How much money has been pledged for Haiti
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Edison Kiela
Nov 26, 2010, 1:02:12 PM11/26/10
to Shelter Solution for Haiti, troutma...@gmail.com
To All,
We all know that massive amounts of money (US$ 2.1 billion) have been
pledged and/or used for Haiti, yet over the last 11 months the
benefits of all this cash cannot be found. It appears that the
disaster relief system created by the Red Cross, various NGOs, and the
Haitian government simply does not work.
I have attached in this letter a document I found issued by the Office
of the Special Envoy for Haiti, titled: INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO
HAITI KEY FACTS AS OF NOVEMBER 2010...How much money has been pledged.
Also, according to the IASC Homepage, as of November 10, 2010 the
Shelter Cluster has been handed over from the IFRC (Red Cross) to UN
Habitat. “The complete team is not still in the country; arrival is
expected in a few weeks.” Does this send a signal that the Red Cross
is an ineffective coordinator of disaster relief?
To compound the shelter relief efforts the UN OCHA issued this report
on the cholera outbreak dated November 19,2010:
“I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
- The Ministry of Health (MSPP) has reported 1,186 deaths and 19,646
cases. Overall the MSPP reports that 49,418 people have sought medical
attention since the epidemic was declared.
- 40 tonnes of medical supplies and sensitization material were
distributed today as part of a three-day distribution by the MSPP and
health and logistics clusters.
- Civil unrest in Cap Haitien continues to inhibit the humanitarian
response to cholera in the surrounding area. The UN and humanitarian
partners have called for calm in order to resume activities.”
More problems created by those in charge.
Between the IASC, IFRC, UN, MINUSTAH, and a slew of NGO reports,
investigations, meetings, seminars, discussion groups, etc. there are
literally thousands of documents churning about the problems and
potential solutions for Haiti’s recovery. Yet, very little progress is
being made.
The UN OCHA does try to get to the meat of many problems by
streamlining the disaster recovery process by using what they call the
“3W”…”Who does What and Where”. Interestingly enough, the OCHA omits
to use the fourth “W”…WHEN!
It is mankind’s greatest and most noble attribute to want to help
those in need. But, in this era of extraordinary technology,
communications, and international co-operation it is baffling that so
little has been done to help so many with so much money on the
table. There appears to be an inherent flaw in the system and no one
seems to know how to fix it.
We, as business people involved with humanitarian aid and disaster
relief products and programs should collectively raise our voices to
Washington and the EU that the system of disaster relief needs to be
overhauled immediately. Not only are millions of people around the
world suffering because of bureaucratic inertia, disasters could and
will most likely strike somewhere close to home. Imagine a
catastrophic earthquake in California or a Cat 5 hurricane blowing
away Florida and the Gulf Coasts. We’ve seen how Hurricane Katrina
was handled…5 years later and still there are many problems. And, now
in Haiti the same problems are even worse. While just across the
border in the Dominican Republic they are selling resort vacations and
hosting golf tournaments…what gives?
I’ve had a thought now for the last several weeks…on this forum we
have many NGO administrators, owners and representatives of disaster
relief products, reporters, engineers and scientists. Let us use this
forum to collectively add our own ideas and solutions to how we can
fix this disaster relief program in Haiti. I will volunteer my time
to assemble these ideas into a White Paper Report we can use to send
to our countries’ leaders, use our reports to pull in the media spot
light. (Right now all the media talks about is the Royal Wedding, some
guy at the airport pissed off about some TSA dude touching his junk,
and a bunch of idiots sitting around Best Buy at 2AM waiting for a
deal on a 50 inch TV.)
Come on people we have a world to save…will you join me?
We all know that massive amounts of money (US$ 2.1 billion) have been
pledged and/or used for Haiti, yet over the last 11 months the
benefits of all this cash cannot be found. It appears that the
disaster relief system created by the Red Cross, various NGOs, and the
Haitian government simply does not work.
I have attached in this letter a document I found issued by the Office
of the Special Envoy for Haiti, titled: INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO
HAITI KEY FACTS AS OF NOVEMBER 2010...How much money has been pledged.
Also, according to the IASC Homepage, as of November 10, 2010 the
Shelter Cluster has been handed over from the IFRC (Red Cross) to UN
Habitat. “The complete team is not still in the country; arrival is
expected in a few weeks.” Does this send a signal that the Red Cross
is an ineffective coordinator of disaster relief?
To compound the shelter relief efforts the UN OCHA issued this report
on the cholera outbreak dated November 19,2010:
“I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
- The Ministry of Health (MSPP) has reported 1,186 deaths and 19,646
cases. Overall the MSPP reports that 49,418 people have sought medical
attention since the epidemic was declared.
- 40 tonnes of medical supplies and sensitization material were
distributed today as part of a three-day distribution by the MSPP and
health and logistics clusters.
- Civil unrest in Cap Haitien continues to inhibit the humanitarian
response to cholera in the surrounding area. The UN and humanitarian
partners have called for calm in order to resume activities.”
