over 3 years ago

Haiti quake revives anger over aid response to past disasters

The earthquake that ravaged Haiti on Saturday (Aug 14) has revived anger over international aid agencies' response to a devastating quake there 11 years ago, stirring calls to ensure donations do a better job of reaching the people who need them most.

Haitians and well-wishers have taken to social media to urge donors to send money directly to Haitian charities or via the government, criticising what they saw as misuse of funds after the 2010 quake and a major hurricane in 2016.

Despite billions of dollars in aid, Haiti has slipped down global development rankings, violence is widespread and its institutions were already in turmoil when President Jovenel Moise was shot dead last month by what the government says was a group of largely Colombian mercenaries.

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Saturday's quake in the poorest country in the Americas killed at least 1,419 people and injured thousands more.

It prompted pledges of support from UN bodies, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Red Cross and governments around the world.

But with the scars of the last quake still visible in the Caribbean nation's capital Port-au-Prince, there were calls right from the top for the aid response to be different in 2021.

"We will not repeat the same things that were done in 2010," Prime Minister Ariel Henry said on Monday. "A lot of donations were made to the country, and a lot of money was spent without seeing the impact."

Jonathan Katz, a journalist and author of "The Big Truck That Went By", a damning critique of the international response to the 2010 earthquake which killed more than 200,000 people, said the money needed to go directly to the Haitian population.

"The world had 11 years to prepare for the next earthquake. We did not," he added. "Don't shuffle money from the State Department to the Defense Department by way of USAID and tell the world that that was money for Haiti."

Much of the US military spending right after the natural disaster was more focused on preventing social unrest and deterring mass migration than rebuilding, said Katz.