On not caring about Haiti
The earthquake that struck Haiti is a terrible disaster that requires the international community to provide both immediate aid to save lives and longer-term support to rebuild infrastructure and livelihoods. Even as I write those words, I’m reading between the lines, and my sympathy for the Haitians affected by the quake is tempered outweighed by my anger at an international system that allows Haiti to languish at the bottom end of the Human Development league, but mobilises millions of dollars as soon as infrastructure collapses.
Nobody can deny that Haiti needs assistance right now to save lives, but it also needed assistance yesterday when the infant mortality rate was the 37th lowest in the world. When it comes to natural disasters, we – our governments, our media, ourselves – are victims of the same biases that cause impulse buying at the supermarket. Thousands of people dying from buildings falling on them instantly mobilises a huge amount of resources, but thousands of children dying from easily preventable diseases is just background noise. This is the uncomfortable reality of the aid world, but it’s not one that our media or governments really wants to hear.
I’m not looking to condemn any particular individual or organisation that wants to help in whatever way they can, but if we think there’s something wrong with that picture, perhaps we shouldn’t just be handing over money to our chosen charity, but lobby for the following:
- Develop a more consistent and more coherent aid architecture that takes a long view of human capability instead of a short term view of human suffering.
- Encourage more creative approaches to rebuilding Port-au-Prince for an urban plan that meets the needs of the poor, not just the rich, and builds more resilient communities.
- Put an end to the portrayal of Haitians (and others) as victims and takes notice of the fact that they are the ones who responded first to this emergency.
My thoughts go out to the people of Haiti; first suffering the earthquake, and now the international community.
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[...] those more concerned with the medium-to-long term, Paul Currion writes about the tendency for the international community to only act during overt crises: Nobody can deny that Haiti needs assistance right now to save lives, but it also needed assistance [...]
On Haiti « Aid Thoughts
15 Jan 10 at 11:00
Very good point. Working in a charity sector, I feel ashamed to admit the reality…
Garukim
15 Jan 10 at 12:19
“first suffering the earthquake, and now the international community.”
Ouch.
Roving Bandit
15 Jan 10 at 14:22
[...] Currion On Not Caring About Haiti, or why this crisis should be considered in the larger context of the [...]
PDGOODMAN.COM
16 Jan 10 at 12:31
Coming back to this after reading some of the onanistic posts on how technology helped in relief work by academics turned evangelists was sobering. Your three key points are vital, but as you probably know and I fear, will be largely ignored.
Sanjana Hattotuwa
12 Feb 10 at 15:38
From tracking the news and talking to people working in the response, it looks like none of the three points will be addressed. I can’t say that I’m surprised, and on top of that public interest will drop off sharply after this first month.
Paul Currion
19 Feb 10 at 13:57