Haitians survey the damage to a building that collapsed onto a road in downtown Port-au-Prince January 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Hans Deryk) Photo courtesy Big Picture Blog Boston Globe
The earthquake in Haiti has really gotten to me, as I'm sure it has most people. Since the day I found out about it, I've been on my Twitterific on my iPhone nonstop when I'm not near my Hootsuite reading updates and following photo blogs about the devastation. Other natural disasters have been bad like the tsunami in 2004 and the Chinese earthquake in 2008, but for one reason or another, this Haiti quake has really shook me to the core, no pun intended.
I've been reading story after story about how bodies are being dumped into mass graves, how people are looting local businesses for whatever supplies they can find, how there aren't enough doctors to treat all the injured and then every now and then, there's a story of success like the little girl who was trapped and rescued and handed over to her uncle, the only survivor in her family. Story after story pours in through the wires and on CNN and millions of dollars are being donated to a handful of charities, but why is this money not making its way down to the people??
I know the Red Cross has raised a ton of money, but why are these people not seeing any relief? It's been almost a week since the earthquake hit. Hundreds of people have been sent down to help out and still, so many people are without food and water.
The problem, from what I've read, is infrastructure. Haiti doesn't have one. They never have. Their government is a mess, which in turn has trickled down causing the actual country, the earth of the country, the soil, to be a mess. Natural disasters have been attacking the country for the past few years, one hurricane after another. So much destruction, yet nothing is ever done about it. You can't stop a hurricane from coming, but you can prepare for one. The country is lacking the goods, supplies and manpower to pick itself up and dust itself off. And now we come in, from the four corners of the world, to help rescue these people. But how do we even begin?
The roads are a mess. There's chaos in the streets. People are all displaced. My theory is to evacuate, take those who are willing away from Port-au-prince to a more secure location with supplies and manpower. Set up some famous FEMA trailers and send in more manpower to clean up Port-au-prince. Clean it up so people can move back and continue taking care of their own city, give them a reason to care about where they live.
I feel for the people of Haiti and I so badly wish I could go down there and do my part, but being an untrained person, all I can do is throw my cash in the pile and hope it makes it down to someone in need. I'm going to continue following this story, because they only way they're going to get the help they need is if we keep the story alive. Katrina died all too soon and there are still people displaced from that. Please don't let Haiti become another Katrina.
Posts
