Most countries fail to deliver on Haiti aid pledges

[Bacchus39]

Source: CNN

CNN) -- Six months after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, most governments that promised money to help rebuild the country have not delivered any funds at all, a CNN investigation has found.

Donors promised $5.3 billion at an aid conference in March, about two months after the earthquake -- but less than 2 percent of that money has been handed over so far to the United Nations-backed body set up to handle it.

Only four countries have paid anything at all: Brazil, Norway, Estonia and Australia.

The United States pledged $1.15 billion. It has paid nothing, with the money tied up in the congressional appropriations process.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html

[pampango]

1. "Promise them anything (makes for good PR) but deliver nothing" seems to be a common strategy in

the US and elsewhere.

[Skink]

2. First we must appropriate more for our wars.

[1monster]

3. And what about the moneys that we donated through the Clinton/Bush effort?

Since that was a government sponsored program? I don't have a lot of money to donate to anything, so I want to know that the money I did donate made it to its destination.

[Bacchus39]

4. I don't know how they distinguish between private donors, pledges, and aid already given

immediately after the disaster. I simply assume that the pledges are for rebuilding efforts apart from immediate disaster relief but really don't know.