Haiti is appealing for international aid to avoid what it calls a looming collapse. On Tuesday, Haitian Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis made the appeal at a donor conference in Washington.

Haitian Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis: “We are treading on very fragile grounds. If no action is taken now, the consequences will be catastrophic. I want to take back with me the commitments and hope that we are longing for in our quest for lasting development and democracy.”

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been devastated by a string of hurricanes and two US-backed coups over the last two decades.