Tropical Storm Isaac - Haiti

[kdmorris]

While we are all laughing at the Republicans (what will they say was the cause of this storm?) and hoping that the storm will not do too much damage to the Gulf Coast, please take a minute to remember the people of Haiti. The devastation there is terrible, with people weathering the storm in the tents they are still living in after the earthquake in 2010. In the days to come, as they get into the mountainous areas of Haiti, the death toll is likely to climb (it's at 7 now).

If you could spare a minute to give something to Doctors without Borders or Mercy Corps, I'm sure that every little bit helps.


http://www.chron.com/news/article/Haiti-Death-toll-from-Isaac-climbs-to-7-3816268.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/aug/25/tropical-storm-isaac-haiti-video?newsfeed=true

[darkangel218]

1. I feel sorry for what theyre going through

However, I wonder what happened to millions of dollars given as aid by US after the earthquake

How come nothing has been built/ rebuilt and why years later are ppl still living in tents?

[enlightenment]

2. A couple of links - both ask the question, both have some, but not all, the answers

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29137
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/haiti_where_did_the_aid_go/

[darkangel218]

4. i guess the answer to my own question is pretty simple

Corrupted government.

[kdmorris]

5. Corrupted Government (both Haitian and Others), but also Corrupted Corporations...

From the second link:

Not that the people of Haiti didn’t benefit from all this money and assistance. But, really, over the last two years, the effort to assist post-earthquake Haiti has mostly benefited — or at least subsidized — the aid and relief institutions and private corporations that nominated themselves to help Haiti in its 2010-based time of need.

“In the end,” says Robert Fatton Jr., professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia and a son of and authority on contemporary Haiti, “if you read the reports — the UN Report and so on — you’ll see that actual Haitians got less than 1 percent of all the American money pledged.”

In other words, Fatton explained, “99 percent of [the U.S. money spent] went back to the U.S. military, the State Department, NGOs and contractors. The money was clearly intended for Haiti, but it ended up returning to the same place it came from.”

[malaise]

3. We saw video of Haiti

horrific - hundreds of the tents were destroyed and there were four deaths up to last night.