Aid for Haiti

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI on 21 April 2010

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 19 to 21 APRIL 2010

 

HAITI

 

METROXPRESS (free paper) on 21 April 2010: HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE

 

In spite of the massive foreign aid the rebuilding of the destroyed country is very slow!!

 

HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP (The essence of this article is as follows):

 

The Minister for youth and sport, Lescouflair Evans says: We must start playing FOOTBALL again, and we must make the young people go in for SPORTS again. We are TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM = SYLVIO CATOR, THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI WHICH IS CURRENTLY TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES OR ABOUT 6,000 HAITIANS WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

Thierry Regenass, regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings hope and joy".

 

I'll translate these two articles tomorrow.

[nancyk58]

Aid for HAITI - 22 April 2010

 

I had expected to translate the two articles from yesterday's MetroXpress regarding HAITI, but now I cannot find the newspaper.

 

The headline of the entire page was: "HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE".

 

The headline of the first article was: IN SPITE OF THE MASSIVE FOREIGN AID, THE REBUILDING OF THE DESTROYED COUNTRY IS VERY SLOW.

 

This headline was the most informative thing in relation to the current situation in HAITI !! - I found the rest of that article rather disappointing = boring.

 

I translated the most important parts of the second article named: HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP.

The essence of that article is as follows:

 

"The Minister for Youth and Sports, Lescouflair Evans says: "WE MUST START PLAYING FOOTBALL GAMES AGAIN, AND WE MUST MAKE THE YOUNG PEOPLE GO IN FOR SPORTS AGAIN."

WE ARE TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM. THE STADIUM IS SYLVIO CATOR, THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI WHICH IS CURRENTLY TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES OR ABOUT 6,000 HAITIANS WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

Thierry Regeness, the regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings HOPE and JOY".

 

I remember reading that FIFA is going to pay for the rebuilding of the football stadium.

 

This article upset me because it seemed that the football-loving government said: FOOTBALL ABOVE EVERYTHING - FOOTBALL IS THE ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEMS. Where can the homeless go? - if I may ask.

[nancyk58]

Aid for HAITI / News in relation to HAITI from 21 and 23 April 2010

 

UPDATES ON 23 APRIL 2010 OF THE SITUATION RELATED TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

HAITI

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 as well as Swedish SVT: UN ESTIMATES THAT 300,000 DIED IN THE DEVASTATING HAITI EARTHQUAKE

 

The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 cost between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives, says the head of the UN mission in Haiti.

 

So far Haiti's government has indicated that more than 220,000 were killed in the earthquake.

 

- Now more than 100 days have passed since the disaster that cost between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives according to a statement made by Edmond Mulet who is in charge of UNs mission in HAITI. Mulet also says that 300,000 were injured and that more than 1 million were made homeless.

 

Swedish SVT1: Mulet wants UNs Security Council to send additional 800 policemen to maintain law and order in the refugee camps.

 

The death toll in the Haiti earthquake is twice as much as the death toll after the atomic bomb over Hiroshima in Japan at the end of World War II.

 

 

I managed to find MetroXpress from the 21 April 2010 and the promised translation of the 2 articles will follow tomorrow.

 

Another article published in MetroXpress on 21 April 2010 in relation to HAITI:

 

TEACHER SAVED 800 SCHOOL CHILDREN

 

CHINA. Early in the morning (of 12 January 2010) the Chinese teacher Yanli Duode suddenly felt that the earth shook under him. "I had an ominous feeling that made me nervous", he says. Together with four other teachers Yanli woke the children and led them out of the building. Few minutes later the boys' dormitory collapsed as the earthquake struck at full steam. Also the girls' dormitory was damaged. Thanks to the resolution of their teacher, more than 800 school children survived meaning that far less were killed at the school than in other places in the same area.

[nancyk58]

Aid for Haiti / News on 24.4.10 plus 2 articles from 21.4.10

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 24 APRIL 2010

 

NEWS ON 24 APRIL 2010

 

HAITI on 24 April 2010

 

German ZDFtext: EU SIGNS CONVENTION IN RELATION TO RELIEF / AID TO HAITI AT 260 MILLION EURO

During a visit to HAITI, EUs commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs has signed conventions in relation to relief / aid to HAITI to a value of 260 million EURO. This amount is a contribution to rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged country.

 

EU has pledged a total of 1.6 billion Euro for reconstruction. 460 million Euro should come from the Commission, the rest from the EU member states. In the earthquake on 12 January 2010, between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives were lost according to the United Nations, and more than a million people lost their homes.

 

 

Translation of 2 articles published in Metropress on 21 April 2010

 

The headline of the entire page was "HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE".

 

Article 1: IN SPITE OF THE MASSIVE FOREIGN AID, THE REBUILDING OF THE DESTROYED COUNTRY IS VERY SLOW.

 

By Elisabeth Braw, Metro World News

 

When UNs secretary general, Ban Ki-moon calls 5.3 billion dollar a “first instalment”, it is an indication of the need for enormous amounts of money for the rebuilding of Haiti.

 

5.3 billion dollar is the amount / the donations pledged by the international community to Haiti over the next two years. After the two-year-period, Haiti is to receive additional 4.6 billion dollar.

 

At a conference in New York last month, the USA, the EU, the World Bank and other great international actors coordinated their relief / aid to the earthquake-ravaged country covering the next couple of years.

 

But Haiti’s needs are larger = these amounts do not meet Haiti’s needs.

 

“The first stage is relief / aid over the next decade”, says Mark Schneider, senior vice president for International Crisis Group.

 

“The next stage is relief / aid for the next generation”.

 

Haiti’s gross national product 2009 amounted to 11.9 billion dollar, and money sent to Haiti by Haitians living abroad amounted to 25 per cent of this amount.

 

Immediately after the earthquake, enormous amounts – it is not clear how much – were sent to HAITI via governments and relief organisations from all over the world.

 

“It is not yet clear whether the relief work has been successful”, says Arrietta Chakos, acting director in the Time Disaster Recovery Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

 

“The relief in HAITI is still at the acute stage. The situation is incredibly difficult, because so many died or were injured, and the devastation is extensive”.

 

But some fields such as searching for victims by means of new technology and status updates via social media have experienced huge success to the effect that the experts now examine how to use them in future disasters.

 

“And the fact that most victims get food and a shelter should be regarded as a success”, says Mark Schneider.

 

“It is of course not ideal that people have to live under a plastic cloth, but it is really cost-expensive to transport relief to Haiti”.

 

 

HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP

 

By Elisabeth Braw, Metro World News

 

Haiti’s government has been criticized for its plans to repel homeless earthquake survivors from a national stadium so that football games can again be played there.

 

THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI, SYLVIO CATOR, IS CURRENTLY THE TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

 

Now the government will clear the camp so that the stadium can be repaired (with money donated by FIFA) and so that the football games can be resumed as soon as possible. There have been found no ideas for an alternative for the homeless Haitians.

