The earthquake last January brought Haiti to its knees. The scale of this disaster is almost unimaginable: more people were killed here in a few minutes than died in the Asian tsunami of 2004. Some 250,000 homes were destroyed, leaving well over a million people homeless. The costs of the damage has been estimated at $14bn – double the value of the country's annual economy.

Since January, 300 three-tonne trucks full of rubble have left the city every day, totalling around 250,000 cubic metres in the last six months. At this rate, it will take 20 years to complete the job.

And even when the land is cleared, who will own it? Haiti has no land registry laws. Most of the worst affected were the poorest from the city's slums or the high-density concrete townships that wrap around Port-au-Prince's steep hillsides. A dual housing and land crisis rooted in this emergency will continue to blight Haiti for more than a decade to come.

Before the earthquake, Haiti had probably the weakest government in the Caribbean. What little capability it had collapsed along with the buildings on 12 January. Already grossly inadequate for the needs of its 10 million population, the country's institutions of health, education and public works were all but wiped out. Such is the destruction that, if you were to walk down Port-au-Prince's main thoroughfare of Delmas today, you could be forgiven for thinking the earthquake took place yesterday.

Sadly, the devastation caused here is a direct result of the crippling poverty that infests this country. In San Francisco, in 1989, the earthquake that hit was almost as strong but killed only 67 people.

The situation is complex and daunting in terms of reconstructing the country. The Haitian people must be allowed to drive the process of their own recovery. National elections slated for November will be a crucial step along the way. But the international community is not absolved of further action: just last week the UN Secretary General revealed that only 60% of cash promised by rich countries in the immediate aftermath of the disaster has been handed over.

President Rene Preval's government is unpopular (there were protests against his rule in May) and a credible vote on 28 November is vital in helping to strengthen the perception of governance both domestically and abroad. But there is no information on the ground, and confusion and rumour rule. The main headline on Friday's Le Nouvelliste newspaper here in Haiti shouted: "Où sont les candidats?" (Where are the candidates?').

And perhaps most importantly, no one seems to be discussing how voter registration will take place in a fair and comprehensive manner when 1.5 million people remain scattered in camps throughout Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country. But if Haitians are to drive their own recovery, they need to participate in the election.

Before the earthquake, the UN says, Haiti was the eighth most unequal society in the world. A tiny elite control most of the country's finances. An election will certainly return a number of that powerful cabal – but it is an opportunity at least for the people to have a say in what direction a new government should take them.

Despite all of this, there is much to be hopeful for. The response to the emergency has so far been commendable. Many hundreds of thousands have been given shelter, food and water since the dark days of January. Trócaire and its international partners in the Caritas federation, the second biggest humanitarian network in the world, provided shelter kits and tents to 900,000 people in the immediate aftermath. We provided health care to over a million people.

Haitians are immensely resilient people with a remarkable ability to persevere and be optimistic.

And there is one consensus at least: that the new Haiti cannot look like the old one. Port-au-Prince is one of the most congested cities in the world and incentives must be provided for the 600,000 who fled the city in January to consider remaining in the outlying areas. To allow the city's vast slums to re-form would help no one.

These incentives must take the form of increased investment in small-scale agriculture and other economic opportunities outside the capital. Trócaire and other agencies are working in this area.

The government, for its part, must take a stronger leadership role in managing reconstruction and in handling funds from international donors in a transparent way that benefits the majority of the people who remain desperately needy. To do otherwise would constitute nothing less than a second disaster.

Sally O'Neill is Trócaire's Regional Manager for Latin America