Haiti assistance to continue for years

Year One Progress Report | Executive Summary

At the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, the needs remain great while hope and progress persist. Our community has been extremely caring and generous to our neighbors in Haiti, supporting their recovery from a disaster too familiar to south Louisianians. People have been overwhelmingly responsive to the Haiti disaster, with $479 million raised nationally. In Louisiana, donors have been incredibly generous. Every dollar raised for Haiti will be spent there, and we appreciate your support.

The money donated to the Red Cross has provided life-saving relief to hundreds of thousands of Haitians. During this first year, most of the funds have been spent on emergency relief, including food, water, emergency shelter, business loans and grants, health services and disaster preparedness. The cholera outbreak, Hurricane Tomas and civil unrest have further challenged the recovery process. Of the $479 million raised for Haiti, we have spent and signed contracts to spend $245 million by the anniversary. That's about two-thirds of a million dollars each day.

Looking more long-term, the Red Cross is prioritizing building basic homes. We already are working in partnership to build 6,500 homes to provide shelter for 32,000 people. In addition, we are committing $20 million toward the global Red Cross network's efforts, helping them build 30,000 homes to benefit 150,000 people.

Since the earthquake on January 12, 2010, the American Red Cross and the global Red Cross network have provided:

Medical care for nearly 217,000 patients
Cash grants and loans to help 220,000 people
Latrines for 265,000 people
Daily drinking water for more than 317,000 people
Emergency shelter materials for more than 860,000 people
Vaccinations for nearly 1 million people
Food for 1.3 million people

As we know, it will take time for Haiti to recover, but the American Red Cross is committed to spending donor dollars in the most effective way possible, and we will be there until the last dollar donated to Haiti has been spent. We want to see every Haitian living in permanent homes, having robust jobs and living in vibrant communities, despite the many challenges to overcome. Haiti was a very poor country before the earthquake, so in many cases, aid groups are not just re-building but building some of the infrastructure for the first time. Land ownership and rubble removal problems have complicated and stalled efforts to move people from camps into transitional homes.

Hurricane Katrina broke the disaster response mold and forced us to approach major catastrophes in new ways. We are using those lessons to help in Haiti (and future disasters) as we have improved our service delivery, management oversight and public accountability. We have bolstered our engagement with partner organizations, focusing on the needs of diverse communities and suppliers. We have bolstered our logistical operations to improve supply-chain management. And, we have become more donor-focused in the avenues we offer the public to give, such as mobile texting, and in our ability to communicate how donations are used.

We have focused our spending decisions in Haiti on what's best for its people and whether we are following the intent of our donors who contributed to Haiti. We are grateful for you and your generous donations, and we want you to know that your dollars are making a difference.