More problems created by those in charge.
Between the IASC, IFRC, UN, MINUSTAH, and a slew of NGO reports,
investigations, meetings, seminars, discussion groups, etc. there are
literally thousands of documents churning about the problems and
potential solutions for Haiti’s recovery. Yet, very little progress is
being made.
The UN OCHA does try to get to the meat of many problems by
streamlining the disaster recovery process by using what they call the
“3W”…”Who does What and Where”. Interestingly enough, the OCHA omits
to use the fourth “W”…WHEN!
It is mankind’s greatest and most noble attribute to want to help
those in need. But, in this era of extraordinary technology,
communications, and international co-operation it is baffling that so
little has been done to help so many with so much money on the
table. There appears to be an inherent flaw in the system and no one
seems to know how to fix it.
We, as business people involved with humanitarian aid and disaster
relief products and programs should collectively raise our voices to
Washington and the EU that the system of disaster relief needs to be
overhauled immediately. Not only are millions of people around the
world suffering because of bureaucratic inertia, disasters could and
will most likely strike somewhere close to home. Imagine a
catastrophic earthquake in California or a Cat 5 hurricane blowing
away Florida and the Gulf Coasts. We’ve seen how Hurricane Katrina
was handled…5 years later and still there are many problems. And, now
in Haiti the same problems are even worse. While just across the
border in the Dominican Republic they are selling resort vacations and
hosting golf tournaments…what gives?
I’ve had a thought now for the last several weeks…on this forum we
have many NGO administrators, owners and representatives of disaster
relief products, reporters, engineers and scientists. Let us use this
forum to collectively add our own ideas and solutions to how we can
fix this disaster relief program in Haiti. I will volunteer my time
to assemble these ideas into a White Paper Report we can use to send
to our countries’ leaders, use our reports to pull in the media spot
light. (Right now all the media talks about is the Royal Wedding, some
guy at the airport pissed off about some TSA dude touching his junk,
and a bunch of idiots sitting around Best Buy at 2AM waiting for a
deal on a 50 inch TV.)
Come on people we have a world to save…will you join me?
Gilles
Nov 28, 2010, 9:58:47 PM11/28/10
to Shelter Solution for Haiti
I agree with Edison that it is incomprehensible that with all the
technology that we have that not more has been done.
I currently am developing three projects for Haiti but my main concern
is that none will go forward because they will get lost in all that
entanglement of government and non-government organizations.
We definitely need to pull together. There is definitely a lack of
communication here. I thought that Clinton's Interim Reconstruction
thing ( I can't remember off the top of my head what it's called)
would have been more efficient in prioritizing things but apparently
not.
Everybody was waiting for the elections and now, even before the
ballots are counted, Haitians cry fraud!! Which could mean new
elections in 4-5 months (source http://tinyurl.com/29lmf7n ).
Good thing that I'm partnering with an engineering firm having an
expertise in telecommunications, maybe they could help with the
current lack of communication . . .
technology that we have that not more has been done.
I currently am developing three projects for Haiti but my main concern
is that none will go forward because they will get lost in all that
entanglement of government and non-government organizations.
We definitely need to pull together. There is definitely a lack of
communication here. I thought that Clinton's Interim Reconstruction
thing ( I can't remember off the top of my head what it's called)
would have been more efficient in prioritizing things but apparently
not.
Everybody was waiting for the elections and now, even before the
ballots are counted, Haitians cry fraud!! Which could mean new
elections in 4-5 months (source http://tinyurl.com/29lmf7n ).
Good thing that I'm partnering with an engineering firm having an
expertise in telecommunications, maybe they could help with the
current lack of communication . . .
Peter Burgess
Nov 28, 2010, 9:57:36 PM11/28/10
to haitishelt...@googlegroups.com, Edison Kiela, troutma...@gmail.com
Dear Colleagues
Starting only hours after the earthquake on January 12, I made an
effort to be engaged with an initiative to get some Transparency and
Accountability around the fund flows for Haiti. I also made a
commitment to help with a rebuilding plan for Haiti that would be
based on concepts of sustainable development rather than merely being
merely a "welfare" based program. I was able to engage in some
interesting conversations ... but when it came to assessing program
performance in a rigorous way, most everyone wanted out.
My work with Haiti is on hold for the moment ... but I will reengage
as soon as I find the right people to work with. The work I am doing
with True Value Metrics has the potential to be very helpful in
getting resources used in the best possible ways.
Peter Burgess
____________
Peter Burgess
Meaningful Metrics for a Smart Society
www.theburgessmethod.com
www.truevaluemetrics.com
www.tr-ac-net.org (being phased out!)
blog: http://communityanalyticsca.blogspot.com
tel: 212 744 6469
email: pete...@gmail.com
twitter: @peterbnyc
skype: peterburgessnyc
Books: Search Peter Burgess at www.lulu.com
On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Edison Kiela <ediso...@gmail.com> wrote:
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