LIANE HANSEN, host:
And now to a story about another major cultural group in Miami: the city's Haitian community. Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the massive, 7.0 earthquake hitting Haiti. About 300,000 people were killed and a year later, much of the country remains in ruins. Many survivors sought refuge in the United States, most arriving in south Florida.
As Shannon Novak reports from Miami, those who hoped to return to a rebuilt Haiti are now struggling with frustration and despair.
SHANNON NOVAK: Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood sounds and looks much the same. Buildings are painted in pastels of blues, pinks and yellows; and music fills the air. But there seems to be an emptiness, a sadness, when you look into people's eyes.
Ms. CANDY METELLUS CHER-FRERE (Owner, Sonny's Record and Video Store): OK. But you can get five for 20. You have two here...
NOVAK: Business is slow at Sonny's Record and Video Store. Owner Candy Metellus Cher-Frere says entertainment remains largely a luxury.
Ms. CHER-FRERE: The ideal, the goal, is to come to America to be able to support whoever's still back there. We are resilient people, and we like to have fun; we like to, you know, be entertained. But when you have families, you know, sleeping in the street, you know, in tent cities, it's kind of hard to concentrate on those things.
NOVAK: In the year since the earthquake, many locals have family from Haiti now living with them. Most are sending money to Haiti to support family remaining there. But down the street at San La Haitian Community Center, shell-shocked earthquake survivors still fill the waiting room, seeking whatever help they can get.
This center is run by Gepsy Metellis. Like many here, she wonders what happened to all the money donated for Haitian recovery. She also wonders how she'll help all these people without additional resources.
Ms. GEPSY METELLIS (San La Haitian Community Center): You know, at times I find myself feeling so sad and so frustrated. I feel it coming on right now. Right? (Soundbite of crying)
NOVAK: Planeload after planeload of Haitians landed in Miami to join the roughly half-million Haitians already living in the U.S. Locals here expected much more aid, and a better coordinated assistance effort. Haitian advocates here say the increased demand for services far exceeds what is now available.
Vierjela Jean is an elderly woman who survived the earthquake, and arrived in Miami just last month. Looking striking with her hair wrapped in a traditional Haitian scarf, she speaks through a translator about symptoms that have plagued her since the earthquake.
Ms. VIERJELA JEAN: (through translator) Sometimes, she feels like her blood is boiling - all over. It's like an electrical shock that is going through her body. And when it's like that, she feels cramps all over her legs, all over. It's still happening to her.
NOVAK: Haitian community leaders here say they don't have the funds to properly care for these survivors. In addition, many Haitian-Americans are still dealing with the loss of loved ones and other hardships since the earthquake.
Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho recalls how suddenly, about 1,500 new students enrolled in school - with special needs.
Mr. ALBERTO CARVALHO (Superintendent, Miami-Dade Public Schools): These were kids in fear, kids that refused to sleep in their own beds. They kept a glass of water filled because that was the way - in the island - that they could determine the tremors. And they kept it by their nightstand. So a traumatic experience, told time after time by these young men and women.
NOVAK: The school system deployed psychologists who are still assisting the students in the difficult adjustment.
Marie Paule Woodson is sitting with clients at the Miami chapter of Pham, the Haitian women's organization. She says even a year later, the demand is overwhelming.
Ms. MARIE PAULE WOODSON: Those people have never seen someone - a counselor, psychologist - to help them deal with the effects that the earthquake has had on them.
NOVAK: After the earthquake, there was some optimism that it would provide an opportunity to finally build a new and better Haiti. But now, after only one year, many Haitians living here say they feel forgotten. And like Haiti itself, Miami's Haitian community appears, to many, to be cracking.
For NPR News, I'm Shannon Novak in Miami.