A survivor of the Haitian earthquake who visited the country’s tent cities has made a video, which ran on YouTube, about his efforts to figure out how the American Red Cross spent the $430-million it raised for the disaster, says the Miami Herald.
The Red Cross says it has spent roughly $106-million, but when the man, Fred Sajous, visited a tent city across the street from the American Red Cross’s Pétionville headquarters, people there said they had not received anything from the charity. Mr. Sajous went to other settlements but says he couldn’t find that the money had been spent.
Gail J. McGovern, president of the American Red Cross, appeared in an Internet video last week to counter Mr. Sajous’s claims.
The organization says it has spent about a quarter of the money it raised after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake left 1.3 million people homeless. Red Cross officials say that figure includes $55-million for emergency relief, such as food and supplies; $43.6-million for shelter; $5.5-million for water and sanitation; and $1.5-million for health costs.
2 Responses to Earthquake Survivor’s Video Raises Questions for Red Cross
peter_panepento - April 29, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I’m posting the following response on behalf of Wendy Harman of the American Red Cross. Her response follows:There’s no bigger beleiver than me in the power of social media to give a small voice a big audience, but in this case, it’s obviously disappointing to me that the Miami Herald chose to center its article o nthe views of one person who claims there is no evidence of Red Cross efforts in Haiti becuase he personally did not see items with Red Cross logos.It’s also disappointing to all of us working here that Red Cross staff in Haiti talked with and met the Miami Herald reporter on this story over an extended period of time, took her to the Red Cross main warehouse and to distributions of relief items to Haitians — but she didn’t include any of that information in her story. She erroneously suggests that the Red Cross is not doing anything in Haiti.We have helped hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors in Haiti with food, water, shelter, and health programs, spending more than $111-million in just the first 100 days. That’s an average of more than $1-million per day — a very aggressive rate of spending. But we are also spending the money in a way that is making a real difference for the people of Haiti. The money generously donated by the American people is one of the major reasons that today most people in Haiti have access to food and water and most earthquake survivors have a tent or tarp over their heads and basic relief supplies.I’m more than open to hearing ideas from this community about how we can better communicate our activities and impact.
rocketpreacher - April 29, 2010 at 8:51 pm
The best thing the Red Cross or any organization that is working over in Haiti with the large amount of donations that they received is use the majority of the money for long term recovery. People are tired of the bandaid mentality for emergency situations. The Red Cross should change its mission role in these situations and concentrate on permanent solutions to these horrific social ills. Haiti needs permanent solutions! I totally disagree with those board members and donors who would get angry that the Red Cross wants to use the majority of its Haiti money for providing permanent sustainable solutions like pure water and permanent safe homes, etc. I am so proud of what I am seeing with the Red Cross in this situation. They have truly stepped up and took a leadership roll in this disaster. I have seen them take the fly in and out approach in the past when people gave them millions to do permanent solutions as they provided emergency care. I hope that they keep this focus from now on! It is one of the best changes I have ever observed that they are making!Don’t stop working on this new vision and mission of providing permanent solutions just because a few narrow minded people and someone with an intention to make a name for himself by belittling your incredible efforts holds a video camera! Keep up the good work and you’ve got my donations for the future if you keep on going in this direction. It is the right direction!