Countries around the world have pledged millions of euros/dollars for Haiti relief efforts (BBC)(AP)
Spain €3m ($4.3)
Germany €1.5m ($2.18)
Netherlands €2m ($2.9)
European comission has released €3m ($4.3)
China $1m
Italy €1m ($1.46)
Sweden $850,000
Denmark $1.9m
Canada $4.8m
Dominican Republic $1.5m (am NY)
US $100m
In addition to the donations from corporations, citizens, and telethons.
When Port-AU-Prince was declared the capital of Haiti in [1770], little technology existed about fault line diversity. GPS did not exist, and other scientific measuring components that help scientists predict earthquakes by determining ‘hot spots’ on fault lines were not yet developed. In 2008 a conference was held in 2008 in Santo Domingo in which scientists warned there was a possibility of an earthquake along the fault line called Enriquillo-Plantain Garden zone that passes through Haiti and the south of Dominican Republic. For now, the effort is concentrated in rescuing the people buried under the piles of concrete and providing medical help to those that survived.
The word going around from people who know people in Haiti ( and are Haitian themselves), is that the government and other corrupted people are conspiring to take over as much as they can from the resources that organizations and governments have donated. I even heard someone saying the government will create a pharmaceutical company and sell the medicines accumulated for relief efforts. That is –of course-hard to believe, but the sentiment of the citizens abroad is that it is better to hand the country to a government that is not so corrupted and will use the funds for the people of Haiti. Having said that, after the people have been treated, the dead have been buried, and scientist from all branches start deciding how to approach re construction of Haiti, funding will still be available. I think it would be a good opportunity to give the nation of Haiti a second chance. The first and most logical approach will be to move the capital to another region. It would be interesting to see if that actually happened, and if there would be opposition given this experience. Second, the recuperation of the environment is crucial for the country’s future, without trees, clean water, good sewage system, Haiti will still remain in the shadows of poverty. The country can also take a few lessons from Japan after the Atomic Bombings in the way Japanese were able restructure both cities and make Tokyo one of the most dynamic and important cities in the world.
DR take note.
Photo taken in DR.
New York Times has an opinion: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/opinion/22danner.html
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are far from Tokyo, so that example doesn't really make much sense. Perhaps a comparison with the 2004-05 rebuilding effort in Grenada would be better... Port-au-Prince will most likely have to remain the capital because of its port and it's existing (although very damaged) infrastructure.
ReplyDelete"As we consider how to rebuild Port-au-Prince, we can find an alternative to the usual top-down redevelopment model in postwar Tokyo. The Japanese government didn’t have the money to rebuild housing and so focused instead on roads, sewage and rail transportation. It also encouraged lenders to give families money to build homes. A decentralized and highly participatory urban redevelopment process produced areas of low-rise, high-density structures built with local skills and material. This not only strengthened communities but also stimulated the local economies. Tokyo today has a landscape that is futuristic and yet retains many traditional Asian urban features including street markets, small-scale businesses and family enterprises. The incremental redevelopment of Tokyo was thus intricately connected to the rise of its middle class.
ReplyDeleteIf aid in Haiti aims specifically at regenerating local economies, if it promotes existing skills and collective initiatives, if it consults with grassroots groups and residents directly, it may well bring about a real transformation".
Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava are founders of URBZ — User-Generated Cities.