As the world stands by, able to offer precious little to relieve the vast suffering in Haiti, the by-product of a 7.0 magnitude quake, I believe there are certain undeniable facts which we can draw from this disaster. First and foremost, the quake was a “natural” disaster. It was not caused by man any more than our planet’s climatic variations are the result of mankind. Be not so proud to believe that man can control the planet’s natural rhythms. Haiti sits on a large fault line, and earthquakes result from a shifting of the tectonic plates of these massive natural formations in our earth’s crust.

Secondly, Haiti, especially its capital Port Au Prince, was, at best, a tenth world nation prior to this disaster. Its buildings, if one can call them buildings, were built with a “stone age” mentality. It is doubtful whether Port Au Prince could have survived a 3.0 magnitude quake, let alone a 7.0. Its citizens have chosen, over the decades, to live under the conditions of squalor, both through their election process, and I use the word loosely, of corrupt officials (see Papa and Baby Doc) and their basic cultural habits. This is not the first time that Haiti has suffered gross disaster. Haiti has been a gross disaster for decades, despite the influx of foreign welfare. Having been in the region, I can personally attest to the fact that Haiti has been and always will be a disaster.

Don’t get me wrong. It is quite appropriate for other nations to do their best to come to Haiti’s aid. Those who can should send help in the form of medical services, medications, food, clean water, clothing and temporary shelter. However, it pains me to say that throwing foreign aid, in any form, at Haiti, will never result in an improvement in the conditions of that nation. Just as soon as the immediate effects of the quake are resolved, the dead buried and acute forms of disease, which tend to accompany such disasters, quelled through medical services and foreign donations of whatever is needed acutely, the conditions of Port Au Prince will deteriorate to exactly how they existed prior to the quake.

Those in power will be a great deal wealthier, as the ongoing corruption adsorbs the foreign currency donated to the disaster. Food, medicine and clothing will be withheld and sold on the black market, along with building materials, water, and items of hygiene etc. Buildings, actually shelters by our standards, will slowly be rebuilt to the same disastrous specifications or non specifications as before, the death rate of new born children will remain high, starvation and disease will continue, and as the rest of the world goes about its own business, Haiti will once again be forgotten and allowed to sink into its own cultural abyss. This is simply a fact of life.

If those who talk the talk were actually serious about nation building and welfare to those without hope, Haiti could become a tropical paradise, much as we see in the rest of that region of the world. Even the Dominican Republic, which shares the same island as Haiti, is better off, as far as all conditions of civilization are concerned. However, that will not happen in Haiti. Thus, if it makes you, or your religious group, or any other charitable organization to which you donate funds in the hope they will help in Haiti feel better, then proceed. But don’t even begin to believe that once the smoke has cleared that it will make any difference.

Finally, if first and second world nations have the resources to come to the aid of Haiti, why is there squalor, famine and disease within these donor nations? Why? Because that is how the political system works. Political power demands that some people must continue, no matter how well off a nation may appear, to continue to have a Jack Boot at their neck, in order to give those in the position of power and authority an inferior class to which promises may be made of a better life in the future in return for a vote. That is how power politics has worked in the past and that is how it works today and will in the future. Haiti is a perfect example of how the system works. I had to keep from laughing when the network cameras panned from views of the city of Port Au Prince to those of the Presidential Palace. That is exactly what Haiti needs – a Presidential Palace. And just where will all those dollars and yen and euros and pounds go, after the reporters and the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders etc have returned home? They shall first go into rebuilding the Presidential Palace, and then into the Swiss Bank Accounts of the elected officials of the Haitian Government. And as for the poor President of Haiti, wandering around the airport on day one, voicing the question as to where he would sleep that night, believe me, he slept in a clean, dry and warm bed. Did you really believe any differently?

JLK