 

From 12 January 2010, only few hours after the earthquake ravaged the city, hundreds of homeless Haitians invaded the synthetic grass/turf and the parking area surrounding the stadium.

 

Today more than 6,000 Haitians live here. Those who have not been handed a tent by a relief organization, seek shelter under plastic cloths, pieces of metal, sheets or curtains / blinds. Relief workers have installed a water tank, lavatories and devices for showers in the goals.

 

Children are playing and women cooking at the foot of the stairs. People feel safe, because the stadium lights are on until 22 o’clock, and the tall fences protect against the chaos in the streets outside.

 

If the government implements its plan, this insecure existence will come to an end within days or weeks.

 

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Lescouflair Evans says: WE MUST START PLAYING FOOTBALL GAMES AGAIN, AND WE MUST MAKE THE YOUNG PEOPLE GO IN FOR SPORTS AGAIN. WE ARE TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM.

 

Thierry Regeness, the regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings HOPE and JOY".

 

 

OFFICIAL DONORS

50 countries and many international organizations have donated money to the reconstruction of Haiti. Among these countries are Venezuela and many African nations, but not Great Britain and Austria!

 

 

MONEY

 

The relief organization MSF = Médécins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) is spending the amount donated in this way:

 

109 million dollar donated for acute aid / relief

 

57,000 patients have been treated

 

26,000 cooking kits have been distributed

 

15,000 tents have been distributed

 

3,300 doctors are in HAITI

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI on 27 April 2010

 

NEWS ON 27 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: CHILD SMUGGLING MISSIONARY CHARGED

Laura Stilsby, the US missionary suspected of having tried to smuggle 33 Haitian children out of Haiti after the devastating January earthquake, will be put on trial. The legal proceedings against Laura Stilsby will take place in Haiti. Laura Stilsby was arrested with 9 other baptists when they tried to cross the border to the Dominican Republic in a bus with the Haitian children. The group of missionaries claimed that the children were orphans which turned out to be untrue. The children are now together with their parents again.

[nancyk58]

Aid for Haiti / News on 28 April 2010

 

NEWS ON 28 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN ARE DEMONSTRATING IN HAITI

Hundreds of older school children in Haiti are demonstrating for the second consecutive day. They claim that their schools resume teaching / instruction. The schools are used as homes for many of the about 1.3 million Haitians who were made homeless by the powerful earthquake in January.

Police used teargas and fired four shots to make the older school children break up their demonstration.

Haiti's minister of education counselled moderation yesterday, and he told the school children that the authorities are working on solving the problems.

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN RECLAIM SCHOOLS

Hundreds of older school children are demonstrating in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince demanding that their schools or what is left of them should be emptied of homeless Haitians so that the teaching / instruction can resume. On Tuesday, demonstrators in school uniforms threw stones at the remnants of the Ministry of Education, which was destroyed in the devastating January earthquake.

Police used teargas and shot into the air, and Joel Desrosier Jean-Pierre, the Haitian minister of education, counselled moderation.

 

German ZDF: HAITI: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THEIR SCHOOLS BEING USED AS RELIEF CENTRES

3 months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, hundreds of school children have demonstrated against their schools being used as emergency centres for homeless Haitians. "We claim that our schools resume teaching / instruction", they shouted in front of Haiti's ministry of education in Port-au-Prince. The authorities are working on finding alternatives according to Haiti's minister of education.

According to UN estimates between 250,000 and 300,000 Haitians were killed in the devastating earthquake in January.

[nancyk58]

Interesting OPINION published by BBC World News on 1 May 2010

 

BBC WORLD NEWS:

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/30/saginor.quakes.volcanoes/index.html

 

ARE EARTHQUAKES GETTING WORSE? NO!

 

Editor's note: Ian Saginor, Ph.D., is a volcanologist and professor of geology at Keystone College. His research is on the evolution of volcanoes in Central America. (CNN)

 

- Ever since a devastating earthquake struck HAITI on January 12 followed by others in CHILE, BAJA CALIFORNIA and INDONESIA, many people have asked the question, "Are earthquakes getting worse?" The answer is a firm and unequivocal "No."

 

I know it's hard to believe given the devastation these earthquakes have caused and the intense level of media attention they have received. However, it turns out that large earthquake frequency has not changed at all over the last 20 years.

 

But don't take my word for it. Go to the United States Geological Survey website and see for yourself. As of April 25, 2010 is on pace to have approximately 18 earthquakes larger than a magnitude 7 on the Richter Scale.

 

That sure sounds like a lot, but it's only one more than last year and very close to the 15.4 large earthquakes per year that Earth has averaged over the last 20 years. Of course, some years are more active than others, but that is to be expected.

 

In fact, in 1995 there were 20 of these large earthquakes, but nobody talks about that year as being particularly lively. The fact that several of this year's large earthquakes occurred near populated areas only adds to the perception that the overall frequency or intensity of earthquakes has increased.

 

Before the earthquake in Haiti, there hadn't been an earthquake of that size in over two months. This ebb and flow of earthquakes is completely natural. And what about volcanic eruptions? USGS records show they have also remained constant since the 1960s, with between 50 and 70 eruptions each year.

 

Over the last few days, another misconception began to emerge when CNN published an opinion article by author Alan Weisman titled "Is the Earth striking back?" The piece outlined a theory that, as glaciers melt due to global warming, the Earth's crust will begin to stretch and rebound.

 

It goes on to imply that this stretching could cause not only earthquakes, such as in Haiti and Chile, but also volcanic eruptions. The article even suggests this process is responsible for the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland with its neighbor, Katla. "threatening to detonate next." Do these studies exist? Yes. Is this really what they say? No.

 

First, some background. The source of this idea is a series of papers published by the Royal Society in England that looked at the potential effect of climate change on some types of natural disasters. This idea is generally based on the well-known phenomenon that, as Earth's glaciers continue to melt, the crust rebounds as it is relieved of the burden. In fact, this has been happening for thousands of years since the peak of the last ice age.

 

Several of these papers did propose that climate change could affect certain types of earthquakes on the ocean floor or underneath melting glaciers, however, Haiti is neither on the bottom of the ocean nor under a glacier. As for the Chilean quake, it was caused by the incredible amount of pressure generated as two tectonic plates are forced together.

 

The point is that not all earthquakes are caused by the same forces and earthquakes on the ocean floor or under glaciers could not be more different from earthquakes in Haiti or Chile. It's like saying cigarettes cause lung cancer, therefore they cause skin cancer as well.

 

The bottom line is that Weisman's claims that earthquake frequency is increasing and that earthquakes in Haiti and Chile are caused by global warming are unsupported by the scientific articles he uses to form his conclusions. The effect of his article is to take several well-meaning, preliminary, cautious and limited scientific studies and create unnecessary fear and confusion in the general public.

