Sluggish reconstruction in Haiti

The House on Tuesday asked the Obama administration to come up with an accounting of how humanitarian and reconstruction aid is being spent in Haiti, which has been slow to recover from the devastating earthquake of more than a year ago despite an outpouring of U.S. and international assistance. "The unprecedented relief effort has given way to a sluggish, at best, reconstruction effort," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., sponsor of the legislation calling on President Barack Obama to prepare a report within six months of the bill's enactment on the status of the aid campaign in Haiti, including the fight to combat an outbreak of cholera.

Some of the blame for the slow progress in Haiti has been put on the lack of coordination among foreign and Haiti relief groups, a destroyed infrastructure, absence of a viable Haitian government and corruption. But another factor, Lee said, is "the lack of urgency on the international community's part." She said that at an international donors' conference in March 2010, 58 donors pledged $5.5 billion to support Haiti's recovery efforts but as of March this year, only 37% of these funds have been disbursed. "This is unacceptable."

The Haitian government says 316,000 people were killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on Jan. 12, 2010. More than 1 million in a population of less than 10 million were displaced from their homes in the hemisphere's poorest nation.

— "House seeks accounting of aid money to Haiti", Miami Herald, emphasis added

the Canada government's commitment to Haiti included $200 million in 2010 and a larger amount in 2011. Looking back, Canada only dispersed $77 million to Haiti relief efforts. And that number includes $33 million to international financial institutions for debt relief. Yeesh.

It's clear that the international community has been waiting for a more pliant local government. I guess we'll see if any real reconstruction begins now that Martelly is in charge.