What's happens to money donated for Haiti disaster relief?

Ever wonder what happens to the money you donate for disaster relief? We like to hear that all of the proceeds will go to benefit the victims of the disaster. Of course there are always administrative costs and overhead, but we don't want our donated funds to be paying big salaries to charity directors or padding the pockets of the people who run the charities. Some of them are professionals who do nothing but raise funds and are paid for their services. They are good at what they do and if  paying them to run fund raisers ends up yielding more money than would have been raised without them, then it was worth the investment. But just like bank salaries or bankers bonuses, there is a limit to what what is considered fair and reasonable compensation. A charitable organization doesn't seem so charitable when the people who run it are getting very wealthy from it.

Before donating money it's always good to check into the organization before sending the check, to make sure that the ratio between the amount donated and the amount taken by the charity is reasonable. After great disasters like the Haiti quake, there is a flood of charitable efforts ready to accept our donations. Most are set up by well intentioned individuals and organizations, but some are outright scams. The donations need to be made quickly so one doesn't have alot time to research the organization who are requesting donations. Many of them just pop up and there is now way of verifying that they are legitimate.

If the church you belong to asks for donations for disaster relief then you know who is running the charity. But where does the money go after it is collected by the church? Does someone from the church oversee how the money is spent?Is it directed to a larger relief organization, or is it used to purchase supplies that will be sent down?

There's a;ot that has to happen with the funds after it is collected but who's in charge, is it being used appropriately and can you be sure that it really is providing any benefit to the victims?

After the Bangaladesh disater, George Harrisons concert for Bangaladesh raised a record breaking sum of money, but it took years before any of those funds were actually used to benefit the victim. Much of it was bled off for administrative and legal costs.

Donating money to a known charity like the Red Cross, or to a very high profile fund raising effort from reputable and reliable sources increases the likelyhood that the money will be used for it's intended purpose.

Some donations will be used to buy supplies that are sent to the disaster zone, some used to pay for sending and supporting specialists to the scene.

And some will be sent as direct cash donations to the local organization and governemt. Thats where things become really dicey.

Yahoo reports curruption in Haiti.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100126/wl_nm/us_quake_haiti_corruption

Given the history of corruption in Haiti, it's not surprising that aid money would be skimmed off by corrupt Haitian officials . This only underscores the need for coordinated relief efforts. Since much relief money would be sent to third world countries where there is less oversight and government corruption runs rampant, the likelyhood that some, if not alot of that money would not be used for it's intended purpose. This is the risk of sending direct cash payments.

When dealing with a disaster of this scope, where the government is in disarray, there is greater opportunity for corrupt officlas to pocket the money with notice. All funds should be provided with a provision that there be outside oversight of where the money goes to and how it is used. Foreign aid should have the same provisions.

This is something that a disaster relief command like I have proposed could handle. Through oversight of the command, the donated funds can be directed to where it needs to be and officials could observe how the money is spent to assure that it is used for it's intended purpose. Recipient countries would have to agree to this oversight in order to receive direct donations of cash.

It would be difficult for any private organization to do this but a large international organization with protocols and procedures set in place would be able to handle the flow of money. Private donators can set stipulations on how and where they want their funds to go, but sometimes private donators don't really know what is really needed on the scene and could be advised by those who know. In situation like that in Haiti, we know that they need everything, food, water, clothing, shelters,medical supplies doctors and rescue crews. But when the donations are just made willy nilly without any coordination, there might be too much of one item and not enough of the other. Then money is wasted and the all the needs of rthe victims are not being met.

While there will be administrative costs to coordination the distribution of funds, it ultimately saves money by making certain that the right kind of assistance get to the places where is is needed.

There have been reports from Haiti of some areas getting more food than they need while others don't get enough. In some cases the excess is taken by profiteers who sell them on the black market, while others on the others side of town are still going hungry.

Greater international coordination and cooperation are needed so that donations and foreign aid can best serve the victims in need. If there were more coordination then we would not be hearring these reports from Haiti of slow responses, imbalances in relief supply distributions and corruption.

This coordination needs to be in place and ready to spring into action before disaster happens and not haphazardly put together in reponse.

The International Disaster Response and Relief Command; A Proposal Part 2

(Scroll down to read part one)

Who would the command be manned by?

The upper echelon of the command would be made up of former military commanders, individuals who have experience conducting such large scale operations. There would be something of a military structure to the command and it's members would serve in a manner similar to military service. There would be a central Corp of full time servicemen on call at all times and ready to jump into action upon first notice of a disaster.

