Where will Haiti donations end up?

[Kratos]

Everyone is focused on the situation in Haiti and how to help the people there. But what about follow up on the previous disaster and how it was handled. It doesn't even come close to making headlines.

[Kratos]

Where did all the tsunami money go?

Ten months after the tsunami waves hit Sri Lanka, claiming the lives of 35,000 people and destroying more than 80,000 homes, I left England with hopes of working to re-build some of the country's houses. Just before Christmas I returned having built only one shop - and with my eyes opened to the problems that dog aid work.

Exactly how much of the £1.64bn that was pledged to Sri Lanka in aid has been embezzled by the government of Mahinda Rajapakse is unclear, but only 1,126 homes have been rebuilt since the tsunami - with the cost of building a basic house said to be only around £1,400. Despite this, aid agencies have struggled to import materials. Oxfam was made to pay $1m in import duty for its vehicles; containers filled with clothes and other items were detained in Colombo on demand of 30 per cent import duty.
Further hindering the reconstruction project is a ban on rebuilding any house within 100 metres of the coastline. In theory, this is a good idea. In practice, there is a major pitfall: where are the displaced, fairly tribal people who used to live within that area supposed to go? Their aid money may be enough to buy land, but it will not stretch to building a house as well. The process is also complicated by confusion over ownership; records were destroyed in the tsunami. Some families seek to take advantage: they claim the rights of two houses, or ownership of land that belonged to those killed.

But regardless of the added confusions, one fact remains. For the past year, thousands of self-sufficient, skilled people have been reduced to a state of poverty. In the same period, it is estimated that the Sri Lankan government has received enough aid money to rebuild the whole country twice over. It seems the reconstruction process will continue to face the hurdles of bureaucracy, corruption and greed until politics is separated completely from aid money.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/5120,n...reconstruction

[Kratos]

Sri Lanka tsunami aid misappropriated: watchdog
COLOMBO (AFP) – Nearly half a billion dollars in tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and over 600 million dollars has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster, an anti-corruption watchdog said Saturday.

Berlin-based Transparency International demanded an audit of the money received by the Sri Lankan government to help victims of the Asian tsunami which hit the island on December 26, 2004, killing 31,000 people.

The group's Sri Lankan chapter said the public have a right to know how the aid money was spent as the tropical nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.

The group alleged that out of 2.2 billion dollars received for relief, 603.4 million dollars was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster.

Another half a billion dollars was missing, the group said.

"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of 471.9 million dollars," the Transparency International statement issued in Colombo added.

An "audit should be done by the government to explain the utilisation of the money received and the challenges faced," the group said.

An government official declined comment Saturday on the allegations but Colombo has consistently rejected such accusations in the past.

An initial government audit in 2005 found that less than 13 percent of the aid had been spent, but there has been no formal examination since, Transparency International said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091226...omygraft5years

[FranciscoG]

Everyone is focused on the situation in Haiti and how to help the people there. But what about follow up on the previous disaster and how it was handled. It doesn't even come close to making headlines.

They will all get funneled to Rush Limbaugh. We will use the money to buy OCs and H. He will stay high for many years to come.

He and Pat Roberson will meet and start the new world order as gay co-anti-christs.

[Mooseman33]

oh pharm...

Rush may be many things but a thief cmon...
and how crazy is it that the guy was crazy hooked on OC and still rocked his show for years...
the left wish they had a radio personality that didnt fail..

the money will be eaten up by crooked people, its crazy all the people donating still, i think there is another marathon tonight...whole situation sucks.

[FranciscoG]

Moose,

I knew you would like that. If I didnt have to go to work I would sit here and write a little more. Hey always later tonight, Rush and Pat part duex-0.72882.

[Kratos]

They will all get funneled to Rush Limbaugh. We will use the money to buy OCs and H. He will stay high for many years to come.

He and Pat Roberson will meet and start the new world order as gay co-anti-christs.

not sure where you're going with that

[Mooseman33]

he was just fvking around with me.....

[DSM4Life]

Same thing with people buy those stupid ribbon magnets for the troops. You think they see that money ? You want to help, go to an official site , send the money and feel go about yourself. You don't need a magnet to show others you care.

[Ernst]

Yes. Send a care package.

As for Haiti, I believe Obama already gave them my money.

[Indymuscleguy]

The Hatian Government officials...where are they? When were they last seen? Fleeing the country I suspect. Any money sent is money wasted...i.e. stolen and will NOT be used for it's intended purpose. There is no structure set up. Ship them all out and contract US workers to buldoze the entire area...build it up as a vacation resort and call it a day.


Look, if they DO reconstruct, they still don't have proper building codes and never will. I know my attitude sucks regarding this but disaster money, historically, gets so F'ed up...I don't donate.