Tweet
Haiti aid agencies accused of rivalry tactics
By Andrew Jack in New York and David Blair and Benedict Mander in Port-au-Prince
Published: January 22 2010 20:13 | Last updated: January 22 2010 20:13
A prominent British medical journal, The Lancet, has accused aid agencies operating in earthquake-ravaged Haiti of using “unsavoury” corporate tactics as they compete with each other to attract funding during a chaotic relief effort.
More than 500 relief agencies are operating in Haiti and the skies are filled with aircraft ferrying supplies to Port-au-Prince.
With 150 arrivals at the airport every day, immense quantities of material are piling up in hangars or on the taxi-ways.
But while flying supplies in to the stricken city has become relatively easy, getting them out to people is more challenging, a week and a half after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 75,000 people.
In an editorial published on its website on Friday, The Lancet said the situation in Haiti remained “chaotic, devastating and anything but co-ordinated”. It accused agencies of “jostling for position” and needless competition for funds.
“Polluted by the internal power politics and the unsavoury characteristics seen in many big corporations, large aid agencies can be obsessed with raising money through their own appeal efforts,” The Lancet wrote.
One logistics specialist handling airport arrivals for Haiti said: ”You should see the circus that has come to town.”
Aid workers in Haiti deny any suggestion of rivalry. “To say that there is something of a bad feeling among us is totally false – period,” said Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam. “This is a massive disaster and it takes time.”
Meanwhile, an 84-year-old woman was pulled alive by rescuers from under a wrecked building in Port-au-Prince yesterday, 10 days after the earthquake struck.
By Andrew Jack in New York and David Blair and Benedict Mander in Port-au-Prince
Published: January 22 2010 20:13 | Last updated: January 22 2010 20:13
A prominent British medical journal, The Lancet, has accused aid agencies operating in earthquake-ravaged Haiti of using “unsavoury” corporate tactics as they compete with each other to attract funding during a chaotic relief effort.
More than 500 relief agencies are operating in Haiti and the skies are filled with aircraft ferrying supplies to Port-au-Prince.
With 150 arrivals at the airport every day, immense quantities of material are piling up in hangars or on the taxi-ways.
But while flying supplies in to the stricken city has become relatively easy, getting them out to people is more challenging, a week and a half after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 75,000 people.
In an editorial published on its website on Friday, The Lancet said the situation in Haiti remained “chaotic, devastating and anything but co-ordinated”. It accused agencies of “jostling for position” and needless competition for funds.
“Polluted by the internal power politics and the unsavoury characteristics seen in many big corporations, large aid agencies can be obsessed with raising money through their own appeal efforts,” The Lancet wrote.
One logistics specialist handling airport arrivals for Haiti said: ”You should see the circus that has come to town.”
Aid workers in Haiti deny any suggestion of rivalry. “To say that there is something of a bad feeling among us is totally false – period,” said Louis Belanger, a spokesman for Oxfam. “This is a massive disaster and it takes time.”
Meanwhile, an 84-year-old woman was pulled alive by rescuers from under a wrecked building in Port-au-Prince yesterday, 10 days after the earthquake struck.
Comment