 

If the public concludes that earthquake frequency has increased, it will be wrong. If it concludes that volcano eruption frequency or intensity has increased, it will be wrong. If it believes that earthquakes in Haiti or Chile were caused by global warming, it will not only be wrong, but it will believe it because it was told it was the conclusion of geologists. It wasn't.

 

Most scientific papers do not lend themselves to sound bites or headlines. That means the media needs to do a much better job understanding them. For their part, scientists need to be willing to confront these errors before they spread.

 

Whatever effect climate change has on our planet in the future, inaccurate reporting of research leaves the public at a huge disadvantage and cannot be tolerated.

 

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ian Saginor.

 

By Ian Saginor, Special to CNN

 

April 30, 2010 -- Updated 1301 GMT (2101 HKT)

[nancyk58]

News on 8 May 2010 in relation to HAITI

 

NEWS ON 8 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO HAITI

 

US MILITARY DRAWS DOWN DEEPLY IN HAITI

 

05/08/2010 | 02:08 PM - GMA News.TV

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Six Haitian children cling to Lt. Ben Stollerman's hands, sleeves and fatigue pants as the US Navy engineer negotiates one of Haiti's biggest camps for earthquake refugees.

 

"I feel like the Pied Piper," he says, grinning as he takes a break from pointing out projects he's directed to help reduce flooding in a sea of makeshift shelters that 47,000 people call home.

 

Stollerman says he's tried to explain to the children — though he's not sure they grasp it — that he won't be around forever. Next week, he ships out.

 

From a high of 22,000 troops spearheaded by the now-departed 82nd Airborne two weeks after the devastating Jan. 12 quake, the US military operation here is now down to 1,300 troops.

 

As of June 1, the Louisiana National Guard will be in charge of a 500-person contingent, based in Gonaives, a flood-prone city north of the capital where 800 people died two years ago in three hurricanes and a tropical storm.

 

Other National Guard units will rotate in every two weeks from Nevada, Montana, Arizona, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, said Maj. Gen. Simeon Trombitas, who heads US Army-South and is in command of Joint Task Force-Haiti for its last month.

 

But the thousands of troops of Operation Unified Response, who helped keep the peace, distribute food and provide an overall feeling of safety for quake-stricken Haitians, will be a thing of the past.

 

They will be missed at the old military airport, where Stollerman works.

 

"The Americans' leaving is kind of sad because they get things done," Marie Ange Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor who lives in the airport camp, said as Navy engineers installed steel grates over open sewer holes nearby. "If things were left up to the Haitians, they wouldn't get done."

 

Children scurried and slipped about near one of the holes, the stench of human waste strong even a few shacks away where a bare-chested young man sold moonshine and cigarettes and people played cards at a tarp-covered tavern.

 

An eight-person Southern Command contingent will remain in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a handful of Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters.

 

The Navy engineers, or Seabees, also will remain in Haiti, to protect those among the 1.3 million still crowded in tent camps who are at high risk from flash flooding.

 

"It's a transition, not a drawdown or a departure," Trombitas told The Associated Press.

 

The Guardsmen will build and repair schools and continue to train Haitian medical workers. Large-scale US military medical attention ended March 19 when the USNS Comfort hospital ship departed.

 

The US Agency for International Development and civilian relief agencies will be taking over most of the logistical and aid work American troops performed.

 

Rain is apt to be the biggest challenge.

 

May is normally the wettest month, with an average of 8.6 inches (21.8 centimeters) of rainfall, said Michel Davison, coordinator of the International Desk of the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

So far, the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation has been spared the kind of weather systems that typically stall for a few days, dumping several inches of rain. But Davison predicted that major downpours could begin around May 20.

 

Just 3 percent of Haiti is forested, and widespread erosion regularly contributes to violent flooding capable of delivering death on an alarming scale.

 

Last month, the Seabees took advantage of lower-than-average rainfall to build retaining walls, carve out drainage canals and sponsor cash-for-work programs that paid jobless, homeless Haitians to clear garbage from culverts in nine camps where they deemed people to be at the highest risk from flash floods.

 

The US military also helped move 7,400 at-risk people from those camps to relocation camps.

 

A centerpiece of the effort has been the teeming Ancien Aeroport Militaire camp, where 26-year-old Lt. Stollerman of Park City, Utah, has become a minor celebrity.

 

The Seabees delivered 300 truckloads of gravel that people have used to raise the floors of their homes and rid the camp of standing water where mosquitoes could breed and spread malaria. They've also covered big sewer drain openings that spelled peril for the lieutenant's little friends.

 

"They really decreased the stress level among the people in the camp," said Louise Ivers, Haiti clinical director for the Boston-based Partners in Health, a medical relief organization with more than two decades in Haiti. "The place was a hellhole. When it rained, water was collecting in big ponds. Children were falling into holes. It was just desperate."

 

If disaster strikes again, the Seabees can be back in force in a matter of days, said Capt. Roger Motzko, 55, of Anchorage, Alaska, Stollerman's boss and the Joint Task Force's chief of engineering.

 

The first US troops to arrive for the earthquake emergency bivouacked under ponchos on the western edge of a relief-choked international airport.

 

The soldiers have had it somewhat easier lately: Recently, they were entertained by Miami Dolphins cheerleaders who made three appearances from April 27-29 with a military-sponsored variety show.

 

And the Americans only opened fire once, Trombitas said: warning shots during looting in the early post-quake days.

 

Though the troops are universally pleased to be among friendly, appreciative people, Haiti's capital remains a sweat-inducing, dust-choked stew of filth, despair, hunger, traffic and sporadic electricity.

 

"We live at the old bus station in non-air-conditioned tents," Motzko said.

 

"On lucky days we get a shower a day. Lucky for you, today was one." — AP

[nancyk58]

News on 13 May in relation to HAITI

 

Swedish SVT: FIRST DONATION TO HAITI FUND

 

Brazil is the first country to give a donation to the reconstruction fund for the earthquake-hit HAITI.

 

Brazil is also in charge of the UN force(s) on HAITI and has paid 55 million dollars to the World Bank which administrates the donations.

 

World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick now recommends other donor countries to live up to their pledges to HAITI.

 

The disaster which destroyed HAITI's capital, Port-au-Prince, is estimated to have cost 300,000 human lives. The cost of material damage has been calculated at 120% of Haiti's annual gross national product.

 

 

BRAZIL BECOMES FIRST MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO HAITI RECONSTRUCTION FUND

 

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-85D37E?OpenDocument

 

Source: The World Bank Group / Date: 11 May 2010

 

WASHINGTON DC, May 11, 2010 - The Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) gathered momentum today after Brazil contributed US$55 million to the multilateral mechanism set up to help the Caribbean nation rebuild following its devastating January 12 earthquake.

 

Brazil is the first donor country to make such contribution, but at least 14 other countries are expected to chip in to replenish the fund that has been in operation since April with an initial grant of US$189 million by the World Bank, the fund's fiscal agent and administrator, Bank officials said.

