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Home  Publications Blogs Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch
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Questions? E-mail haiti(at)cepr.net.
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 16:57 |
Deputy UN Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, speaking to reports at the UN upon returning from a visit to Haiti said that, "Though commendable progress has been made there since Jan. 12, when the earthquake struck, the situation remains dire," reports Xinhua.
Over three months after the earthquake and with the rainy season already beginning, there is still much to be done. On April 13 Red Cross Federation spokesman Alex Wynter said that the number in need of shelter was raised from 1.3 million to 1.5 million. This means there are still some 300,000 people without shelter. Further, as OCHA noted in their most recent update only about a quarter of households have received any rope or other materials to secure their shelters, which "remains a vital gap in the response" as many thousands of shelters will need to be strengthened for the rains. The rains are often too strong for the tarps, as has been documented by video, and as reported by the International Federation of the Red Cross earlier in the week.
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Tuesday, 13 April 2010 14:12 |
AFP reported yesterday on concerns that the homeless are being forcibly evicted from their settlements. This echoes reports from last week on efforts to force those staying at the Saint Louis de Gonzague school off the grounds. AFP writes:
The aid group Action Against Hunger on Sunday slammed Haiti's forced evictions of hundreds of homeless quake victims from the pitch of the country's national stadium.
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Tuesday, 13 April 2010 11:26 |
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released their updated Situation Report today (PDF). The report reveals that the distribution of shelter materials has reached 90 percent of those in need, and is on track to reach 100 percent by the May 1 goal. Nevertheless, worries remain that even with tarps, the rainy season could still cause an immense disaster. OCHA notes that:
With only 20,243 tool kits reported as distributed and 81,000 households with ropes and fixings provision, this remains a vital gap in the response. A large number of emergency shelters constructed will require strengthening for the rainy season.
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Friday, 09 April 2010 09:52 |
On CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 last night they looked at relocation plans, asking the important question, why have things moved so slowly? First CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman travels to the first planned relocation site, which will open on Sunday. Tuchman asks a member of the presidential task force why things have taken so long:
"It ought to be done faster. But you have to coordinate it with the U.S. Army, the Corps of Engineers, with the U.N. people, with the European community, with the Oxfam, all a bunch of actors, together."
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Thursday, 08 April 2010 12:43 |
The Organization of American States (OAS) announced that they will be sending election observers to prepare and monitor elections in Haiti. Legislative elections had been planned for February, however have been postponed due to the earthquake. Presidential elections are set to take place in the fall as Preval's term ends in February 2011.
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Thursday, 08 April 2010 11:12 |
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told a Florida radio station upon returning from a congressional trip to Haiti that, "we didn't see the Red Cross anywhere, at all," reports Michael O'Brien for Politico's Blog Briefing Room. O'Brien writes:
The Florida congresswoman said that what she saw gave her pause in recommending the Red Cross as a venue for donations. "I wouldn't say that," she said when asked if the Red Cross was the best place for listeners to donate, adding later that she could not "unequivocally" recommend the relief group.
Millions of dollars have flowed into Haiti since a large earthquake devastated its capital, Port au Prince, in late January.
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Wednesday, 07 April 2010 14:42 |
A new issue brief from CEPR (PDF) proposes that international donors seeking to support Haiti’s agricultural sector and provide food to those in need could help Haiti become more self-sufficient by purchasing the entire Haitian rice crop over the next two years. The paper finds that buying up all of Haiti’s rice should be close to the amount of food aid for rice that the international community is likely to provide this year, and would provide a tremendous boost to Haitian farmers, who currently are unable to compete with low-cost rice imports from the U.S.
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Wednesday, 07 April 2010 12:31 |
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams reported on the American Red Cross in Haiti last week. The American Red Cross has received almost $400 million in donations since the earthquake, but in previous disasters has come under fire for how it allocates its funding. NBC correspondent Robert Bazell points out that a Government Accountability Office report from 2007 found that "the Red Cross lacked adequate plans for providing shelter and temporary housing to victims of catastrophic disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." Razell also points out that after 9/11, the American Red Cross came under fire from Congress after they diverted donations to their general operating fund.
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Monday, 05 April 2010 12:55 |
James Parks posts on the AFL-CIO blog that trade unionists from all over the world are meeting this week in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to discuss rebuilding Haiti. Parks writes "Unions have already made it clear the reconstruction and future development of Haiti must include social protections, creation of decent work and respect for workers’ rights."
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Monday, 05 April 2010 11:55 |
The Washington Post reported on Sunday on the possible effects of the rainy season on the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. Relief agencies are in a race against time to dredge canals and build retaining walls to protect those in the camps. Anthony Banbury, who was the second in command for the UN in Haiti, told the Post, "The rainy season is a freight train headed right at us." The Post describes what the rains do to the camps:
In post-earthquake Port-au-Prince, rainstorms -- including several brief ones over the past week -- lift refuse out of piles and spread it across streets and camps. With the ooze -- an awful melange of rotting fruit, chicken bones and human waste -- comes a smell that brings to mind
spoiled milk and gangrenous wounds.
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Page 33 of 45 |
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Days Since Cholera Was Introduced in Haiti Without an Apology From the U.N.
975
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