The immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, such as the typhoon that devastated the Philippines on Nov. 8, can bring out the best in the global community. Already we are seeing the world's governments and citizens responding generously to appeals for aid, reaffirming our shared humanity. The challenge is to ensure that this generosity reaches those who need it. Relief and reconstruction efforts in the Philippines have much to learn from previous mega-disasters, including, most recently, the massive earthquake in Haiti in 2010. We should help the Philippines — just not like we helped Haiti. We can, and must, help better.
Lack of generosity is typically not the problem. Since Haiti's quake, almost $6 billion in official aid has been disbursed in a country with a population of just under 10 million. Large nongovernmental organizations and private contractors, mostly in the United States or Europe, have been the initial recipients of most of these funds. But there are few publicly available records of what they have done with the money, and almost four years after the quake there is little to show on the ground: Even the Haitian capital still lacks decent roads, running water and reliable electricity, and an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Haitians still live in tents.
Pierre Erold Etienne, director general of the Haitian Finance Ministry, put it clearly: "We are required to be transparent. We publish the financial information relevant to the execution of our budget. All we ask is for the same transparency from our donor friends, which should help both us and them."