I know this is a touchy subject, but it’s one that I have been thinking about lately. And I don’t have any answers, just more questions. The Haitian government says that more than 111,000 people died in the earthquake. More than 600,000 people have been left homeless in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. The pictures are devastating. It looks like a war zone and there are bodies lining the streets. Most of the city is in rubble. The people of Haiti need help. The question is: Who is responsible for helping the people of Haiti?
I know the generic answer is everyone. We are all human beings and we should help each other out in times of need. I get that. But on a practical level—what do we do now? I read online today that Hillary Clinton and foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries are going to start planning on how to rebuild Haiti. Is this our job? It is great to see the outpouring of monetary donations and time that so many people are giving to go down to Haiti and help how they can. But ultimately, is it the government of the United States or any other countries “role” or “responsibility” or whatever other terms you could use to decide how to rebuild the country?
The fact is Haiti has been susceptible to such an event like this for a long time. It appears that many people knew that something like this could happen at any time. Haiti sits in a precarious spot- In 2004m tropical storm Jeanne hit, leaving over 3000 people dead. In August/September 2008- Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna, and Hurricane Ike hit. A September 2008 source listed 800,000 in need of humanitarian need after the storms. This is not the first disaster to hit Haiti- just the worst. The root of the problem isn’t the earthquake that just hit- it’s the state the country is in even without natural disasters. As of 2006, Haiti ranked 149th of 182 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index. About 80% of the population were estimated to be living in poverty in 2003. Most Haitians live on $2 or less per day. This is a country where Foreign aid makes up approximately 30–40% of the national government's budget. The largest donor is the United States. From 1990 to 2003, Haiti received more than $4 billion in aid. The United States alone had provided Haiti with 1.5 billion in aid.
I guess I don’t know where I stand with this information. We need to help each other out, but is it our government’s role to do so? Is it our government’s role to take our taxes and use it to give aid to other countries? I don’t really know. And how much is our aid doing? There’s a Corruption Perceptions Index that shows Haiti has a particularly high level of corruption. Take what you want from such a title as “corruption perceptions index,” but I looked up the chart and I don’t know how it all works but based off this chart Haiti is ranked 168 out of 180-- tied with Iran. From the pictures of the Presidential Palace compared with the slums most of the people live in—I’m not sure the money is getting where it needed to go.
My fiancé and I were in Indianapolis this weekend and went under an overpass where there were a handful of homeless people staying. It made me wonder what financial aid they are getting from the government. Would they be more likely to get aid from the United States if they moved to another country? Would we build a home for them if Indianapolis was struck by a devastating earthquake, or did they need to have one before? Because if we’re only going to indemnify people in Haiti back to their living conditions pre-quake, then they’re going to be in the same boat when the next hurricane or earthquake hits. Their city was not built to withstand a small earthquake, let alone a 7.0.
I’m not claiming to have the answers because honestly, I don’t know what the right thing to do is. There’s something about rebuilding an entire city in another country that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps an island so susceptible to hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, etc. isn’t the best place to settle. Isn’t that why private insurers won’t insure homes too close to the East coast? What kind of uproar would be caused if your homeowners insurance tripled or quadrupled because everyone in the country could be insured under the same rates? How happy would you be if you now paid $200-300 a month to insure your home just because someone decided they wanted to build a nice home on the coast of Ft. Lauderdale?
My point is, if Obama would have proposed 2 months ago that we rebuild Haiti- no one would have jumped on board. There would have been an outcry that our country that is already in huge debt with no real plan to get out of it and that is in an economic downturn right now has decided to fund the renovation of another country. And yet after the earthquake, this is exactly what we are looking at doing. Of course I feel horrible for the people that live in poverty in Haiti and whose lives have been turned upside down yet again. And the world needs to do what we can to help these people out as quickly as possible. But to what extent do we take the responsibility to rebuild? Where has our aid in the past gone? Is it right that a country relies on the rest of the world to survive on an annual basis in the first place? Did other countries step in and help us rebuild New Orleans? I honestly don’t know. What is promised to every human born into this world? At least basic needs to survive? Food, water, clothes, shelter? I’m not so sure that’s been the case. And if not, how do we decide who we give those things to? And who gets to make those decisions? Our government? Should our government tax us and then decide which countries to send aid to? Are we making a difference with the aid we send, or is it going to make the rich richer in corrupt countries where the people that need the help can’t get it? Should we start giving money to other impoverished countries that are susceptible to disasters to avoid another Haiti?
Again, these are just questions. I wish there was a “right” answer to all of these issues. What are your thoughts? Do you think we should be in control of the rebuilding process in Haiti?
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