Haiti & Pakistan: a contrast
August 30, 2010, 1:55 pm
Posted by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
Apropos of the earlier discussion on flood relief in Pakistan, the Brookings Institution has a detailed comparison of the differences between Haiti and Pakistan, between earthquakes and floods, between relief pledged and individual donors. Here is just one piece of their report. Haiti is in second column; Pakistan the third.
| US pledges | US $ 211.6 millionxxii (part of the extended 1.4 billion US $ appeal) | US $ 150 millionxxiii (August 23) |
| Appeal by International Federation of the Red Cross/Crescent Society | US $ 103 million | US $ 74 million |
| % of displaced receiving tents/tarpaulins (after three weeks) | 1.2 % | 3.0 % |
| Donation per affected person received after 2 weeks of flash appeal | US $ 157.16 | US $ 15.24 |
For those following the troubles a helpful assessment of the whys and wherefores: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2010/0826_earthquakes_floods_ferris/0826_earthquakes_floods_ferris.pdf
“This American Life” did a great piece on how our donations to Haiti don’t get spent. i’m too lazy to look it up. But I remember it as seriously critical of how charitable organizations, even when they are given billions of dollars, are beuracratically paralyzed. Ick.
There is always the logistics of a stricken country “absorbing” help whether cash or materials. For the moment in Pakistan, it appears that relief supplies can only reach people with helicopters because of the road and bridge wash-outs. In the early days after Haiti’s earthquake, both the airport ad the port had to be sufficiently repaired so that supplies could be brought in.
The money is in Haiti. Productive efforts at reconstruction are not.
You don’t know that the money is in Haiti. One of the challenges of donor/donee relations is assuring that the money contributed goes to the cause solicited. Unless contributors designate where the contribution goes, it may well go elsewhere. I wouldn’t be surprised that contributions designated for Haiti could end up in Pakistan, or elsewhere.
Speaking of natural disasters, it is possible that Hurricane Earl, already a major hurricane, might hit the East Coast of the U. S.
All you scholars out there, be sure to make copies of the stuff on your desk-top computers and uncopied papers you prize. Also if it looks like it is going to hit your area, be sure to cover your desk computers and important books with plastic sheeting of some sort before leaving. Water damage, not wind, is the big problem with hurricanes if your roof is damaged. One of my scholar friends lost his life’s work because he left his books and papers unsecured during Katrina.