So much for our aid being welcome

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As Twitter feeds light up with "Text HAITI" and celebrities host telethons and wear support ribbons at award ceremonies, the money to assist earthquake survivors in Haiti is pouring in.

Major charities have pulled in more than $380 million for relief efforts as of Friday, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.


But despite the record amounts raised, the flurry of giving is already starting to fade. At the American Red Cross, donations are down by more than 50%. And that decline could mean more tragedy for Haiti.

"That's really the question: How long people's attention spans will last before moving on to the next thing," said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. "This is the really critical stage."

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti " After two weeks of often-chaotic food distribution, the United Nations announced plans on Saturday for a new coupon-based system that aims to give rice to 10,000 Haitians a day at each of 16 locations around Port-au-Prince.

The new program " with the first coupons delivered Saturday, and food on Sunday " ends what officials described as the “quick and dirty” initial phase of emergency response, but it is also an admission of what Haitians have been saying for days: that the system had become a failure.

Breaking news: "after a huge catastrophe there are logistical problems! Monday morning quarterbacks and their fragile superiority complexes comment on this remarkable surprise after the break."

Breaking news: "after a huge catastrophe there are logistical problems! Monday morning quarterbacks and their fragile superiority complexes comment on this remarkable surprise after the break."

if you think that all of the powers of the world, with all of the wealth that they have had at their disposal, should not have been able to do better than what has been done over the last two weeks, then you are guilty of having extraordinary low expectations for human capacity.

Are you that jaded Robert? Why do you feel the need to insult those of us who have more faith in mankind than you do?

The tsk tsking and all about chaos in a disaster zone just strikes me as a comical bit of Monday morning quarterbacking

UNITED NATIONS " The fact that Haiti was mired in dysfunction well before the earthquake, despite having received more than $5 billion in aid over about two decades, is fueling a contentious debate on whether a grand reconstruction plan can finally fix the country or would be doomed to repeat previous failures.

nation should be reimbursed for centuries of punitive treatment and brutality by the outside world

EditorialHaiti, Two Months Later Sign in to Recommend
Published: March 11, 2010
With every day that passes in the mud and rubble of Haiti, the failures of the relief effort are heartbreaking. There are four main strands to the campaign to make sure 1.2 million homeless people are sheltered and safe as the weather turns fierce. All are inadequate.

So once more what is the point because we can not have an ideal situation we should walk away from the problem?

Lovely however we live in the real world and the aid no matter how poorly done when compare to the ideal is saving one hell of a lot of men, women and children lives.

So once more what is the point because we can not have an ideal situation we should walk away from the problem?

people say exactly what they really believe on the web, because social coercion is difficult to apply.