Has Globalization Helped Haiti in Handling?

Haiti's worst earthquake in two centuries hit south of the capital Port-au-Prince in 12 January 2010. Hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed, millions were relocated, thousands died. The BBC documental video “Surviving Haiti” showed how lives changed after the earthquake, how government was handling the situation and what measures were taken to help. As Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince would not be able to handle the devastation of the earthquake on their own.

So, the question is, has globalization helped Haiti to recover losses after the devastating earthquake? The global response to the earthquake in port-au-Prince has been generous and quite fast. United States mobilized its soldiers to help suffering Haitians, the EU allocated large amount of money, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Cuba sent over 1,000 military and disaster relief personnel each, Turkey sent searching troops, Germany and China sent officers of technical assistance, aircraft carriers arrived from Russia, Israeli medical staff came, Iran allocated tents for families that lost their homes.

Even such countries as Guyana, Estonia and Liberia have sent money. It would seem that the sum these countries sent was ridiculous, but for a small country, it is a kind gesture. The total sum of donations worldwide equals about 2, 5 billion US dollars. Apart from financial aid, human compassion made miracles. Families from France didn’t give up the adoption processes; they came to see their potential children, to meet their parents and to solve bureaucratic problems.

Sympathetic corporations, non-governmental organizations, private persons and celebrities responded to the Haiti pledges. In the most difficult moment of their lives survived children and their parents got a flash of hope for better future. People all over the world are not indifferent to the sufferings of their „planet” neighbors. So, the film shows that life of earthquake survivors is very hard, but hope still exists.

In this particular case of Haiti, when globalization impact was also a question of humanity, not just of economy, the process itself helped Haiti to recover more or less after the devastating earthquake and to save as many Haitians as possible.

References

1. Haiti earthquake aid pledged by country http://www. guardian. co. uk/news/datablog/2010/jan/14/haiti-quake-aid-pledges-country-donations