Haiti- One Year After The Earthquake

It's been a year since a massive earthquake devastated Haiti. Days after, huge sections of the country lay in rubble. But in spite of the fact that the world immediately came together to help those affected by this disaster, with over a billion plus dollars donated to help the people get their cities and lives back together, not much has changed. One year later, there are still people living in tents, hungry and living in danger. Amnesty International recently reported that women and young girls are being systematically raped in the camps by armed thugs, and nothing is being done about it. Although, this was something occurring frequently prior to the earthquake, it is much worse these days, since tents are easily accessed. Some as young as 4-years-old have been victimized. The police do nothing, so women don't believe it's worth reporting.

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NGO Oxfam, claims that only 5 percent of the rubble has been removed. Schools have yet to be rebuilt, and of the 1.5 million people who lost their homes, less then half of those currently have a place to live.

Of the several billion dollars that various governments had pledged to help rebuild the country, approximately 42% has been accounted for. So what exactly has happened to all that money that we all donated to the various charitable organizations, including the Red Cross, the days and weeks after the earthquake? I sent in some money, not much, but I hoped that my meager amount would at least be utilized in some positive way. Apparently, I'm not the only one wondering. Ben Smilowitz of The Disaster Accountability Project wanted to know details as well. So he sent a survey to about 200 different organizations requesting information. He wanted to know how much had been donated, how much had been spent, and what exactly they were doing with the money. Of the 200, only 38 responded, many refusing to indicate where and how they were spending it.

Another major problem is the Haitian government itself and the various regulations and laws that are preventing the progress. A Red Cross spokesman said: “We as the Red Cross can not just march in and say ‘we’re going to build here. We have to respect the laws of the country and property ownership.” Then there's the 40% import tax that is levied on absolutely everything. So trucks sit rusting because the organizations feel the money is better spent on the people, than import taxes.

One would think that the government would make allowances during these terrible times, but obviously not. So factor in a useless government, and aid organizations mired in a bureaucratic nightmare, the Haitian people continue to suffer, and this time next year we can probably assume not much else will have changed.

Source: Katie Couric , Fox News