Chaotic aid

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti-In the shade of a khaki tent at the temporary UN headquarters in the country's capital city, a small group of non-governmental organizations discussed a huge subject: Where should some 1 million people left homeless by the earthquake live?

It's notable that the group was small since the UN is relying heavily on NGOs to provide care for sprawling tent cities springing up around the capital. At this meeting, representatives from about eight groups were present. But dozens more are operating in the city.

The meetings aren't required to conduct relief work in Port-au-Prince, but they serve an important purpose: finding out where others are working. And though some groups likely want to avoid red tape, these meetings offered a way to avoid duplicating efforts. That no single body knows where all the relief groups are working makes formulating a cohesive plan nearly impossible, and may lead to more chaos.

For now, chaotic conditions are the rule. UN officials said they're running desperately low on tents to distribute to groups working with the homeless, saying they can't fill half the requests. One official said planes filled with shelter materials have been turned away at the Port-au-Prince airport, which reported a major backlog in aircraft trying to enter the country. But later that day when I left the country earlier this week, the runway was strangely clear of most aircraft.

The meetings also revealed the tightrope the UN must walk with the Haitian government. Near the beginning of a Tuesday morning meeting, a UN worker came into the tent and interrupted with a directive: Haitian President Rene Preval wanted to know what each group planned to do, and how much supplies they have coming. "Write it down on a piece of paper," she said. "He wants to know now."

What the president planned to do with that information wasn't clear. Though Haitian officials earlier indicated an approval process for NGOs to manage tent cities, the rules for gaining approval were murky. So was the UN's role in operating shelters. When asked about contradictory press reports that the body would construct camps for some 400,000 people, Margorie Charles, a Haitian liaison between the UN and the Haitian government, seemed puzzled: "If it's in the press, then it's real."

While the UN dealt with the Haitian government, many living in Haiti were skeptical about the notoriously corrupt government's ability to manage its own recovery, pointing to its abysmal track record. A 2006 report by the National Academy of Public Administration titled "Why Foreign Aid to Haiti Failed" noted "a total mismatch between levels of foreign aid and government capacity to absorb it." Though foreign governments, including the United States, said the majority of aid wouldn't go through the Haitian government, Haitian officials may begin to demand more control.

For now, Ben Hopp-a missionary to Haiti with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church-worries that a piecemeal plan put together by separate groups will only create more problems. He said he fears in the long run: "People will go back to their land, build again with the same poor materials and construction methods, and wait for the next disaster."

Lasting aid, said Hopp, should come with deeper aims: "I am firmly convinced that if we do not bring the preaching of the gospel along with the cup of cold water it will all be in vain."

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