Hurricane Matthew has claimed the lives of over 900 people in Haiti and the death toll continues to rise, according to the UN. In addition, at least 1.4 million people in the country currently need aid.
Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki Moon made an appeal today for $120 million to help fund the relief effort. “Families that were fortunate to survive the hurricane now find themselves in a struggle to survive, with thousands of homes and livelihoods washed away by the storm,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien in a statement today.
“History just keeps repeating itself like a cyclone down there. It is so sad because it is always, of course, the people who suffer,” said WGBH news analyst and the founder of the GroundTruth Project Charles Sennott on Boston Public Radio Monday.
Like the relief effort after the devastating earthquake in 2010, Sennott is worried that some of the money going to aid Haiti during this crisis will be mishandled by government officials and irresponsible NGOs. “The NGO effort becomes these sort of small business where people make money, typically western people, where there are whole careers and livelihoods built around that industry, and it's a cycle that needs to be improved,” Sennott said. “Sadly hurricane Matthew just reminded us once again every time we get it wrong every time corrupt officials take money or big fat western backed NGOs have big business of helping people it is always the people who suffer.”
Sennott urged listeners who wanted to give money to the relief effort to investigate any organizations before donating to them. “You just have to really study what are the most effective ways to contribute to helping the people there because god knows they need it,” Sennott said.
