Haiti: UN record appeal for earthquake aid - full text
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and former US President Bill Clinton, the UN's special envoy for Haiti, on Feb. 18 launched its largest appeal ever for a natural disaster to help millions of Haitians displaced by the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12. The appeal for US$1.41 billion was almost three times the UN's initial request made on Jan. 15 for a period of six months. According to the UN, more than 1.2 million Haitians required emergency shelter and urgent sanitation facilities, with up to 2 million more in need of food. Announcing the new total, Ban said: "As the rainy season is coming to Haiti, it will be extremely important to provide on a priority basis shelters, sanitation and other necessary humanitarian assistance". Sir John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, also took part in the appeal launch after details on an e-mail he had written criticising the performance of aid agencies in Haiti was leaked to the press. In the e-mail, Holmes had said that while a lot had been achieved, much of their efforts had been poorly co-ordinated and resourced, weakening confidence in the agencies' ability to deliver help. He said that major humanitarian needs had not been met, particularly in relation to shelter and sanitation.
Immediate Context
Before Haiti, the largest UN appeal for a natural disaster was US$1.41 billion following the December 2004 that struck a dozen Asian countries and left 230,000 people dead. An earthquake registered at magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale occurred at 16.53 pm local time on Jan. 12 with its epicentre near the town of Leogane, some 25 km west of Port-au-Prince (the capital). The earthquake struck in the most populated area of the country. Speaking on Feb. 9, Marie Laurence Joselyn Lassegue, the minister of culture and communication, said that the death toll had risen to 230,000 and that more bodies remained uncounted. The government had initially estimated 150,000 dead on Jan. 24, apparently from bodies being recovered in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince. An estimated 300,000 people had been injured, and over 1 million were homeless. It was also estimated that some 250,000 homes and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The headquarters of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in Port-au-Prince, collapsed during the earthquake, killing many, including Hédi Annabi, the head of the mission.
The devastating earthquakes that hit China on May 12, 2008, and Italy on April 6, 2009, both measured above 6.0 on the Richter Scale, but the human cost was much greater in Haiti. This was partly attributed to the high density of the population near the epicentre of the earthquake and the heavily urbanised nature of Port-au-Prince. However, analysts noted that poverty played a major role, exacerbating a country's or region's vulnerability to such disasters. In Haiti, where 72 per cent of the population lived on less than US$2 a day, and in cities like Port-au-Prince, where many were housed in poor and densely-packed shantytowns and badly-constructed buildings, the damage would always be higher than in a relatively prosperous country.
US President Barack Obama on Jan. 13 promised "unwavering support" to Haiti following the earthquake that he said was a "tragedy" that "seems cruel and incomprehensible". Obama announced a "swift, co-ordinated and aggressive effort to save lives" consisting of search-and-rescue operations and humanitarian relief of food, water and medicine. The USA, with its proximity to the disaster zone, quickly deployed marines and rescue workers to Haiti as well as a full range of heavy-duty resources that included a hospital ship, helicopters, and transport planes. At the request of President Obama, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush agreed to help, forming the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, a charity organisation to aid the victims of the earthquake. In addition to the USA, a number of other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Italy and the UK, dispatched large contingents of emergency relief and medical staff, technicians for reconstruction and security personnel. However, reports indicated that progress in responding to the disaster was hampered by numerous factors, including multiple large aftershocks (by Jan. 24 over 50 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or above on the Richter scale had been recorded) and the mass devastation of the country's infrastructure, including the loss of the capital's seaport and air traffic control facilities. Additionally, the significant damage to the Haitian government ministries, all of which suffered varying degrees of destruction and personnel deaths, further impeded co-ordination of the disaster response.
Speaking on Feb. 12 at an emotional ceremony in Port-au-Prince to mark a national day of mourning, President René Préval vowed that his devastated country would live on. Standing close to the ruins of the National Palace, Préval told mourners: "Haiti will not die, Haiti must not die". He went on to say: "Today, allow me as citizen René Préval, the man, the father of a family, to address you to say that I cannot find the words to speak of this immense pain. It is in your courage that we will find the strength to go on". Representatives from Haiti's two official religions - a Catholic bishop and the head of the Voodoo priests - joined ministers from Protestant denominations for the main prayer service in central Port-au-Prince. Other prayer services were held across the country, including one at the site of a mass grave outside the capital which was believed to hold tens of thousands of victims. The act of national reflection came as one of the largest humanitarian operations ever mounted grappled with challenges on many fronts.
Reaction and Outlook
At a policy level, the international community sought to formulate a coherent agenda to help Haiti recover from the trauma of the Jan. 12 earthquake. A conference for the larger donor community was convened in Montreal, Canada, on Jan. 25 - following a pre-meeting in the Dominican Republic - to co-ordinate efforts and plan longer-term assistance, attended by representatives of 20 countries, the UN, and the World Bank. The Montreal gathering agreed to hold a major conference on Haiti's future at the UN in New York in March. However, while large amounts of aid would surely flow into Haiti, analysts warned that the USA and other donors would inevitably be faced with newer emergencies that might distract from Haiti and leave the country and its reconstruction incomplete. Therefore, commentators have stressed that the process of recovery would have to be driven by Haitians themselves: by its government (despite its own losses of infrastructure and its weak state), by its impoverished but resilient and creative people, and by the more than 1 million Haitians of the diaspora (who generally contributed some 40 per cent to Haiti's GDP).
