(WASHINGTON, D.C. March 17, 2015)—Today, two Haitian civil society groups, the Justice in Mining Collective and the Megaprojects Observatory, testified to the social, environmental, and political costs of the lack of transparency surrounding the development of the tourism and mining industries in Haiti.

We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply concerned that the World Bank is helping to develop Haiti’s mining sector, an inherently high-risk industry, without applying any social or environmental standards to ensure transparency and meaningful public participation.

Last week, the World Bank Inspection Panel refused to consider a complaint from Haitian communities about the Bank’s support for development of the mining sector in Haiti.

In accordance with paragraph 17 of the Resolution establishing the Inspection Panel, I hereby inform you that on January 7, 2015, the Inspection Panel (the "Panel") received a Request for Inspection of the Haiti Mining Dialogue Technical Assistance (P144931) supported by the World Bank through a Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facility (EI-TAF) trust fund. The Request for Inspection is included as Attachment 1 to this Memorandum.

This Request represents the joint concerns of Complainants, who have experienced harm and fear future harm as a result of the World Bank’s involvement in the mining sector in Haiti.

From NPR. There are two major faults along Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This earthquake occurred on the southern fault, the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system.