Quake aid rushes to Haiti, but crises compete
The urgent pleas for donations to help Haiti cope with last Saturday’s magnitude 7.2 quake began almost immediately. Charities reported an initial outpouring of generosity for a poor country that has long depended on philanthropic aid.
But the longer-term outlook for securing the billions of dollars needed — not only to rebuild but also for major investments that could make Haitians less reliant on outside help — faces a far more uncertain fate.
“Many people will be generous in the early days; then the funding often ends,” said Patricia McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, a Washington group that works with nongovernmental organizations and others on how to best assist in such emergencies.
The quake struck just as the world is dealing with a cacophony of humanitarian crises — desperate Afghans seeking escape from the Taliban, possible famine in Ethiopia and other African nations, long-term conflicts in the Middle East — all against the backdrop of the global pandemic.
The competing demands for humanitarian funding could slow aid to Haiti, which has no state safety net and is heavily reliant on other governments as well as the United Nations and international aid groups. Roughly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations operate in Haiti.
Add to that the political convulsions in Haiti from the still-unsolved killing last month of President Jovenel Moïse, plus the impoverished Caribbean country’s own history of purloined, misused or missing aid.
Many aid groups have serious security concerns. Organized gangs control overland routes to the quake zone from Port-auPrince, the capital, about 80 miles east. Kidnapping for ransom is a constant worry.
Accounts from the ground in Les Cayes, a main entry point for aid, suggested deliveries remain patchy and sporadic, with fights erupting among Haitians desperate for food. Some convoys of aid trucks have been looted.
The slow pace of emergency aid distribution has flustered international charities, which partly attribute delays to quake damage and the effects of Tropical Storm Grace. And the Les Cayes airport, some said, is not designed to handle huge shipments.
Most of the aid so far has been for basic survival needs: medical supplies, food, water, tarpaulins and tents. Detailed assessments of what is needed to rebuild the thousands of collapsed homes and other structures — including many of the area’s schools and churches — are unlikely to happen for weeks, experts said.