Thursday, 13 January 2011

Haiti's unspent billions on earthquake victims

After a year of the deadly earthquake on January 12, 2010 that hit Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people, frustrated Haitians are wondering what has happened to billions of dollars of foreign money pledged by governments around the world and charities for the reconstruction of Haiti.

Al Jazeera News gives us a pretty good idea how your donated money has not ended up helping the ones in dire needs but has fallen into the hands of bureaucracy, red tape, and just plain mismanagement.

One year on, 4 billion dollars pledged by countries in the world have yet to be materialized. Shamefully, some governments haven't put up one cent. The world body of governments promised 4 billion dollars but less than 30% has been spent.

The American charities collected 1.84 billion dollars but only $530 million dollars, around 38%, has been spent.

Watch the video and you'll see the excuses and evasions for the government/charity spokesmen not to take the blame for their slow actions and irresponsibility, leaving the Haitians again not just as victims of the natural disaster but also the so-called "humanitarian" efforts of the "responsible" governments and "caring" fund raising organizations.