On Tuesday, January 10, 2010, a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Caribbean country of Haiti, the first black-led republic in the world to gain its independence. One of the top ten deadliest natural disasters in written history, the quake claimed the lives of nearly a quarter-million people and left over 1.6 million homeless.
The world quickly came to the rescue, with 55 countries pledging over $2 billion in aid for recovery and reconstruction efforts at the “Towards a New Future for Haiti” international donors’ conference in New York in March of last year. Of the $2.01 billion pledged, however, only $1.28 billion has been paid, according to the Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. The funds are being used to directly support the government of Haiti, as well as assist with the Haiti Reconstruction Fund. The remaining funds are for grants ($912.5 milion) and loans ($135.3 million). In addition, approximately $2.45 billion has been pledged for this year.
Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement has examined international response. She says “both the humanitarian and reconstruction responses have been held up by a lack of action by the Haitian government”.
Hati’s government, on the other hand, along with the United Nations and U.S. aid officials say progress is being made; it’s just hard to see it because of the devastation the country faced.
Before the quake, Haiti was the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, and after it hit, the nation needed cash to buy water, food and first-aid supplies. Although the United Nations reports that the number of homeless Haitians has dropped from 1.5 million to 1 million, it’s not sure whether those who left the camps which were set up for the homeless found housing. Most of the buildings that were destroyed during the earthquake have not been rebuilt, and even some of rubble remains — enough to fill 8,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
There is obviously much to be done still, but the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has employed 240,000 people affected by the earthquake to help rebuild. This has helped inject cash into the local economy, and over 1.2 million people have benefited from cash-for-work and food-for-work programs. According to the UNDP, “true recovery cannot happen without giving Haitians the means to provide for their own recovery“.
Prayers are still with the people of Haiti.
1.28 billion thats good. Clearly not enough. Man the economy is rough and not at all prepared for natural disaster. GOD is tryin to tell us something….
Wow. I didn’t realize it has already been a year.
I’m not saying Haiti’s government is corrupt but monies are not being distributed to the people and areas that need it the most. Below is a plan to get this on track
-Get a detailed accounting of how received pledged funds are currently being used
-Publish monthly reports (in a national paper or online) of how pledged funds were used that month (this would create accountability and prevent waste/fraud)
-Create a reconstruction department that would oversee the reconstruction of the country and pay the citizens a working wage to clean up the debris and reconstruct government buildings (this would also get people working and paid)
-The reconstruction department should also build housing communities for displaced families (again pay citizens a working wage to do so or we can utilize a habitat for humanity type format where people help build their own homes)
Theres a lot more to be done than the foregoing but at least its a start. Its time to stop talking and start doing (this is aimed at the government and not the countless organizations providing temporary housing, food, medical services, etc they are providing temporary/immediate assistance but its up to the government to provide permanent solutions especially seeing that the donated funds are being used to directly support the government of Haiti.)
People are so reluctant to donate because they are not sure of where their money will go. This article clearly shows why people are so hesitant to give money. I say give give give and pray pray pray. There is power in prayer.
A moment of silence, please!
I AGREE WITH U DUDE-N-H-TOWNI FEEL THE HIGHER POWER IS DIGUSTED BY TH LIVING STANDARDS OF HOW MAN KIND IS LIVING
It’s a shame that all that money was raised an it not being distributed because of politics and America’s corruption. We have the money but we won’t give it to haiti because they aren’t meeting our guidelines, meanwhile they are dying by the dozens. Oh, there isn’t racism in america?! America is sitting here just fine letting all the black people die in the streets. However if they were white we’d be over there with mountains of cash. Here they for the past 6 days talking about this little white or hispanic girl that died in Arizona meanwhile how many kids died in and are dying in haiti because of our government not giving them their own money!