Comments on: The Haiti Earthquake http://mondocult.com/blog/2010/01/17/the-haiti-earthquake/ The Mondo Cult Blog Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:00:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Chesley V. Morton http://mondocult.com/blog/2010/01/17/the-haiti-earthquake/comment-page-1/#comment-293 Chesley V. Morton Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:31:45 +0000 http://mondocult.com/blog/?p=77#comment-293 One would hope that aid would find it's way to the people who actually need it...in a perfect world. I'm sure the Red Cross will use their aid dollars to the best effect. But the Red Cross will only control a tiny portion of the effort. Massive amounts of money (from the US government, the UN, etc.) will finds it's way back into the pockets of the corrupt regime, and the President's palace will be rebuilt (hopefully by a different contractor) and the gang members will take their cut, and the long-suffering people of Haiti will continue to suffer. The lives of the afflicted will not be uplifted, and no fundamental changes for the better will take place. That, in the end, is far worse than any earthquake. One would hope that aid would find it’s way to the people who actually need it…in a perfect world. I’m sure the Red Cross will use their aid dollars to the best effect. But the Red Cross will only control a tiny portion of the effort. Massive amounts of money (from the US government, the UN, etc.) will finds it’s way back into the pockets of the corrupt regime, and the President’s palace will be rebuilt (hopefully by a different contractor) and the gang members will take their cut, and the long-suffering people of Haiti will continue to suffer. The lives of the afflicted will not be uplifted, and no fundamental changes for the better will take place. That, in the end, is far worse than any earthquake.

]]> By: Lee Haslup http://mondocult.com/blog/2010/01/17/the-haiti-earthquake/comment-page-1/#comment-292 Lee Haslup Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:57:39 +0000 http://mondocult.com/blog/?p=77#comment-292 The current situation provides a temporary opportunity to donate money to help the Haitian people and have it actually go to helping the Haitian people. The government infrastructure in Haiti was so badly damaged in the earthquake that it is simply not up to the task of misappropriating all that money. Since the current bottlenecks are logistical, as opposed to political, donations should be concentrated in the large, established aid organizations which are better able to coordinate their efforts with the US military taskforce that is managing the Port au Prince airport and other Haitian transportation resources. The smaller NGOs, however well intended and carefully targetted, simply cannot get there right now. The current situation provides a temporary opportunity to donate money to help the Haitian people and have it actually go to helping the Haitian people. The government infrastructure in Haiti was so badly damaged in the earthquake that it is simply not up to the task of misappropriating all that money.

Since the current bottlenecks are logistical, as opposed to political, donations should be concentrated in the large, established aid organizations which are better able to coordinate their efforts with the US military taskforce that is managing the Port au Prince airport and other Haitian transportation resources. The smaller NGOs, however well intended and carefully targetted, simply cannot get there right now.

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