PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The world’s bill for the Haitian earthquake is large and growing — now $2.2 billion — and so is the criticism about how the money is being spent.
A half-million homeless received tarps and tents; far more are waiting under soggy bed sheets in camps that reek of human waste. More than 4.3 million people got emergency food rations, but few will be able to feed themselves anytime soon.
Ahead of a crucial March 31 post-quake donors conference in New York, many are taking a hard look at the money that has flowed in so far. Donations from Americans have surpassed $1 billion, with private donations making up the bulk of that total.
But Hatian leaders, including Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, are not happy with the way the aid money is being delivered. They “don’t tell us . . . where the money’s coming from or how they’re spending it,” he said. One cent of every dollar has gone to the Haitian government.
