By pouring money and goods into devastated regions, foreign aid workers sometimes compound the disruption and debauch the survivors.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Disasters redistribute money from taxpayers to construction workers, from insurance companies to homeowners, and even from those who once lived in the destroyed city to those who replace them. It's remarkable that this redistribution can happen so smoothly and quickly, with devastated regions reinventing themselves in a matter of months.
As often happens during a war, some parts of the country prospered, notwithstanding the constant loss.
Governments of rich countries spend some $6bn of tax money a year on disaster relief and development aid overseas, while each new earthquake, famine or tidal wave can attract 1,000 aid organisations, from the United Nations Children's Fund and Oxfam to the 'Jesus Brigades' of the American south and other charitable adventurers.
Rich countries have been sending aid to poor countries for the last 60 years. And, by and large, this has failed.
Aid can work where there is good governance, and usually fails where governments are unable or unwilling to commit aid to improve the lives of their people.
Global interdependence today means that economic disasters in developing countries could create a backlash on developed countries.
Very large scale disasters, especially those that have occurred in the developing world, have very long recovery periods.
We had had several mine disasters where workers, some of the workers were rescued. It was, you know, who was lucky and who weren't. Some would find the air pockets But, in this one, bam, it was just, everybody was gone and it greatly depressed the state.
The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth. Millions in Africa are poorer today because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended but increased. Aid has been, and continues to be, an unmitigated political, economic, and humanitarian disaster for most parts of the developing world.
Foreign aid is neither a failure nor a panacea. It is, instead, an important tool of American policy that can serve the interests of the United States and the world if wisely administered.
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