The belief that something positive could emerge from Haiti's suffering was supported by the Obama administration's rapid response and mobilisation of humanitarian assistance and the logistical support of the US military. There was a sharp contrast with the response of the George W Bush administration to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the perceived failure to relieve the plight of New Orleans's poor received global attention. The reaction of this Obama administration to the Haiti disaster reinforced its overall commitment to a multilateralist approach.
In keeping with the generally positive US attitude, the BBC reported on Feb. 12 that Lewis Lucke, the reconstruction ambassador appointed by President Obama to oversee the humanitarian mission in Haiti, had announced that the immediate problems had been dealt with — medical help had arrived in large quantities and there was "no food crisis, no water crisis". However, the same report quoted a doctor as saying that there were "hundreds of thousands ... living in dire conditions" and that there was "an increasing risk" of communicable diseases. Heavy rainfall on Feb. 18 made much of the makeshift camp housing nearly 600,000 people in Port-au-Prince impassable, an ominous foretaste of the rainy season. In March or April the punishing rainy season would arrive, bringing with it the daily downpours that regularly swamped Port-au-Prince and could magnify the humanitarian crisis. Later in the year, Haiti faced the hurricane season, which in 2009 has delivered a series of deadly storms.
Hundreds of people gathered on Feb. 1 at a gravel pit in Port-au-Prince where the bodies of countless earthquake victims had been buried, turning a memorial service for the dead into one of the first organized political rallies since the disaster, with many denouncing Préval. Préval—blamed by many for rising unemployment and corruption—had rarely been seen in public since the earthquake, leaving his ministers to defend his performance. Some of the mourners reportedly called for the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The former slum priest had a huge grassroots following among Haiti's poor but was ousted in 2004 as corruption and drug trafficking grew rampant and some of his former supporters accused him of abandoning the poor. Following the earthquake, Aristide declared that he would like to return from his exile in South Africa - a move that would add political instability to the current chaos and likely face resistance from the international community.
Historical Context
The earliest known inhabitants of Haiti were Taino (Arawak) Indians. The first European settlers arrived in the years following the discovery of the island by Columbus in 1492, who named it Hispaniola and claimed it for Spain. In 1697 the presence of French settlers in the western third of the island was recognised by Spain in the Treaty of Ryswick, and the area was ceded to France. Known as Saint-Dominigue, the territory developed a highly profitable plantation system of agriculture based on the use of imported African slave labour.
Political developments surrounding the French Revolution and the outbreak of a slave rebellion in 1791 started 13 years of war, only resolved in 1804 with the declaration of the world's first independent Black republic. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who had succeeded Tousaint L'Ouverture, the original leader of the insurrection, became the first president. He soon proclaimed himself emperor, but was assassinated in 1806. A succession of presidents (as well as one king and one emperor) followed as military leaders and politicians vied for power. France recognised Haiti's independence in 1825, but only after payment of a huge indemnity. Haiti occupied the eastern part of the island (now the Dominican Republic) between 1822 and 1844.
Growing instability during the early 20th century, caused by political rivalries, financial insolvency, peasant uprisings and fear of foreign influence, prompted the USA to intervene after the assassination of President Guilliame Sam in 1915. US marines administered the country until sovereignty was restored. In 1946, President Elie Lescot attempted unconstitutionally to prolong his term in office and was deposed in a military coup. Elections were held and won by Dumarsais Estime, who was replaced in 1950 by Gen. Paul Magloire after another military coup. Magloire also tried to extend his term of office, and was overthrown in 1956.
A succession of provisional presidents followed until elections in September 1957, which were won by Voodoo physician Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Duvalier gradually strengthened his position, establishing a one-party state, removing political opponents, particularly among the mulatto elites, and creating a militia, the Tontons Macoutes, to enforce his power and counterbalance that of the army. The regime was one of great brutality and the country became the poorest of the Western Hemisphere, notorious for the prevalence of voodoo cults and endemic violence.
On his death in April 1971, "Papa Doc" was succeeded as "president for life" by his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Following prolonged popular unrest, "Baby Doc" fled the country in February 1986.
Fr Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Roman Catholic priest, defeated 10 other candidates to achieve a landslide victory in presidential elections held in December 1990. Almost as soon as Aristide won the election, his position came under threat as a consequence of his reform agenda. In September 1991, Aristide's government was overthrown by a violent military coup. After concerted international pressure, culminating in US military intervention in September 1994, Aristide was restored to the presidency.Aristide was unable to compete in the December 1995 presidential elections owing to a constitutional provision preventing any individual from holding office for two consecutive terms. In the event, René Préval, Aristide's anointed heir, won the presidency. However, Préval's reform programme was obstructed by a fractious legislature, led by a disenchanted Aristide and his Lavalas movement. Allegations of electoral fraud and the freezing of substantial funds from foreign donors further undermined Préval. As a consequence, fresh elections were held during the course of 2000, in an attempt to break the political deadlock, which returned Aristide to power.
Following an armed uprising, President Aristide resigned in February 2004 and an interim government was installed. In fresh elections eventually held in February 2006, Préval was returned to the presidency. Despite some progress in stabilising Haiti's political situation, social unrest continued. Since 2008, rising global food prices had hit Haitian society badly, plunging the government into crisis and many people into severe malnutrition. This was exacerbated by a series of hurricanes which battered the infrastructure and destroyed crops.