 

Confirmations of intent to date have come from donors such as CANADA, ESTONIA, NORWAY, SWEDEN, SAUDI ARABIA and the UNITED STATES, while discussions with other potential contributors are underway, noted Haiti country director Yvonne Tsikata.

 

In welcoming Brazil's contribution, the Bank praised its long-standing commitment to Haiti, which has become increasingly prominent over the last few years in project funding, peacekeeping initiatives and technical advice.

 

Brazil's announcement comes on the heels of increasing recognition of the growing role of emerging powers in global affairs, in what World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick has called "the end of the Third World".

 

"Brazil leadership in supporting Haiti underscores an important feature of our multipolar world where emerging powers are taking on new responsibilities to assist those struggling with major development challenges," said Zoellick during a ceremony held at the Bank's Washington D.C headquarters, where Brazil's Secretary-General of External Relations, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, signed US$55 million over to the fund in the presence of Haiti's Ambassador to the United States Raymond Joseph, and multilateral officials.

 

The HRF was set up by the government of HAITI and MULTIPLE DONORS to pool mobilize and allocate resources from the international community in support of Haiti's recovery and development. The fund will channel resources "in a manner that builds the capacity of the Haitian state and society in the longer term," said HRF manager Josef Leitmann, while adding that the fund will be flexible enough to respond to unmet priorities in the recovery program, including the provision of budget support.

 

Activities financed by the HRF can include technical assistance and capacity building, infrastructure investments, delivery of basic services, community development, environmental protection and clean-up, job creation and income generation, Leitmann said. The fund regroups the World Bank, United Nations agencies and the Inter-American Development Bank.

 

Brazil's secretary-general Patriota noted that after the initial show of support for Haiti, the challenge is now to keep such momentum going and translate international support into effective and timely reconstruction projects.

 

To achieve this goal, he said, "it is important to stress that we see this as an opportunity for Haiti to embark on a route to sustainable development and the overall improvement of its infrastructure and the livelihood of the Haitian people who for too long have been struggling with chronic difficulties."

 

"Brazil is proud to be the first country to contribute to the Fund and invites others to join us in this effort," he added.

 

The international community pledged US$5.3 billion towards Haiti's reconstruction over the next two years at a March 31 United Nations meeting in New York.

 

Judging from experiences with previous reconstruction funds, about 10-15 per cent of those pledges will find their way into the HRF, which has been designed to fill gaps in the financing available from development partners, according to Bank officials.

 

Ambassador Joseph thanked Brazil for its generous contribution to the fund and President Zoellick for providing safekeeping of the fund resources "which has given confidence to a lot of people and a lot of countries."

 

"Haiti cannot do it alone, but I have no doubt that others who have pledged at the March 31 conference will soon follow the example of Brazil," he concluded.

[nancyk58]

German ZDF broadcast a report on HAITI on 6.6.10

 

The German TV channel ZDF had a special report on HAITI from 18.30 to 19 o'clock:

 

I did not see the first 5 minutes of this broadcast.

 

The reporter visited some projects supported by German donations and by a German charity.

 

When I opened, the reporter talked to a young girl (around 10 years, I think) who was not going to school. The reporter talked to a woman, probably the girl's mother who said that she needed the girl's help every day, so no school. Instead the girl had to collect a bucketful of water three times a day - each time she had to carry a bucketful of water - weight 30 kilos.

 

The reporter mentioned that some children had been sold as labour/manpower. Often they lived under very bad conditions. A teenage girl slept under a bed in a very small room where an entire family slept. She was often beaten by a woman in the family - if she had made a fault or was bleeding. The woman was confronted with the girl's scars - the woman said that this was not so bad - and said that she would try to remember not to beat the teenage girl.

 

The reporter talked to a rape victim, who was made an orphan by the earthquake. She was raped one night. Now she has found strenght after having met other women in the same situation. They support each other and talk about the terrible things they have been througb.

 

Gangs are beating earthquake victims with bats. The earthquake victims had settled on some land / property, and the landowner wanted to get rid of them and hired the gangs to make the victims leave. The assault was reported to the police, but it turned out that the police was corrupt and supporting the gangs who were trying to make the victims leave.

 

It was mentioned that HAITI has many Christian people, but most popular religion is VOODOO.

 

THE RAINY SEASON has begun!!

 

CONCLUSION: AID reaches its destination. The Haitians keep their dignity and are still singing and dancing. The Haitians are very poor. It will take year before the wounds from the HAITI earthquake have healed.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI on 10 June 2010

 

News in relation to HAITI on 10 June 2010

 

Danish DR1 TTV: THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF EVERYTHING IN HAITI

 

Next Saturday, i.e. on 12 June 2010, 5 months have passed since the devastating earthquake in Haiti which killed 300,000 people. There is still a shortage of everything in HAITI, nothing works - not even emergency aid or the reconstruction, says secretary-general Henrik Stubkjaer from DanChurchAid. - It is very frustrating. In 2 months' time, the hurricane season starts, he says. 1,000 people have to share one toilet, clean drinking water and 120,000 houses are still lacking. The emergency aid, i.e. the relief goods are still trapped / blocked by the customs authorities.

[nancyk58]

News on 22 June 2010 in relation to HAITI

 

NEWS ON 22 JUNE 2010 IN RELATION TO HAITI

 

German ARDtext: REBUILDING IN HAITI ALMOST STOPPED !

 

Since the powerful earthquake 5 months ago, HAITI has hardly made any progress in relation to rebuilding the country - according to a US-Senate report.

 

The reasons are

 

- a weak Haitian government

- differences of opinion among donor countries and other donors

- a general bad organization!

 

Millions of people have not been able to return to their homes.

 

Ruins and destroyed buildings are everywhere.

 

The reconstruction was also delayed by

 

conflicts in relation to land - and

difficulties with the customs authorities.

[nancyk58]

NEWS on 22 July 2010 IN RELATION TO HAITI

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: THE IMF CANCELS / WRITES OFF 268 MILLION $ OF HAITI's DEBT

 

The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, has written off / cancelled 268 of earthquake-struck Haiti's debts.

 

The IMF asked the world community not to forget its pledges for financial aid to Haiti amounting to 5.3 billion dollars within the next 1.5 years.

 

 

German ARDtext: THE IMF WRITES OFF / CANCELS HAITI's DEBTS

 

6 months after the powerful earthquake in Haiti, the International Monetary Fund (the IMF) has cancelled 210 million Euro of Haiti's debts. The IMF also adopted a new aid programme to support the reconstruction in Haiti.

 

By the earthquake in January 2010, more than 200,000 people were killed, and a large part of the infrastructure was destroyed.