Other members could serve like the National Guard, with occassional short term periods of duty that allows them to have their own lives and careers but provides for a large force of people with the skills needed to provide disaster relief.

A third tier of volunteers who would be oncall to respond to situations like the Haiti quake . These people would be ready to report for duty in short notice. All the  assignments would be predetermined, procedures and protocols for reporting for duty would be established and all equipment and materials they would need would already be in place and ready for transport with the volunteers. They would simply report to a preassigned location for transport to the disaster zone.

The service men and volunteers would come primarily from all the countries in the region. Superpower countries like the US, who would actually command the vessels, would contribute to the commands for all regions of the world.

The Command would have predetermined procedures for working with soveregn nations and their own coast guards, military forces and  disaster responders who would already be on scene.

It would have in place protocol and procedures for working with international relief organizations like the International Red Cross.

For example, there would be a Western Atlantic Disaster Responce and Relief Command covering the entire Western Atlantic coast from Canada to the Southernmst tip of South America. There would be more localized commands covering areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Eastern US coast, the Carribean,  and the Easter South American Coast. The main Navel componant could be based in the Carribean, a central location that would enable it to reach anyplace in the eastern Atlantic region on very short notice. This is also a disaster prone region which has experienced many Hurricanes and even volcano eruptions and now earthquakes.

Similar Commands could be established for other regions of the world so that fast response Commands will be in place all around the world.

Bases of operations could be established in regions that have been the been subjected to disaster. Participation in it's operations could provide temprary relief to people whose livelyhoods have been destroyed or disrupted by disaster.

For example, if the Command were temporarly stationed in Haiti, Haitians could be provided work at the station working in warehouses on the command support base and around the area. This would help to re-establish the economy and aid in the recovery of the region. Permanant bases could be established that would provide long term work and economic stabilty in the area.

All countries in the region would be welcome to participate, including countries that might not be on the best terms with the US, like Cuba and Venezuela. It would offer the oportunity for adversarial nations to work together towards a common humanitarian cause. The Command could serve as a rallying point for international cooperation and reconciliation between rivals.

The Command would be funded by all the Governments in the region except for those who are under severe financial contraints like Haiti, which could serve as a host nation. It would also be funded by humanitarian organizations and relief funds. Instead of having benefit concerts in response to disasters, the giant carrier could travel to different cities and host and support giant fund rasing events, like a concert on the deck. That would also bring the Command to the people of all nations so they could feel a sense of ownership of the effort.

This may sound all grandios, but it is entirely possible to accomplish if enough people rally together to make it happen. Then , when disasters strike like the Haiti earthquake, or the great zsunami, or a typoon in Bagaldesh, or a Hurricane Katrina, instead of the world scrambling to put together a response and tripping all over everyones feet, there could be a rapid and coordinated response that saves many many more lives and helps the regions recover much faster.

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join me and the world can live as one." John Lennon

The International Disaster Response and Relief Command; A Proposal Part 1

This disaster in Haiti begs one to ask, why isn't there a disaster co-ordinator? Why can't they set up a command with all the technology and people on the ground gathering informations and sending it back to a central command center? Why can't they keep track of all the relief supplies entering the the country so it can be rapidly distributed when and where it's needed the most?


Well, there could be! But it has to be set up beforehand and be on the ready to be deployed upon first reports of a disaster. And it has to be massive, which would be costly. Who would be willing to committ such massive funding to build a disaster relief organzation that might never be needed on the scale of the Haiti disaster? Perhaps the same ones who would be willing to committ billions of dollars on weapons that will never be used? The cost of such an endevor would be pocket change compared to the amount all the contributing countries spend on military. Regional commands could be sized to deal with regional disasters. Only the resources of one regional disaster relief command would be needed for the typical regional disaster. This would ensure that there is help in close proximty to any area to assure that the first responders will get to the scene as quickly as possible. If the disaster is too big for the regional command to handle, assistance from other regions could be put in the air and out to sea on a moments notice, reducing the delay in getting aid to the scene and avoiding unecessary deaths.

An international disaster relief organization would also be responsible for determining long term needs and coordinating the implimentation of programs to fill those needs.

Agreements need to be in place to expidite the deployment of assistance across international borders.

