Haiti, Again

Where to begin?  Haiti is a land in which grinding tragedy has been the norm for generations, even centuries.  Periodically, horrific catastrophes punctuate the suffocating days and nights, turning sadness into mourning.

As help tries to fight its way on-shore, we are reminded that infrastructure is more than roads and ports and bridges; the now-largely-missing organs of a functioning government are also key ingredients.

Simon Keeble has called for creation of an international organization to organizing supply chain effectiveness in coordinating and delivering relief.  Clearly, the international community needs something like ALAN (the American Logistics Aid Network) which coordinates with FEMA and other organizations when disaster strikes at home.  An international counterpart would be useful and welcome all over the globe - and should be an imperative.

In Haiti, accounts vary.  There may be 3,000 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) functioning there, although there has been one claim of 10,000.  Whatever the number of NGOs, the number of people involved is enormous, constituting a virtually army.  An army of that size would be capable of almost anything (including running the country), if its efforts were coordinated and focused on specific goals.

But, so far, putting the recent calamity aside, they've all apparently been going their separate ways, executing their individual plans, and following their own priorities.  We ought not be surprised that  - absent workking relationships, coordinated and synchronized programs, and alignment on how missions and goals might complement one another - their positive impact on Haiti for the long term has been limited.  Or, that their responses to the earthquake seem to be  spinning in independent orbits.