Day twelve and counting. An estimated 375 aid groups have registered in Haiti. One billion dollars have been pledged by the international community. Larry King raised $9 million from the safety of his stage desk (and his notes, without which Larry couldn’t interview Chatty Cathy). Hollywood hosts Hope for Haiti, pleading for donations.
Where is all of this money going and what do we have to show for it? Don’t get me wrong; I promptly made my donation to Doctors Without Borders. But as I watched the news reports, I began to wonder whether we’re in the midst of Katrina II, on a far more desperate scale…. maybe a materialized circle of Dante’s Hell.
Just like Hurricane Katrina, aid and donations fund the relief effort not the victims. This is a crucial distinction. Not to pick on Katrina Aid Today, but let’s use it as an example. With a $66 million grant, it established 138 offices in 34 states (that’s a minimum of 138 employees). 73,000 households were helped and $137 million was “leveraged” for the families. By my math, that means that the administrative costs were somewhere on the order of one dollar for every two dollars that went to the families (at best, depending on what “leveraged” means). Each family came away with $1,876. How much did each aid worker make?
With the rush of aid workers to Haiti, how much has been accomplished? A grand total of 132 people have been recovered from the ruins. The people most in need are not getting food and water. Aid workers admit that the food in the pipeline is a small fraction of the need. Even the food that has arrived is getting to only 100,000 people because there are not enough trucks and diesel fuel to deliver it. People are dying waiting for surgery because of lack of supplies, or after surgery for lack of food. Limbs are being amputated with nothing more than motrin for pain reliever. 
Really, it’s not okay. Of course there are a million reasons that make this aid and recovery effort extraordinarily difficult, including the fact that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal infrastructure to begin with. The infrastructure it did have was devastated by the quake. A good recount of all of the logistical problems can be found here. Even in better times, aid in Haiti tends to serve the aiders more than the aidees, as Author Amy Wilentz points out in her blog the NY Times. “One estimate shows Haiti with more N.G.O.s operating per capita than any other country in the world, but those groups are not achieving that much, which is a terrible moral burden for a lot of development workers there, believe me.”
So my question is: if we face all of these logistical and historical problems with aid, why are we running recovery efforts as business as usual? Why use limited capacity to bring things in that don't need to be brought in, when taking out will do--namely, medical care?
Why are we flying in doctors when there’s no electricity, water or supplies to provide needed medical services? Even for the lucky few who get care, there are unresolved questions about how they’ll get the follow-up care and surgeries they need to survive. And just as the U.S. military has vastly improved airport capacity to about 140 flights a day, many flights return empty (a possible reason some carriers have jacked up their rates so high). Why not airlift those who need medical help? After all, this is how we handle medical needs in war zones.
Hmmm…what country has great medical and transportation infrastructure and is close to Haiti (in fact, a mere 600 miles)???
Why, oh why, do we continue to conduct business in usual ways against such impossible odds? Do you know the story of the scorpion?
A scorpion was traveling across country and came to a lake. Unable to swim, he waited by the shore. A turtle swam by and so the scorpion asked for a ride across the lake. The turtle was shocked. “Do you think I am stupid? You are a scorpion and will sting me and I will die!” The scorpion applied logic—“Dear turtle, if I sting you, and you drown, then I will drown as well.” The turtle saw the logic in the scorpion’s plea. The scorpion hopped on the turtle’s back and they set off. Midway across the lake, the scorpion stung the turtle. As the turtle floundered, he cried, “Why did you sting me? Now we both shall die!” The scorpion replied simply, “Because I am a scorpion.”
note: all photo credits to Julie Remy, doctorswithoutborders.org
Posts
This is why I think we conduct BAU against impossible odds: When disasters like this happen they require immediate attention and action, which in turn requires a present infrastructure to do accomplish such action. So our donations are going toward our best effort, even if they are spent frivolously.
ReplyDeleteHow could it be different? There needs to be programs (or whatever) set up in advance to cater to moments like these, but there isn't, especially for countries like haiti (although obviously we saw FEMA fail miserably during Katrina). To set up infrastructure to deal with things like this, we must put forward money IN ADVANCE of a disaster. American's are good at many things, foresight seems not to be one of 'em (I mean, except for Afghanistan and Iraq).
Anyway, my point is this: currently there is no better option apparent to me. How could we redirect funds and allocate them more wisely? Where could we have spent the money and received immediate and efficient action?