Reverse migration to rural Haiti

Deborah Sontag reports in today's New York Times under the headline, "After Quake, Rural Haiti Struggles to Absorb the Displaced." An excerpt follows:

Life has come full circle for many Haitians who originally migrated to escape the grinding poverty of the countryside. Since the early 1980s, rural Haitians have moved at a steady clip to Port-au-Prince in search of schools, jobs and government services. After the earthquake, more than 600,000 returned to the countryside, according to the government, putting a serious strain on desperately poor communities that have received little emergency assistance.

The founder of a leading "peasant cooperative" in one of the rural regions is quoted:

“But the misery of the countryside is compounding the effects of the disaster. I’ve heard people say it would be better to risk another earthquake in Port-au-Prince than to stay in this rural poverty without any help from the government.”

This strikes me as a powerful plea for more even development, great spatial equality in a developing world context. Indeed, the story provides more information about how Haiti desires the decentralization that would accompany reverse migration to the countryside.