U.N. Seeking $190 Million For Haiti Earthquake Relief. Aid Groups Urge Using It More Wisely Than 2010

SA国际传谋 Public Media | By Tim Padgett

Published August 26, 2021 at 9:22 AM EDT

Volunteers in Port Salut, Haiti, deliver donated food to victims of the August 14 earthquake.

As the U.N. launches an appeal for Haiti earthquake relief, nonprofits like Global Empowerment Mission in Doral are promoting a new, more direct aid model.

The a $190 million appeal to help victims of this month's powerful earthquake in southwest Haiti 鈥� and aid organizers in South Florida are urging the institution to use that money more wisely than billions like it were spent a decade ago.

The U.N. is asking the international community to pledge $187.3 million for relief and recovery after the Aug. 14 earthquake, which killed more than 2,200 people on Haiti鈥檚 southwest peninsula, left 12,000 injured and destroyed 130,000 homes.

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Because many of the affected communities are in remote areas, survivors are still in dire need of shelter, water, food and medical help.

As a result, South Florida nonprofits like (GEM) in Doral say it鈥檚 critical international aid gets delivered more efficiently and effectively than it was after Haiti鈥檚 2010 earthquake, when more than $10 billion in global assistance did relatively little to get the impoverished Caribbean country back on its feet.

鈥淭here was a giant pot of money collected for the 2010 earthquake that was split among some 20,000 different organizations," said Michael Capponi, GEM's president.

"That's 20,000 groups flying back and forth, staying in hotels, renting cars. Imagine all those costs, right?"

Today, groups like Capponi鈥檚 are promoting a model that slashes that overhead and gets aid more directly to Haitians.

This week the first of three Global Empowerment Mission ships, in partnership with the disaster relief foundation in New York, is leaving the Miami River with a total of more than $5 million in donated tents, water, food and other supplies.

The loading ramp of a ship on the Miami River opens this week to receive pallets of Global Empowerment Mission humanitarian aid bound for earthquake relief in Haiti.

It will arrive at Haiti鈥檚 southwest port of Mirago芒ne, then be distributed under the direction of the local Roman Catholic archdiocese there via an agreement with the Haitian government.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we鈥檙e kind of completely rewriting the system," said Capponi.

"This comes into a safe port and then it gets spread amongst all the different Haitian [community] groups that know how to deliver this [in Haiti] much better than outside organizations.鈥�

Criminal gangs had been blocking delivery of relief aid on Haiti鈥檚 roads 鈥� but to let it pass for now.