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23rd May, 2010
By John O’Shea
WHEN much of Haiti was quite literally smashed into pieces and lives
were shattered irrevocably, hope also seemed to have been buried
in the rubble. Surveying the aftermath of the earthquake; the mountains
of debris and the crushed bodies that lay half-buried beneath it;
few could not have been reduced to despair.
Standing in what remained of the pitiful streets of Port-au-Prince
my heart also sank as I wondered: “with the international
community’s focus elsewhere, trapped in the teeth of a financial
hurricane, who is likely to heed the distress calls of some of the
poorest people on our planet?”
I got my answer when I visited the city again recently, and without
wishing to make light of the massive task that lies ahead in picking
through the wreckage, and rebuilding this broken country, I was
heartened and inspired by what I saw.
It must be said that the cornerstone for a new future was put in
place by the $9bn aid pledged by world leaders to help these stricken
people. This amount was unprecedented. It meant that there were
now real prospects and possibilities for progress where before there
was only chaos and despondency.
Returning to Port-au-Prince, I was heartened at how much progress
has been made. The US and the UN now appear to be more seriously
committed to Haiti. Hopefully this will extend to re-building the
country, but there is as yet no clear indication of that.
Control over the entire operation still needs to be much more centralised,
but things have improved markedly since the early days.
In particular, the World Food Programme (a subsidiary of the UN)
has done a sterling job, managing to feed over 3.5 million people
in a few months. A host of experienced NGOs (Irish amongst them)
have also done much to ease the pain and suffering in Haiti. One
million people have been provided with shelter, 1.5 million now
have access to potable water from newly-installed fixed water points,
and 500,000 have been vaccinated against common illnesses.
Taken together, it all amounts to a considerable feat, given the
scale and nature of the tragedy. In fact, in my experience, it is
perhaps the most impressive short-term response ever by the international
community to a major humanitarian emergency.
One can only properly judge the current Haiti situation against
the enormity of the task that confronted the rescuers and aid workers
when they first arrived. Port-au-Prince and its entire vital infrastructure
were almost completely destroyed. Approximately 300,000 people had
been killed, countless numbers seriously injured (there are 40,000
amputees), and another 1.3 million left homeless. The aid workers
were faced with a tragedy of monumental proportions.
The immediate priority was to keep survivors alive by getting medical
assistance, food and water to them. For health reasons, bodies had
to be recovered from the rubble, and sanitation facilities and shelter
provided for the hundreds of thousands of homeless people living
in makeshift “tented” villages around the city.
GOAL has been involved in the aid and rescue response from the outset.
In just over two months, on behalf of WFP, we distributed food to
almost 500,000 people, possibly the biggest single operation in
the history of the organisation. We have provided medical aid, water,
sanitation facilities, and emergency shelter to countless thousands
of others.
The immediate concerns of the Haitian people have now been largely
addressed, and the next phase of the operation is poised to begin:
the building of transitional shelters.
GOAL will be heavily involved in this aspect of the Haiti relief
programme, having agreed an $11 million contract with USAID to build
4,000 transitional dwellings and several hundred sanitation and
latrine blocks. GOAL has experience in this work, previously delivering
major rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes for the US government
in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
The transitional homes are vital in Port-au-Prince, and in the countryside,
given the major health and safety hazards posed by the upcoming
rainy season. They are designed to last a year or so, to allow time
for the building of more permanent structures.
There still remains of course much to be done in Haiti - hospitals,
clinics, houses, offices and schools, for example, need to be completely
restored - but at least things are now moving steadily in the right
direction.
The Haitian people themselves have shown remarkable fortitude in
the face of the disaster. Street markets are up and running again,
and many local people have found employment with aid agencies (including
GOAL), mainly in clearing rubble from the streets and the main thoroughfares.
They are beginning to have faith in the future again, we cannot
let them down.
If the international community is genuinely committed to rebuilding
Haiti - and I hope that it is - then it is certainly possible, the
opportunity is there.
Finances are not a problem, with the multi-billion already pledged.
(Our own government, reflecting the enormous generosity of the Irish
people, has pledged an additional €9 million to Haiti.) Corruption
must be guarded against, of course, and stamped upon wherever it
arises.
Neither is security a major issue according to senior UN and US
officials, who assured me that the situation is under control. They
are fully confident that the UN peacekeepers can maintain law and
order. I, however, still have concerns about organised criminal
gangs, but those types of people cannot be allowed halt progress.
There are no insurmountable or even major logistical problems to
the rebuilding of Haiti. Political interference is not a consideration,
and it should not be allowed to become one.
What Haiti needs is a commitment from the UN that it will stay and
finish the job; that it will rebuild the country completely. Until
such an assurance is forthcoming, the future will remain unclear.
All things considered, though, there is reason to be cautiously
upbeat, which is saying something in the context of a devastating
catastrophe.
© 2010 The Sunday Tribune
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