 

In the days following the earthquake, the head of the IMF, Mr. Strauss-Kahn had pledged to cancel (some of) Haiti's debts.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI on 1 AUGUST 2010

 

Danish DR1 TTV: UNITED NATIONS: WORLD COMMUNITY HAS GONE BACK ON ITS PLEDGES TO HELP HAITI

 

The world community has gone back on its pledges to help Haiti. 6 months after one of the worst natural disasters in modern times, less than 2 per cent of the pledged 31 billion have reached the rebuilding unit run by the UN on the Caribbean island, says the Danish newspaper "Politiken".

 

The United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Nigel Fischer raises the alarm: The rebuilding is too slow. Currently, 1½ million Haitians are living in tents. We have to speed up the work, but we cannot do that, because the donor countries will not make the pledged amounts available, he said.

[nancyk58]

PETITION from ONE on 4 August 2010 signed by me - please JOIN me!

 

Subject: Time for deadbeat donors to pay up!

 

Hi,

 

In the months after Haiti’s earthquake pledges of aid came from all over the world – totalling more than $5 billion USD.

 

However 6 months on, only 10% of this aid has actually been delivered to Haiti – compromising the country’s ability to rebuild and prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.

 

President Bill Clinton, UN special envoy to Haiti, has vowed to chase the countries with outstanding pledges, and we’d like to show him the world supports his efforts.

 

I just signed a petition asking world leaders to deliver the aid they pledged to Haiti as soon as possible.

 

Please join me by signing the petition here:

 

http://one.org/international/actnow/haitiaid/index.html?rc=haitiaidpaste

 

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

 

Thanks!

 

NANCY aka. nancyk58

[nancyk58]

News on 6 August 2010 in relation to HAITI

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10888173 / 6 August 2010/ Last updated at 11:09 GMT

 

WYCLEF JEAN FILES PAPERS TO STAND FOR HAITI PRESIDENT

 

Hip hop star Wyclef Jean spoke about his presidential ambitions in his native Haiti.

 

Hip hop star Wyclef Jean has formally registered to stand for president of his native Haiti as it rebuilds after the devastating January earthquake.

 

Dozens of supporters greeted him as he arrived with his wife and daughter at an electoral council office in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

 

The deadline to file candidacy papers for the 28 November poll is Saturday.

Mr Jean, who lives in the US, will now have to prove he is eligible to run under Haitian law.

 

A review board will verify that his candidacy meets constitutional requirements, including having lived in Haiti for five consecutive years leading up to the election and never having held foreign citizenship.

 

The singer, who grew up in the US, holds a Haitian passport and has US residency. He says his appointment as a roving ambassador for the country in 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement.

 

The list of official candidates will be published on 17 August.

 

'VERY EMOTIONAL'

 

Mr Jean filed papers to run as a candidate for the Viv Ansanm (Live Together) political party.

 

"I would like to tell [uS] President Barack Obama that the United States has Obama and Haiti has Wyclef Jean," he told a rally of supporters in Port-au-Prince.

 

"It's a moment in time and in history," he told the Associated Press news agency. "It's very emotional."

 

Earlier this week, he stepped down from the Yele Haiti charitable foundation for Haitian children he set up, which recently came under scrutiny over its finances.

 

Other declared candidates include former diplomat Garaudy Laguerre and Raymond Joseph, who is Haiti's current ambassador to the US and Mr Jean's uncle.

 

The sitting President, Rene Preval, is barred by the constitution from seeking a new term.

 

If Mr Jean runs and wins, he will preside over the spending of billions of dollars in reconstruction aid.

 

Mr Jean, the frontman of 1990s hip hop group The Fugees, is hugely popular in Haiti, where half of the population is under 21.

 

He told Time magazine in an interview that his secret weapon in the election campaign would be that Haiti's "enormous youth population doesn't believe in politicians any more".

 

"If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this," Mr Jean added.

 

Mr Jean is Haiti's ambassador-at-large, and has played a prominent role in

securing aid since the earthquake, which left 1.5 million people homeless.

-----------------------

 

Danish DR1: WYCLEF OFFICIAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HAITI

 

Swedish SVT: WYCLEF GREETED AS HERO IN hAITI BY MANY SUPPORTERS

 

Older citizens were more sceptical. Wyclef Jean grew up in New York, but was born on Haiti.

 

After the devastating earthquake on 12 January, 2010 that killed more than 300,000 Haitians, Wyclef Jean participated in the rescue operation in person / on site in Haiti. And he has collected money for Haiti Relief Fund.

 

He was appointed goodwill ambassador for Haiti in 2007 by the present president, Réné Préval who - according to the constitution - must resign when his presidency expires.

 

The presidential election in Haiti is planned to be held on 28 November 2010.

[nancyk58]

On-the-spot report from HAITI on 19 August 2010

 

Danish DR1 TV had an on-the-spot report from HAITI on 19 August 2010:

 

The HAITI donations made by the state of Denmark and by Danish individuals went to 9 aid agencies including SOS Children's Villages. The children staying in the SOS Children's Village visited by Danish television are lucky. They get food once every day.

 

 

Urban, Danish free paper / CNN's website: WYCLEF JEAN's CANDIDACY IN DANGER

The rapper WYCLEF JEAN known from the group The Fugees, may be prevented from running for President of HAITI. Haiti's election committee is to decide whether the rapper who was born in the USA can run for president of HAITI as he does not live in HAITI. Wyclef Jean's lawyer says that Wyclef Jean is entitled to run for President as the musician has paid taxes in HAITI for at least five years.

[nancyk58]

HAITI UPDATE OVER 7 MONTHS SINCE THE EARTHQUAKE STRUCK

 

20.8.10: Anonymous member of the provisional election committee to the news agency Reuters: WYCLEF JEAN's name does NOT appear on the list of candidates who have been approved to run for president in HAITI

 

 

THE HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE: AN UPDATE

 

With an estimated 50,000-100,000 DEAD, 300,000 HOMELESS, and 3 MILLION NEEDING HELP in some form, it's clear that the Haitian earthquake was a disaster that demands long-term support for recovery. But despite the fact that it has been over 7 months since the earthquake struck, Haiti continues to face numerous obstacles to recovery.

 

One major issue Haitian women specifically have been facing is the rise of gender-based violence in refugee camps and other vulnerable areas.

 

A recent New York Times article, "Sexual Assaults Add to Miseries of Haiti's Ruins" by Deborah Sontag, outlined the desperate need for training peacekeepers, humanitarian aid staff, local law enforcement and social workers to prevent gender-based violence. Currently, there is neither an adequate system for documentation of these claims, nor judicial capacity to handle sexual violence reports. And because there is inadequate accounting for gender roles in humanitarian operations, for example, women are increasingly resorting to transactional sex in response to the distribution of food tickets to men. At one camp, UN official Nancy Dorsinville asserted, every single woman screened for HIV tested positive. (See Linda Basch's NY Times Letter to the Editor.)

