Haiti rebuilding delays raise concern

Six months after Haiti was struck by a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake, questions are being raised about how the hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money is being directed.

Many Canadians gave generously following the Jan. 12 quake, which killedmore than 200,000 peopleand devastated the Caribbean country's capital.

The Canadian Red Cross alone raised some $200 million, while the federal government has pledged $600 million for reconstruction efforts.

But many aid workers who have recently visited Haitisay there is little sign of progress.

People are still living in tents and the streets remain littered with rubble, said Dr. Christian Lauriston, a Montreal-based family doctor and president of the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad.

Lauriston has been working with the Haitian government to help rebuild hospitals. Hevisited the country in May to survey the progress.

"I saw the disaster, the terrible disaster in Haiti, and nothing has been done to help," said Lauriston.

Canadian money has been used to help rebuild the offices of the Haitian Health Ministry, but doctors are still treating patients in the streets, he said.

UN concerned

Haitian-born Montrealer Matine St-Victor helped raise nearly $50,000 for Haiti, but she said aid workers who recently visited the country told her it is as though the quake happened yesterday.

"And, that's really why I stopped fundraising because I don't know where the money is going," said St-Victor. "People are still in dire conditions in Haiti. Where's this money?"

'It's been said it would take a thousand days and a thousand trucks to clear out all the rubble.' Jean-Pierre Taschereau, Canadian Red Cross

Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said not enough aid has reached Haiti, six months after the quake.

On Tuesday, Ban told BBC Radio from Jamaica that immediate humanitarian assistance is only being funded at 60 per cent.

Reconstruction must wait

So far, the Canadian International Development Agency has confirmed it has allocated about $150 million, or 20 per cent of the money pledged by the federal government in support of humanitarian and initial reconstruction efforts.

The Canadian Red Cross said it too has only spent about 20 per cent of its available funds, but maintained the money is also going to good use. Officials said the signs of progress are not always visible.

"Daily, the Red Cross is distributing 230,000 litres of safe drinking water," said Jean-Pierre Taschereau, the organization's director of emergency services. "So, that money is hard at work."

Taschereau said rebuilding will have to wait because there's so much rubble in the capital.

"It's been said it would take a thousand days and a thousand trucks to clear out all the rubble," he said. "And this needs to happen before we can set up our structures, because there's simply no physical space."

The problem is compounded outsidethe capital,Port-au-Prince, because Haiti does not have a clear system of land ownership, said Taschereau.

He said people are claiming to own property that does not belong to them, making it difficult for aid agencies to negotiate the purchase of land to rebuild on.