Donors' Conference March 31 to Mobilize Support for Haiti
Washington - A donors' conference to mobilize international support for the long-term development and recovery of Haiti will take place at U.N. headquarters in New York March 31.
"The government of Haiti faces enormous challenges following the devastating earthquake of January 12," the State Department said March 4 in announcing the conference. "Meeting these challenges will require a sustained and substantial commitment from the international community, in support of the government and people of Haiti."
"At the donors' conference, Haiti will present its vision of Haiti's future and how international support can assist," the announcement said.
Sponsors for the ministerial-level conference, formally called the International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti, include the United States and the United Nations in cooperation with the Haitian government, and also with the support of Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France and Spain.
"Donor countries, international organizations and other partners will have an opportunity to pledge resources, to coordinate support of Haiti's long-term recovery, and to commit to a sustained effort to support Haiti," the department announcement said.
In addition, the Dominican Republic, which is Haiti's nearest neighbor, will host an international conference of high-level technical donors to evaluate the economic consequences of the earthquake. It is scheduled for March 16-17 in Santo Domingo and will serve as the basis for the donors' conference at the United Nations, according to Dominican government officials.
PRELIMINARY STUDY
A preliminary study by the Inter-American Development Bank ( http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35074108 ) (PDF, 240KB) indicates that it could cost as much as $14 billion to rebuild Haiti's homes, schools, roads and other structures damaged by the earthquake.
"The earthquake, which hit about 15km (10 miles) southwest of the capital city Port-au-Prince, was followed by several strong aftershocks and has caused significant loss of human life, the displacement of hundreds of thousands" of people and severe damage to the economic infrastructure of the country, the IDB's team of economists said in a preliminary assessment released February 16 in Washington.
"The study confirms that the Haitian earthquake is likely to be the most destructive natural disaster in modern times, when viewed in relation to the size of Haiti's population and its economy," the development bank said.
A more detailed accounting of the cost of reconstruction - which the development bank, World Bank and the U.N. Development Fund are conducting - will be completed in several months based on a Post Disaster Needs Assessment, the IDB said in releasing its preliminary report.
The Haitian government estimates the current number of dead at approximately 230,000 people. The number of people displaced in the Port-au-Prince area is estimated at 700,000 people, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the total impact of the earthquake affected 3 million people in a country with a population of slightly less than 9 million people.
The development bank study estimated that reconstruction costs could be as low as $8.1 billion or as high as $13.9 billion. "These estimates are useful to put this event into perspective and to inform the international community of the enormity of the challenge that lies ahead in the task of reconstructing Haiti," the IDB report's authors said.
"This sum ... will be beyond the scope of one agency or one bilateral donor, making donor coordination key in any reconstruction effort," the authors added. "The implications of such an estimate are significant. Raising such a figure will require many donors, bilateral, multilateral and private."
Compounding the loss of life is that the magnitude 7.0 earthquake was centered in the Caribbean island's capital city - Haiti's center of commerce, government and communications.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a recent opinion article in Politico ( http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32284.html ) that after the first rush of humanitarian assistance to help save lives and provide water, food, shelter, medicine and other basic supplies to the survivors, thoughts must turn to recovery and reconstruction of the Caribbean nation.
It is a challenge, he acknowledged, that will not be an easy one. "After peacekeeping missions and billions of dollars in aid, Haiti remains a country with some of the worst human development indicators in the world," he said. "Yet we know that progress is possible."
"Before the hurricanes in 2008 and again before [January's] earthquake, Haiti had been moving forward with successful and peaceful elections, stabilization of chronic insecurity, and increased revenue collection and investment," Zoellick said. "Building on these successes, Haiti's reconstruction and recovery require long-term commitment."
U.S. COMMITMENT
The United States, which began offering humanitarian assistance almost immediately, has already committed $712.73 million to Haitian relief and reconstruction efforts, according to USAID and Defense Department reports. President Obama also is expected to request special funding for reconstruction of at least $1 billion from Congress soon, according to published news accounts.
For more on Haiti, see the feature Partnering with Haiti for Reconstruction ( http://www.america.gov/rebuild_haiti.html ).