 

An immediate solution to this problem according to Julie Sell of the American Red Cross, aside from the training of officials, is allocating some of the promised $5.5 billion in aid from international governments to transitional housing. Much of the violence against women occurring in Haiti stems from the massive numbers of people being forced to live together on the streets and in tent camps and their lack of protection or shelter; a problem that more substantial housing would work to dispel. However, due to issues such as recent flooding, debris left over from the earthquake, and legal land issues, the people of Haiti, especially Haitian women and girls, remain unprotected.

 

However, there are many concerned parties currently addressing the crisis. LERN (Lawyers Earthquake Response Network) is, "a national network of lawyers in the U.S. working with Haitian lawyers to implement a legal response to the earthquake in Haiti." LERN has been fighting for safe housing in addition to more effective international assistance and has been seeking immigration opportunities for the displaced. On the gender front, they launched RAPP (Rape Accountability and Prevention Project), which works on structural and responsive levels to address violence against women in the wake of the earthquake. In addition, Haitian women themselves are fighting back against the violence. According to the Ms. Foundation for Women, who issued grants to four organizations working in the region, women in Haiti are organizing to combat violence by distributing rape whistles and are training for non-traditional jobs as a way of lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

 

Though the situation may still seem dire, with the dedication of organizations such as LERN and the incredible courage and determination of the Haitian people, it seems as though there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

------------------

 

*Julie Zeilinger, current Communications intern with the National Council for Research on Women, is the founder and editor of The FBomb, a blog and community for teenage feminists. She is a senior at the Hawken School in Cleveland, Ohio.

[nancyk58]

HAITI-RELATED NEWS: WYCLEF JEAN APPEALING RULING

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/11010908 / Page last updated at 10:01 GMT, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 11:01 UK

 

By Greg Cochrane, Newsbeat music reporter

 

WYCLEF 'DEATH THREATS' AS HAITI PRESIDENT BID DELAYED

 

Singer Wyclef Jean says he is in "hiding" after receiving death threats since announcing his plans to run for president of Haiti.

 

Jean told The Associated Press he had received a series of warnings, including a phone call telling him to "get out of Haiti".

 

The singer's plans have stirred controversy in the Caribbean country with his ex-bandmate Pras Michel and actor Sean Penn among those criticising his bid.

 

Haiti's electoral commission has also postponed its ruling on who will be allowed to run for president until 20 August.

 

DELAYED ANNOUNCEMENT

 

The commission have said they need more time to consider the applications of those who want to run.

 

There is a question mark over whether Jean qualifies to run for president under Haitian laws which stipulate a candidate must have lived in the country for five consecutive years. Jean has not.

 

Before the deadline on 8 August, more than 30 people had filed to run for president of the country.

 

Haiti is still struggling to recover from January's earthquake which left over 250,000 dead.

 

Since officially announcing his intentions Wyclef's bid has been criticised by his ex-Fugees bandmate Pras Michel.

 

He said: "I want to make it unequivocally clear I love Wyclef to def [sic] but he's not [qualified] to be the leader of the new Haiti.

 

"Wyclef's patriotism for Haiti is unwavering but still isn't suited to prez [sic] of new Haiti!"

 

Haiti's presidential elections are due to take place on 28 November 2010.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11053604 / 22 August 2010 Last updated at 16:57 GMT

 

WYCLEF JEAN TO APPEAL AGAINST HAITI ELECTION RULING

 

Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean has said he will appeal against a ruling that he cannot run in Haiti's presidential election.

 

Haiti's electoral commission said that Mr Jean was ineligible to stand as the Haitian constitution requires candidates to have lived in the country for five years prior to an election.

 

The 40-year-old singer lives in the US.

 

But he argues that his role as a ROVING AMBASSADOR FOR HAITI since 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement.

 

The country is still recovering from January's earthquake, which killed an estimated 230,000 people and left more than one million homeless.

 

Following the ruling on Friday, Mr Jean issued a statement saying he respectfully disagreed with the electoral panel's decision, but accepted it and urged his supporters to do the same.

 

However, on Sunday Mr Jean told reporters that he was refusing to give up and that he would challenge the decision in court.

 

Speaking to the Associated Press news agency from his house in the Haitian town of Croix des Bouquet, Mr Jean said he had documentation about his candidacy "which shows everything is correct" and that he and his aides "feel that what is going on here has everything to do with Haitian politics".

 

In a message on the micro-blogging site Twitter, Mr Jean said: "Tomorrow our lawyers are appealing the decision of the CEP. We have met all the requirements set by the laws. And the law must be respected."

[nancyk58]

German ZDFtext: $47m FOR STARVING EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN HAITI

[nancyk58]

News in relation to Haiti on 6.9.10

 

Danish DR1 (Danish radio & television) has revisited HAITI:

 

DR1's HAITI VERDICT: THE HAITI RECONSTRUCTION IS TOO SLOW

 

Haiti's capital 8 months after the devastation earthquake: Tents are still standing close in Port-au-Prince.

 

The customs authorities are delaying the relief work: It takes too long time to get the licenses needed to import the aid!

[nancyk58]

Latest news in relation to HAITI on 25.9.10

 

LATEST NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI - 25.9.10

 

 

Danish DR1: AT LEAST 5 KILLED IN REFUGEE CAMPS IN HAITI BY STORMY WEATHER

 

At least 5 people were killed in the refugee camps established after the devastating earthquake in HAITI in January 2010. Capital PORT-AU-PRINCE was directly hit by the bad weather. The winds were so strong that house roofs blew off and trees were uprooted and electricity poles were destroyed.

 

Winds destroyed and damaged many tents in the refugee camps on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Several hundreds are ready to be evacuated.

 

 

Swedish SVT: EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN HAITI - BEING WITHOUT PROTECTION - HIT BY BAD WEATHER: 5 DIED

 

8 months after the devastating earthquake in HAITI, ten thousands of Haitians are still living in simple tents - not adequately protected against bad weather. A STORM swept (over) Port-au-Prince and COST 5 HUMAN LIVES.

 

At a big tent camp at a large square outside the presidential palace that was ravaged in the quake ANGRY PROTESTS AGAINST THE AUTHORITIES BROKE OUT. An official: "We could not enter that camp to assess the damage. People are angry."

 

This storm is not the same as the storms ravaging in the ATLANTIC and CENTRAL AMERICA.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI ON 7 OCTOBER 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI ON 7 OCTOBER 2010

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11491537 / 7 October 2010 Last updated at 13:45 GMT

 

UN CONDEMNED OVER 'APPALLING' HAITI EARTHQUAKE CAMPS

 

UN AGENCIES in charge of refugee camps for victims of Haiti's earthquake are INEXPERIENCED and DYSFUNCTIONAL, the US charity Refugees International says.

 

The groups says reports of GANG RAPES are common, and a LACK OF TRANSLATORS means UN police cannot do their job.

 

A UN spokeswoman told the BBC that the organisation was doing its best, but said the scale of the disaster made their job very difficult.

 

More than a million people were left homeless by the quake.

 

Former US President Bill Clinton, who has been visiting a camp, has vowed that US aid long promised to Haiti but yet to materialise will soon be released.

