11/19/10: Disaster Watchdog: “With Cholera Outbreak, Major Aid Organizations Failed Haiti”

November 19, 2010

Contact:

Ben Smilowitz, 202-556-3023

ben@disasteraccountability.org

For Immediate Release:

With Cholera Outbreak, Major Aid Organizations Failed Haiti says Disaster Relief Watchdog

Disaster Accountability Project Launches Petition Targeting Major Relief Groups in Haiti

With Billions Raised, Cholera Should Not Be Happening in Haiti

On Friday, November 19, 2010, Disaster Accountability Project released a petition targeting leaders of major disaster relief and aid organizations for failing to do more to prevent the cholera outbreak, ten months after the devastating earthquake. Major relief organizations raised billions of dollars combined, while representing to the public that their relief efforts included water and sanitation work. With half of the funds raised still in the bank, the Disaster Accountability Project contends that aid organizations failed to use the funds with the same urgency conveyed to donors and a cholera epidemic was avoidable in the ten months since the quake.

PETITION: http://www.change.org/disasteraccountability/petitions/view/we_donated_to_haiti_relief_and_were_angry

“In corporate America, if a mistake of this magnitude was made, the responsible CEOs would be forced to step down – think BP. The survivors of Haiti’s earthquake are now facing a cholera epidemic. I don’t think donors in the U.S. and Europe had deplorable conditions, a cholera epidemic, and half their donations still in the bank in mind when they donated so generously after the quake,” said Ben Smilowitz, Executive Director of the Disaster Accountability Project.

“Unlike nations that promised aid and did not fully follow through, this money was already donated via online and text donations, telethons, and emotional advertising and is just sitting in the bank, generating interest for aid groups. It is money that could have improved conditions enough to prevent a cholera outbreak and instead just sat in the bank, here in the U.S. and elsewhere,” Smilowitz said.

The interest raised is not even likely to benefit the earthquake survivors. According to a major relief group, “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” allow any interest generated on stagnant relief dollars to benefit groups’ general operating budgets.

—

The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving disaster management systems through policy research and advocacy, promoting transparency and engaging citizens to become more involved in preparedness and relief, and helping to ensure that people know what is happening on the ground during a disaster.

Founded in 2007 in reaction to the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, the Disaster Accountability Project has demonstrated that dedicated and informed oversight can help ensure that government agencies and nonprofit organizations live up to their life-saving obligations before, during, and after disasters.

In two years, the Disaster Accountability Project has become the leading, independent nonprofit providing citizen oversight to the U.S. disaster management system. In August 2008, the Disaster Accountability Project received the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship, awarded to social entrepreneurs tackling critical, high-impact social issues.

Six months after the Haiti earthquake, Disaster Accountability Project released this report detailing a “shocking lack of transparency” in Haiti relief operations:

View Report Here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34223667/Report-On-Transparency-of-Relief-Organizations-Responding-to-the-2010-Haiti-Earthquake

A toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is available as a public service for disaster survivors, workers and volunteers to report critical gaps in disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery services or planning.

The Disaster Accountability Project’s website is https://disasteraccountability.org .

Disaster Accountability Project is a 2008 Echoing Green Fellowship Organization.
For more information: http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/ben-smilowitz

—30–