MOBILE DEVICES
Worldwide Web WorldTribune.com

  Commentary . . .


John Metzler Archive
Friday, January 22, 2010

Helping Haiti help itself

UNITED NATIONS — The extraordinary outpouring of global good will and humanitarian assistance to earthquake stricken Haiti has slightly eased the pain if not the devastation and despair of the recent natural calamity. Indeed what’s often elusively described as the “international community” has come together to help the more than three million survivors, to aid the injured, and to rescue people from the rubble. For more than 100,000 dead there is little solace but somber memories and a decent burial.

Also In This Edition

Confronted with dire circumstances in the capital Port au Prince as well as forgotten towns abound the Caribbean island nation such as Jacmel, the United States, Canada, the Europeans and the United Nations have initiated massive humanitarian operations. Moreover countries ranging from the neighboring Dominican Republic to Columbia, and places as far as Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan have sent rescue teams and assistance.

For the UN itself there was an immediate calamity. Its headquarters at the Christopher Hotel in Port au Prince coordinating humanitarian efforts, security and communications was flattened by the earthquake causing the largest staff loss of life ever at a UN mission and shattering the coordination center for first-responders. Among those buried in the rubble were Mission Chief Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, his Brazilian Deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa, and Police Commissioner Doug Coats of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who perished among 60 others including a friend of this column. Over 150 UN staff are still missing and presumed dead. Theirs was a humanitarian impulse cut short by fate.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been stunned but stoic in facing the largest staff disaster to hit the UN during its sixty-five year history.

Critics naturally abound and there is little doubt that bureaucracy, bottlenecks and red-tape have blocked what could have been a faster initial delivery of food and medicine.

The United States has operational control of the airport ensuring the anchor for an air bridge of assistance to pour into the country. More than 12,000 American troops are in Haiti to provide assistance and security and back up the 9,000 member UN peacekeeping forces and a fledgling Haitian police. There are more than fifty international search and rescue teams such as those from New York City Police and Fire Departments who have made amazing and miraculous discoveries.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution adding 3,500 additional troops and police to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated, “These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary measures and extraordinary decisiveness.” He added that “we distributed daily food rations for yesterday for nearly 200,000 people. We expect to be reaching approximately one million people within a week.” Ban stressed, the UN “will continue to stand behind the Haitian people.”

Herein lies the crux of the challenge. Despite impressive international aid there are a minimum of three million people in desperate need for food and water. Despite a multiplicity of food distribution centers and the improved flow of food and supplies, the simple math shows that current efforts are taking care of about ten percent of the total, in a week the best case scenario will range to a third, and within two weeks up to two-thirds. For a country, which was desperately poor, and with a rickety infrastructure before the earthquake, the situation became near apocalyptic.

Indeed the UN ran its humanitarian “Flash Appeal” the first major call for global assistance; Five hundred million dollars were pledged. The Catholic Church and aid agencies are working in overdrive. There are concerts for Haiti and people across America and indeed on College Campuses are texting aid dollars for the devastated island. There appears no shortage of good will or emotion.

And there are many “good news stories” such as the Israeli Field hospital. The unit from the Israel Defense Force with 40 doctors and 25 nurses set up an fully operational field hospital which can efficiently treat 500 patients daily.

Yet now we come to a more complicated issue, what next after the initial aid and assistance? What then after six months when matters are remotely back to “normal?”

This is not simply a “foreign aid issue,” or should it be a perpetual place for alms and tears, nor the continued corrosion of corruption. As this column mentioned earlier, the overseas Haitian community, a Diaspora of four million people in places such as Miami, New York, Montreal, and in France, must unite in solidarity to help their homeland.

Using the example of East Europe following the fall of communism, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in cooperation with various ethnic community entrepreneurs, set up investment projects in places like Poland and Hungary. Public grants and private capital merged for these Enterprise Funds. Though Haiti is immeasurably poorer, the point is that investment in people and development must be the second phase after the humanitarian impulse. Haiti should look beyond short-term handouts and encourage long-term investment. Then there will truly be a seismic shift from dependency to development and to national sufficiency and pride. Haiti’s long suffering population deserves no less.


John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for WorldTribune.com.
About Us     l    Contact Us     l    Geostrategy-Direct.com     l    East-Asia-Intel.com
Copyright © 2010    East West Services, Inc.    All rights reserved.