[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E54]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMMEMORATING THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 12, 2011

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the one-year 
anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, to remember those who died, and to 
pay tribute to the remarkable perseverance of the Haitian people.
  A year ago today, a massive earthquake caused almost unimaginable 
loss of life and devastation in Haiti. Some 250,000 people were killed, 
over a million displaced from their homes, and much of the capital was 
reduced to rubble.
  I traveled to Port au Prince in early March, and I was inspired by 
the hope and courage of the Haitian people, even in the face of 
unimaginable loss. In the days and months after the earthquake, 
Americans responded with immense generosity, donating their money, 
time, and expertise to help alleviate human suffering in Haiti. More 
challenges followed, however, in the form of violent storms, political 
upheaval, and a cholera epidemic that has already claimed the lives of 
over 3,500 people and sickened 150,000 others.
  Today is also a somber reminder of how much more we must do. The 
heartfelt outpouring of support from around the world in the days 
following the earthquake has not translated into meaningful progress 
toward reconstruction and development on the ground. One year after the 
earthquake, it is simply unacceptable that over a million displaced 
people still live under tents, while much of the capital is still 
covered in rubble. It is unacceptable that so many Haitians lack access 
to clean drinking water, sanitation supplies, and medical care.
  Recently, my good friend Dr. Paul Farmer published an article in 
Foreign Policy magazine outlining five lessons of the Haiti earthquake. 
I hope my colleagues will have the opportunity to review this important 
article below.
  We must work to build capacity in Haiti; work with the government to 
provide real, long-term development; create real jobs and viable homes; 
and foster economic growth and vitality for Haiti and the Haitian 
people.
  Mr. Speaker, today we remember those who were killed. We must also 
re-dedicate ourselves to providing real, long-term assistance and 
support for Haitians looking to rebuild their country.

               [From Foreign Policy Magazine, Dec. 2010]

 5 Lessons From Haiti's Disaster: What the Earthquake Taught Us About 
                              Foreign Aid

                            (By Paul Farmer)


                         1. Jobs are everything

       All humans need money--they need it to buy food and water 
     every day. And no matter how hard the government or the aid 
     industry tries, people will want for all three things until 
     they are employed.
       The world pledged some $10.2 billion in recovery aid to 
     Haiti after Jan. 12's devastating earthquake. Imagine how 
     many people that money could employ, putting them to work on 
     tasks like removing rubble (only 2 percent of which has been 
     cleared to date), rebuilding key government buildings, and 
     planting trees in a country that is almost entirely 
     deforested. And yet so far, just 116,000 people have been 
     employed in this way. Haiti has 9.8 million people, and at 
     least half were unemployed even before the earthquake. If we 
     focused our efforts on the singular task of getting them 
     jobs--even if we did nothing else--Haiti's reconstruction 
     could be a success.


                     2. Don't starve the government

       The international community doesn't know best. Local people 
     do. NGOs like the one that I am lucky to work with cannot 
     replace the state--nor can the United Nations or anyone else. 
     We don't have the expertise, and we won't stay forever. We 
     don't have the same stake in building a community that the 
     locals themselves have. And if aid is to work, it can't fall 
     apart when the experts leave.
       On this, almost everyone agrees. But the opposite approach 
     has characterized Haiti relief. The dollar figures tell the 
     real story: A mere 0.3 percent of the more than $2 billion in 
     humanitarian aid pledged by major donors has ended up with 
     local authorities. That money will hardly compensate for the 
     20 percent of civil servants who died in the quake.
       Some donors argue that the Haitian government is rife with 
     corruption and mismanagement--and that infusing it with money 
     will only make matters worse. But we need to strengthen the 
     public sector, not weaken it. And that will take a working 
     budget. It's impossible to be transparent and track your 
     budgets when you lack computers, electricity, and even the 
     personnel to do so. Until the government has the resources it 
     needs, Haiti will remain the republic of NGOs.


                  3. Give them something to go home to

       Today, some 1.3 million Haitians live in tent camps amid 
     often squalid conditions--yet no one has been able to 
     convince them to resettle. Why don't they want to leave? 
     Because there is nothing to draw them back. Many of these 
     displaced men and women didn't own the houses that collapsed 
     around them; they rented them--often under very unfavorable 
     conditions. They were in debt to bad landlords. They had no 
     schools or clinics.
       Enticing them to return home will mean providing exactly 
     what they lacked before: housing, education, and health care. 
     Ironically, Haitians are getting some of those things now in 
     the camps. They have shelter in the 69,700 tents distributed 
     by donors; they have the food and hygiene kits that NGOs 
     offer. The tent camps may well become semipermanent homes if 
     those services don't also exist in the cities, villages, and 
     towns.


                         4. Waste not, want not

       At least half of aid money probably never reaches its 
     recipients, eaten up by overhead; often it's even more. I 
     know of no other business or enterprise in which this would 
     be an acceptable operational strategy. Equally frustrating, 
     sometimes the money doesn't show up at all. Of the donor 
     dollars promised for 2010, Haiti has so far received a mere 
     38 percent, or $732.5 million, excluding debt relief. Nine 
     months after the disaster, not a cent of the U.S. donation 
     for Haiti's reconstruction has been disbursed; it's tied up 
     in appropriations. Imagine trying to re-engineer a devastated 
     country when your budget is at the mercy of political whims 
     in foreign lands.


                       5. Relief is the easy part

       Disaster relief is not reconstruction. We haven't rebuilt 
     Haiti despite giving 1.1 million people access to drinking 
     water; we didn't remake the country with the 11,000 latrines 
     that have been installed. ``Building Haiti back better'' 
     means sustaining those temporary gains and adding education, 
     health care, services, and good governance.
       What's most important in getting started? Economic growth. 
     Yet it is a challenge hardly mentioned in aid documents or 
     strategies--coming up only twice in the United Nations' most 
     recent 44-page report. Poverty of the kind that was so 
     acutely revealed this January can't be defeated until there 
     is a brighter economic future for the millions of Haitians 
     who are ready to seize it.

                          ____________________