 

NO PROTECTION

 

Refugees International, in its report titled Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase, said the people of Haiti were "still living in a state of EMERGENCY, with a humanitarian response that appears paralysed".

 

"Living in squalid, overcrowded camps for a prolonged period has led to aggravated levels of violence and appalling standards of living," the report says.

 

Despite these alarming conditions, the UN co-ordination system in Haiti is not prioritising activities to protect people's rights."

 

The group's spokeswoman Melanie Teff, who took part in a recent fact-finding trip to Haiti, told the BBC that MANY OF THE CAMPS HAD NO POLICE PRESENCE.

 

"I spoke with women's groups, who told me of women being forced to exchange

SEX FOR FOOD because they were so desperate, in order to support their families," Ms Teff said.

 

She said reports of GANG RAPE were common, and in some camps, the security committees were run by members of the local gang.

 

But the UN's Imogen Wall defended the organisation, saying the camps were relatively peaceful places, and that the UN had doubled the numbers of police since September.

 

"We've had very, very few security incidents in the camps," she said.

 

"People do expect the UN to solve everything, but we have deep and endemic problems here that need very long-term and committed solutions."

 

She said many of the problems Haiti faced - including HIGH RATES OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE - had plagued the Caribbean nation before the quake, and had little connection to the refugee camps.

 

But she said the priority for the UN was to get the people out of the camps.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Clinton, who co-chairs the UN commission overseeing Haiti's reconstruction, heard the concerns of Haitians on Wednesday as he toured a large camp in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

 

Mr Clinton's foundation PLEDGED $500,000 (£313,000) to help the camp, which is located on a former golf course.

 

The former US president spoke of his FRUSTRATION about the slow arrival of funding - with the US still to deliver on any of the $1.15bn of aid promised at a donors' conference in March.

 

"In the next day or so, it will become obvious that the United States is making a huge downpayment on that," Mr Clinton said, without elaborating.

 

The former president said that the money was being held up by a "rather bizarre system of rules" in the US Senate.

 

 

ANALYSIS

 

Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent

________________________________________

 

The most striking thing about this report from an independent aid agency is its UTTER CONDEMNATION OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CRISIS BY THE UNITED NATIONS.

 

It says the UN body charged with protecting people's basic rights in the camps, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, lacks experience in coping with disasters, is UNDERSTAFFED and DYSFUNCTIONAL.

 

It says UN police officers don't patrol the camps consistently and, almost incredibly, that what UN patrols there are do not have translators, so cannot communicate with camp residents.

 

Refugees International says there should be much more involvement in managing the camps by LOCAL HAITIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS who understand the situation - but the report points out that none of the UN meetings about camp management is held in the local language, Creole.

 

AND THEN ANOTHER HAITI ARTICLE UPDATED 4.10.10:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11472874 / 4 October 2010 Last updated at 23:06 GMT

 

US URGED TO STOP HAITI RICE SUBSIDIES

 

By Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent

 

A leading aid agency has called on the United States to STOP SUBSIDISING AMERICAN RICE EXPORTS TO HAITI, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, because it says the POLICY UNDERMINES LOCAL PRODUCTION OF FOOD.

 

Former US President Bill Clinton, one of the architects of the subsidies to US farmers - and who is now, paradoxically, the co-chair of Haiti's earthquake recovery Commission - is quoted by Oxfam as saying that the policy was "a mistake".

 

"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked," said Mr Clinton, a frequent visitor to Haiti.

 

"I have to live every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people, because of what I did."

 

The aid agency says the $434m (£274m) paid annually in DOMESTIC US RICE SUBSIDIES is MORE THAN the TOTAL US AID TO HAITI of $353m.

 

The Oxfam report said subsidies paid to American farmers meant the rice they export to Haiti - known locally as Riz Miami or "Miami Rice" - is cheaper than locally produced rice.

 

The foreign rice that is "dumped" in Haiti therefore exacerbates the rural-urban drift that has seen the population of the capital PORT-AU-PRINCE balloon out of control as farmers who cannot feed themselves move to the city in search of employment.

 

The city was built in colonial times to house a FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE.

 

But it now has a POPULATION of an estimated THREE MILLION - most living in badly-constructed blocks which crumbled in January's devastating earthquake, making at least A MILLION PEOPLE HOMELESS.

 

MORE THAN 230,000 PEOPLE were KILLED in the 7.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE, which was centred near Port-au-Prince.

 

RURAL IMPACT

 

HAITI was encouraged by western countries to LIBERALISE ITS ECONOMY IN 1994. As it CUT TAXES ON IMPORTS its OWN RICE PRODUCTION plummeted (FELL DRASTICALLY).

 

In 1980, according to OXFAM, HAITI was VIRTUALLY SELF SUFFICIENT IN RICE. But TODAY it IMPORTS some 80% of its RICE and 60% of its OVERALL FOOD SUPPLY.

 

"Trade liberalisation has exposed Haitian farmers to competition from subsidised US rice and made consumers vulnerable to volatile global food prices," said OXFAM.

 

The report says FOOD AID can be another side to this problem.

 

In the month following the earthquake, for example, there was an INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID "SURGE".

 

Although OXFAM says the aid was "unquestionably a necessity" because it reduced food prices and allowed people to eat, the price reductions also "negatively affected rural Haitians" who earn money from selling food to the cities and comprise the majority of the population.

 

The agency recommended that, wherever possible, food aid should be bought in local markets inside the country that is receiving the aid.

OXFAM also made numerous recommendations to the Haitian government aimed at reversing its historic bias favouring the elites in Port-au-Prince over the majority rural poor.

 

It said the government should:

 

• decentralise services away from the capital

 

• ensure that farmers have access to credit

 

• improve a land tenure system where most farmers have tiny parcels of land known as mouchwa - after the Creole word meaning "handkerchief-sized" - which they can be cheated out of by judges who award title to "whoever offers the biggest bribe".

 

The situation that Oxfam highlights is part of the bizarre relationship Haiti has with development aid donors and humanitarian workers.

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE is one of the AID CAPITALS of the WORLD.

 

By some estimates there are over 8,000 development charities working in the city - and almost every four-wheel drive vehicle you see on the streets there has the logo of an aid agency on its doors.

 

Yet the country remains mired in POVERTY. And many Haitians see the aid agencies primarily as sources of employment rather than as organisations that are making a difference in the long run.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI around 15 October 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI OCTOBER 2010

 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53174

 

Haiti's 1.3 Million Camp Dwellers Waiting in Vain

By Correspondents*

 

GRAND GOÂVE, Oct 15, 2010 (IPS/Haiti Grassroots Watch) - Rosie Benjamin is just one of over 1.3 million people living in Haiti's 1,354 squalid refugee camps. She and 1,200 others are jammed into 300 tents and plastic tarp-shacks on a soccer field in Grand Goâve.

