Fwd: leiderman: u.n. donors meeting and iadb cost estimates document, thank you
Leon David
From: <leid...@mindspring.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Subject: leiderman: u.n. donors meeting and iadb cost estimates
document, thank you
To: leid...@mindspring.com
dear All:
below and attached, information on the upcoming international donors
meeting for Haiti and cost estimates for earthquake impact relief.
please feel free to circulate.
thank you,
Stuart Leiderman
leid...@mindspring.com
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http://www.america.gov/st/develop-english/2010/March/20100305123644dmslahrellek0.3958704.html
05 March 2010
Donors’ Conference March 31 to Mobilize Support for Haiti
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
Washington — A donors’ conference to mobilize international support
for the long-term development and recovery of Haiti will take place at
U.N. headquarters in New York March 31.
“The government of Haiti faces enormous challenges following the
devastating earthquake of January 12,” the State Department said March
4 in announcing the conference. “Meeting these challenges will require
a sustained and substantial commitment from the international
community, in support of the government and people of Haiti.”
“At the donors’ conference, Haiti will present its vision of Haiti’s
future and how international support can assist,” the announcement
said.
Sponsors for the ministerial-level conference, formally called the
International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti,
include the United States and the United Nations in cooperation with
the Haitian government, and also with the support of Brazil, Canada,
the European Union, France and Spain.
“Donor countries, international organizations and other partners will
have an opportunity to pledge resources, to coordinate support of
Haiti’s long-term recovery, and to commit to a sustained effort to
support Haiti,” the department announcement said.
In addition, the Dominican Republic, which is Haiti’s nearest
neighbor, will host an international conference of high-level
technical donors to evaluate the economic consequences of the
earthquake. It is scheduled for March 16–17 in Santo Domingo and will
serve as the basis for the donors’ conference at the United Nations,
according to Dominican government officials.
PRELIMINARY STUDY
A preliminary study by the Inter-American Development Bank (PDF,
240KB) indicates that it could cost as much as $14 billion to rebuild
Haiti’s homes, schools, roads and other structures damaged by the
earthquake.
“The earthquake, which hit about 15km (10 miles) southwest of the
capital city Port-au-Prince, was followed by several strong
aftershocks and has caused significant loss of human life, the
displacement of hundreds of thousands” of people and severe damage to
the economic infrastructure of the country, the IDB’s team of
economists said in a preliminary assessment released February 16 in
Washington.
“The study confirms that the Haitian earthquake is likely to be the
most destructive natural disaster in modern times, when viewed in
relation to the size of Haiti’s population and its economy,” the
development bank said.
A more detailed accounting of the cost of reconstruction — which the
development bank, World Bank and the U.N. Development Fund are
conducting — will be completed in several months based on a Post
Disaster Needs Assessment, the IDB said in releasing its preliminary
report.
The Haitian government estimates the current number of dead at
approximately 230,000 people. The number of people displaced in the
Port-au-Prince area is estimated at 700,000 people, according to the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the total
impact of the earthquake affected 3 million people in a country with a
population of slightly less than 9 million people.
The development bank study estimated that reconstruction costs could
be as low as $8.1 billion or as high as $13.9 billion. “These
estimates are useful to put this event into perspective and to inform
the international community of the enormity of the challenge that lies
ahead in the task of reconstructing Haiti,” the IDB report’s authors
said.
“This sum … will be beyond the scope of one agency or one bilateral
donor, making donor coordination key in any reconstruction effort,”
the authors added. “The implications of such an estimate are
significant. Raising such a figure will require many donors,
bilateral, multilateral and private.”
Compounding the loss of life is that the magnitude 7.0 earthquake was
centered in the Caribbean island’s capital city — Haiti’s center of
commerce, government and communications.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a recent opinion article
in Politico that after the first rush of humanitarian assistance to
help save lives and provide water, food, shelter, medicine and other
basic supplies to the survivors, thoughts must turn to recovery and
reconstruction of the Caribbean nation.
It is a challenge, he acknowledged, that will not be an easy one.
“After peacekeeping missions and billions of dollars in aid, Haiti
remains a country with some of the worst human development indicators
in the world,” he said. “Yet we know that progress is possible.”
“Before the hurricanes in 2008 and again before [January’s]
earthquake, Haiti had been moving forward with successful and peaceful
elections, stabilization of chronic insecurity, and increased revenue
collection and investment,” Zoellick said. “Building on these
successes, Haiti’s reconstruction and recovery require long-term
commitment.”
U.S. COMMITMENT
The United States, which began offering humanitarian assistance almost
immediately, has already committed $712.73 million to Haitian relief
and reconstruction efforts, according to USAID and Defense Department
reports. President Obama also is expected to request special funding
for reconstruction of at least $1 billion from Congress soon,
according to published news accounts.
For more on Haiti, see the feature Partnering with Haiti for Reconstruction.
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http://www.iadb.org/features-and-web-stories/2010-02/english/haiti-reconstruction-cost-may-near-14-billion-idb-study-shows-6528.html
Feb 16, 2010
Haiti reconstruction cost may near $14 billion, IDB study shows
New IDB study raises estimates to between $8 billion and $14 billion,
making Jan. 12 earthquake proportionately the most destructive natural
disaster of modern times
The cost of rebuilding Haiti’s homes, schools, roads and other
infrastructure could soar to nearly $14 billion, according to a new
study by economists at the Inter-American Development Bank.
The study offers a preliminary estimate of the potential damages
resulting from the January 12 earthquake, using simple regression
techniques employing data from past natural disasters and their damage
estimates. It takes into account several variables including the
magnitude of the disaster, the number of fatalities, and the affected
country’s population and per capita GDP.
A detailed accounting of the cost of reconstruction will emerge in
coming months as a full Post Disaster Needs Assessment is completed.
But the new IDB study indicates the cost is likely to be larger than
anticipated. The study calculates damages assuming either 200,000 or
250,000 people dead or missing (as of Feb. 11, the Haitian government
had reported 230,000 dead).
IDB economists Andrew Powell, Eduardo Cavallo and Oscar Becerra
calculated a base estimate of $8.1 billion for a 250,000
dead-or-missing toll, but they estimate this figure is likely to be at
the low end and conclude that an estimate of US$13.9bn is within the
statistical margin of error.
While the results are subject to many caveats, the study confirms that
the Haitian earthquake is likely to be the most destructive natural
disaster in modern times, when viewed in relation to the size of the
Haiti’s population and its economy. Indeed, in this respect the Haiti
earthquake was vastly more destructive than the Indonesian Tsunami of
2004 and the cyclone that hit Myanmar in 2008. It caused five times
more deaths per million inhabitants than the second-ranking natural
killer, the 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua (see table).
Crime
Powell, Cavallo and Becerra conclude that the scale of the damages in
Haiti will require unprecedented coordination among the multiple
bilateral, multilateral and private donors. To ensure the efficient
use of billions of dollars in reconstruction funds, for example,
individual donors may need to surrender the kind of control and
conditionality they typically demand of projects they finance. This
will in turn require extraordinary mechanisms to ensure transparency
and accountability.
Moreover, a separate forthcoming study by Cavallo and others indicates
that countries hit by disasters on this scale suffer an economic
setback that can take decades to reverse. In several such countries,
investigators found that even with big inflows of outside aid, GDP per
capita was up to 30 percent lower 10 years after the disaster than it
would have been if the country had been spared.
“Of course this does not necessarily mean that aid does not work,
perhaps the negative growth effect would have been even worse if aid
had not increased,” the study notes. “However, this does underline the
challenge ahead for Haiti and for the international community
attempting to support the country.”
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