Today is the four-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake. Vijaya Ramachandran and Sneha Raghavan wonder what happened to the global community’s $9 billion in aid:
I can think of at least two reasons why we should still care about what happened in Haiti. The first reason is that despite the fact that a sum of money almost equivalent to the GDP of Haiti was disbursed to non-governmental organizations, for-profit contractors and other agencies, most Haitians live without a reliable supply of electricity, clean water, or paved roads. Several thousand Haitians still live in (now tattered) tents provided as part of the relief effort.
The second reason is that understanding what happened in Haiti is critical if we want to do a better job with relief and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of future natural disasters. Despite commitments made by rich country governments and non-governmental organizations towards greater aid transparency, and the availability of easy-to-use tools such as the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and UN OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service, it is impossible to trace how the money was spent, how many Haitians were served, and what kinds of projects succeeded or failed.
Previous Dish on the relief effort here. Our coverage of the UN’s “deadly incompetence” in Haiti here and here.
(Photo: A young woman prepares food at Camp Acra in Pétion-Ville, Haiti, where victims of the January 2010 earthquake are living in makeshift tents. As of November 2013, when this photo was taken, more than 170,000 Haitian earthquake victims were still living in makeshift shelters in extremely precarious conditions. By Louis-Joseph Olivier/AFP/Getty Images)
(Hat tip: Mike Dang)
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