 

Like about 70 percent of Haiti's refugee camps, the residents here are on their own. Apart from water deliveries, they get nothing from the government and the massive humanitarian apparatus on the ground. No food. No jobs. And no news about their future.

 

"We went to City Hall, we didn't learn anything. We went to Terre des Hommes, nothing," Banjamin said. "So far we haven't gotten anything. Nothing. We are sitting here and we have no idea what anyone is thinking."

 

Benjamin and her neighbours live on money from relatives overseas, share what food they have, and every now and then a non-governmental organisation (NGO) drops off some bulgar wheat and vegetable oil, but that's about it. Some of the children – many of whom will likely not go to school this year – even have orange-tinted hair.

 

Asked about that obvious sign of malnutrition and other conditions, Deborah Hyde, a member of the U.N. "Shelter Cluster" – a U.N.-mandated management team tasked with trying to coordinate the NGOs working on the shelter issue – said that in March, most food distributions stopped because, she said, the Haitian government requested that the NGOs cease the handouts. Besides, she added, "[M]alnutrition is unfortunately something that has been here since the 1980s."

 

Hyde said that she felt some camp residents actually had a place to live, or could find one. Instead, they stay because, she said, "to be perfectly frank, are afraid they will miss a [food or aid] distribution."

 

But Benjamin and her neighbours say nothing could be further from the truth. Some camp residents are homeowners but they do not have the means to destroy their hulk of a home, truck away the rubble, and rebuild. Others are renters. Benjamin, like almost two-thirds of Haiti's homeless, rented her home. That means that she can't move her family back home until her landlord makes repairs. Benjamin said nobody is in her camp by choice. And no wonder - recent reports document increasing expulsions, gang activity and sexual exploitation, unsanitary conditions and putrid, inadequate latrines.

 

And so, despite the massive flow of donations – from citizens and governments – to humanitarian agencies, nine months after the catastrophic earthquake which killed some 300,000 people and devastated the capital and other major cities, most of Haiti's "internally displaced people" are exactly where they were on Jan. 13: crammed into cardboard, canvas and plastic shantytowns, exposed to hot sun and to the frequent downpours and storms of Haiti's infamous "rainy season".

 

Last month, a storm touched down in the capital Port-au- Prince, killing six people and destroying 8,000 tents.

 

The apparent stagnation of resettlement efforts has led camp residents like Benjamin to assume there is no plan for the internal refugees.

 

But there is.

 

A three-week investigation by a new "reconstruction watch" effort, Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch, unearthed one. Unfortunately for Benjamin and her neighbours, however, it is a plan that is unlikely to succeed.

 

Crafted by U.N. agencies and the NGOs, the plan has three options:

 

• Return homeless to their neighbourhoods of origin, but into better-built and better-zoned houses;

 

• Convince some to move to the countryside;

 

• Put the rest in new housing developments on new land.

 

On paper – Haiti Grassroots Watch obtained the Oct. 5 draft of the "Strategy of Return and Resettlement", translated from French – the plan seems sound. Put families into safe "transitional shelters" or T-Shelters – wooden or plastic houses – while more permanent, earthquake-safe structures go up in properly planned rebuilt or new neighbourhoods.

 

But there are many challenges, including the fact that so far, the government hasn't officially bought into it.

 

Shelter Cluster Coordinator Gehard Tauscher said the lack of coordination and participation at the national level is a real roadblock, noting he wished "all layers of the government would come together and speak with one voice."

 

"I wish they would lock up all of the people in a nice place for a weekend – the U.N., the agency people and the national government – and not let them out until they make decisions," he said.

 

There are so many other obstacles, almost every step of the plan appears difficult, if not nearly impossible, to implement.

 

Take the T-Shelters, for example. First of all, there are over 300,000 families who need safe shelters. The agencies and NGOs are planning to build only 135,000. What about the other 165,000 families? And where will the shelters be put?

 

That's not an insurmountable challenge. NGOs can try to negotiate leases for families like Benjamin's. But but who will pay the lease?

 

That leads to another - Haiti's "land problem".

 

Haiti's land tenure system is "a bordello… a complete disorder that has been going on for 200 years," according to Bernard Etheart, director of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform.

 

Ever since Haiti's independence, dictators have stolen, sold or given land to their families and allies. Many "owners" do not have titles to prove their ownership, while some parcels have two or three "owners", all with "legal" papers.

 

Added to the land issue is another roadblock – quite literally. There are an estimated 20 to 30 million cubic tonnes of rubble around the capital and Haiti's smaller affected cities that experts say will take years to clear.

 

In its three-article series, Haiti Grassroots Watch ran through the plan and pointed out the challenges, concluding that the problem of Haiti's 1.3 million homeless can't be dealt with until the underlying structural issues are tackled.

 

Dr. Paul Farmer, the U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti and also co-founder of Partners in Health, put it this way: "[W]hat happened on Jan. 12 is aptly described as an 'acute- on-chronic' event."

 

Sanon Renel of FRAKKA, the Front for Reflection and Action on the Housing Issue, a coalition of camp committees and human rights groups that advocates for the right to housing, echoed Farmer.

 

"The NGOs don't have a solution to the country's problems. We need more than a short-term solution. We need another kind of state - a state that serves the majority," he said.

 

In the meantime, camp dwellers are getting impatient. Benjamin's neighbour, 21-year-old Marie Lucie Martel, said she was tired of seeing the NGOs "making tonnes of money, driving expensive rental cars".

 

"I have a message for the government and all the NGOs. If they don't take care of us, we will revolt. They won't be able to drive down this highway. They will call us violent – they will call us all kinds of names. But we are being forced to do this, because 'hungry dogs don't play around'," she warned.

 

*Read the complete series, see accompanying videos and listen to audio podcasts at Haiti Grassroots Watch – http://www.haitigrassrootswatch.org. Ayiti Kale Je (Haiti Eyes Peeled, in Creole), Haiti Grassroots Watch in English and Haïti Veedor (Haiti Watcher in Spanish), is a collaboration of two well-known Haitian grassroots media organisations, Groupe Medialternatif/Alterpresse (http://www.alterpresse.org/) and the Society for the Animation of Social Communication (SAKS - http://www.saks- haiti.org/), along with two networks – the network of women community radio broadcasters (REFRAKA) and the Association of Haitian Community Media (AMEKA), which is comprised of community radio stations located throughout the country.

 

(END)

[nancyk58]

NEWS in relation to HAITI on 18 October 2010

 

NEWS in relation to HAITI on 18 October 2010

 

 

Danish DR1 TTV: 10 DIED FOLLOWING HEAVY RAINS IN HAITI

 

Several days of heavy rain cost at least 10 human lives in HAITI which is still struggling to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake in January 2010.

 

Among the dead in the capital, Port-au-Prince is a 2-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy according to the local doctors. The other 8 died as a big sandhill suddenly collapsed and buried them.

 

3 people living in a tent camp outside Port-au-Prince are missing. The tent camp was established after the January earthquake.