In large disasters like Katrina and Haiti, the US Miltary has been called into action for logistics and coordination. They have the equipment, the experience and the command structure to undertake such large scale efforts. But there are always some reservations with getting the miltary involved. Even Hurricane Katrina had complications regarding getting the miltary involved. For legal reasons The President couldn't order the military in Louisiana without a request from the Governor. Nor can the military have on hand and on call all the supplies and specialist that would be needed for a disaster response.

 A none military organization would have been less constrained in its response and would have had choppers in the air and boots on the ground much sooner. Equiped with the same logistical tools as the military, a none military organization could be just as effective at getting the job done, without the hassels and political implications of using military forces.

So what kind of tools does it need?

First and foremost, the same logistical capability as the military...ships, helicopters, airplanes ready to be on their way loaded with supplies within hours.

An aircraft carrier ,loaded with helicopters instead of fighter jets has steamed into the harbor in Haiti to provide a platform to launch relief efforts.A few years back, the aircraft carrier JFK was in Boston for it's final trip before being decommisioned. Instead of being decommissioned, such a carrier could be repurposed as a disatster relief ship. Beside carrying aircraft that would be used in a disaster, it could also carry many many tons of relief supplies, many thousand of personnel and could contain a large hospital for carring for victims. It could even outfitted with housing facilites to provide temporary shelter to people whose homes have been destroyed. Helicopters planes and boats could shuttle victims to and from the ship or if possible it could be docked for direct access to land. It's runway deck could be used to recieve additional aid in situations where there is not a usable runway in the vacinity. It's onboard power generators could provide emergency electricity when the localized power generation capabiity has been crippled.

The disaster relief command would have to have a fleet of C130 airplanes and trained crews who would drop into the disaster zone and then receive airdrops of relief supplies and coordinate distribution of supplies.

Other teams would be equiped with heavy equipment, technology and trained personnel to engage in rescue operation along with the means of getting them all into the disaster zone and onto the ground, by airdrop if necessary.

Haiti relief slow to get to victims. Who's at fault?

The fingers are already being pointed at the US for delays in Haiti relief efforts. The fingers are not being pointed by outside sources but from within the US itself. There were many at fault for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina. The response to the Haiti disaster was initiated sooner, but logistic made it harder to deploy. There were also issues of Sovereignty to consider and getting the proper requests and permission to enter the country were slow in coming from a government that had itself been devesated by the earthquake.

The Republicans want to pin the blame on Obama, I suppose as payback for the blame that was pinned on Bush after Katrina.

But the real cause of the delays and confusion is simply this, it's a big disaster, it's utter chaos and the massive international response is coming from all directions without any single coordinating authority to manage it all. It's not as if there is some sort of disaster coordinator who knows everything that's going on in the disaster zone and has a complete inventory of all the supplies, personel and equipment available to be assigned in an organized manner to exactly where it needs to be.

It is simply the nature of disasters. No matter how much we try to be prepared, they just always seem to be the most unexpected things at the most unexpected times in the most unexpected places. While we may make contingencies for disasters that we think could possibly happen in a particular place, like a Hurricane in Florida, the circumstances of each is so different that we always seem to be caught short in some way. It's not always possible to be totaly prepared to quickly deal with every complication of any disaster, even in disaster prone areas.

So it was reported that  on one side of the Port au Prince, there was no emergency food getting to the people, while on another there was three times as much as was needed. The trucks just show up and no one really knows where its all going, it just ends up somewhere.

So no one is really at fault. Whether it's a single individual or a group or a nation or the whole world, responding to disasters in by it's very nature a complicated confusing and uncoordinated action. As much as the American military forces are trying to coordinate operations, there's only so much they can do, they don;'t control everything and there are alot of different responders from different countries who are not under the control of the USMilitary. To try to rein everyone in would only create more confusionand slow things down.

Rush Limbaugh failed to check his facts before criticizing Cuba for not sending aid to Haiti

If Rush Limbaugh had checked his facts then he would have learned that, after the 1998 Hurricane George, Cuba has had a team of medical specialist working in Haiti. Prior to the quake there were 344  Cuban Doctors already in Cuba. The day after the quake, Cuba sent 60 more along with 10 tons of medical supplies. The Cuban Doctors have been applauded for their responsivness to the crisis.

The Belgian medical team allegedly abondoned 25 patients and took their medical supplies with them out of fear of rioters. They returned the next day with miltary escorts.

A team of 267 medical specialist from the US stayed at the airport for two days while they waited for Military escorts into the the city.

Limbaugh also said that  Haiti "Produces nothing and is totally dependent on foreign aid, and we've given enough."

Limbaugh should really check his facts before he rushes to judgement