relief will soon shift from treating the wounded survivors to embarking on the long slog of rebuilding a collapsed city. We get an update on the overall situation there and then we examine how other cities dealt with reconstruction challenges after a disaster like this.

Ed Pilkington is the New York correspondent for The Guardian. He just returned from a week in Haiti. Lawrence Vale is a professor of Urban Design and Planning at MIT and the co-author of “The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster.”