southern voices

southern voices

Haiti

“not a cent” of rebuilding aid for haiti had arrived from the usa…

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Unbelievably, as of September 29th 2010, no rebuilding aid from the USA, over $1 billion, has arrived. And its down to one person in the US Senate, Tom Coburn, Think Progress reports.

“Last spring, the United States pledged nearly $1.2 billion in emergency aid to Haiti following its tragic earthquake that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

Yet the Associated Press (AP) reports today that “not a cent of the $1.15 billionthe U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived” to Haitians who badly the need the aid. This summer, both the House and the Senate passed a bill that would make $917 million available for Haiti reconstruction aid. Yet Congress must also pass an authorization bill that directs exactly how the money will be spent, and thus far, the U.S. Senate has failed to do.

The AP conducted its own investigation of why the Senate has failed to pass the authorization bill, and it discovered that a single senator “pulled it for further study.” After calling dozens of senators’ offices, the AP discovered that the senator holding up the bill is Tom Coburn (R-OK). […more…]

IMF’s late gift to Haiti

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CNN International reports that in July 2010, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti’s $268 million debt to the fund.

The board also approved a three-year request by authorities to support Haiti’s reconstruction and growth program.
The decisions are part of an effort to support Haiti’s longer-term reconstruction plans after the January 12 earthquake  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/21/haiti.debt.imf/?hpt=T1#fbid=yLLYwgdwGL3&wom=false .

While this is generally considered good news, some facts:

Haiti before the earthquake

  • More than 70% of people in Haiti were living on less than $US2 per day
  • 86% of people in Port au Prince were living in slum conditions – mostly tightly-packed, poorly-built, concrete buildings.
  • 80% of education in Haiti was provided in often poor-quality private schools, the state system generally provided better education but provided far too few places
  • Half of people in Port-au-Prince had no access to latrines and only one-third has access to tap water.

The Impact of the earthquake

  • Two million people living in the most affected area
  • 220,000 dead
  • Over 180,000 homes damaged or destroyed, 1.5m homeless
  • There are now 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris in PaP – enough to fill a line of shipping containers stretching end to end from London to Beirut.
  • One and a half million people living in camps including over 100,000 at critical risk from storms and flooding
  • There are over 1,100 camps and 54 of these are home to 5,000 people or more
  • Over 600,000 people have left their home area in Port-au-Prince and mostly are staying with host families
  • Nearly 5,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed

http://www.dec.org.uk/item/425 (July 2010)

Perhaps a speedier response from the IMF on debt and reconstruction assistance would have been more appropriate.

For a more comprehensive look at Haiti for facts figures and articles, visit the MCEER page on the subject.http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoservice/disasters/Haiti-Earthquake-2010.asp

Written by : Deyika Nzeribe

Haitian Farmers Reject Monsanto Donation

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The Peasant Movement of Papay, a group of Haitian farmers, has committed to burning 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds donated by Monsanto in the wake of the devastating earthquake earlier this year.

Peasant Movement of Papay leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste called Monsanto’s donation “a new earthquake” and called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti for World Environment Day.

The National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay sent an open letter on May 14 signed by Jean-Baptiste.  The letter called Monsanto’s presence in Haiti, “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”

For more go to: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/haitian-farmers-burn-monsanto-hybrid-seeds/

Posted by MICHELLE GREENHALGH | JUN 07, 2010