MEDIA REACTION: LESSONS FROM HAITI

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000080



SIPDIS



STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO



STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU



E.O. 12958 N/A

TAGS: KMDR, KPAO, PGOV, OPRC, NP

SUBJ: MEDIA REACTION: LESSONS FROM HAITI



1. SUMMARY: Nepal's popular English daily Republica

(circulation: 15,000) on Thursday, January 28,

carried an opinion piece "Lessons from Haiti"

written by Sukhdev Shah, an economist and a former

nominee as Nepal's ambassador to the United States.

Shah draws on the similarities, political and

economic, between Nepal and Haiti and comments on

the "sheer mismanagement" that has pushed both

countries into chaos. He predicts that if Nepal

were to meet a fate such as Haiti's, Nepal would be

in much-worse condition in terms of receiving aid

and getting international attention. He goes on to

suggest that Nepal needs "to create strong linkages

with countries around the world and, most

importantly, with its neighbors, particularly India.

Even in good times, the country needs considerable

amount of outside assistance to stay afloat and

carry out rudiments of development programs."



2. EXCERPTS: "... Situated on two ends of the

world, Haiti and Nepal are quite dissimilar in many

respects but there are also surprising similarities.

First, both are distinguished by their extreme

poverty, characterized by the lowest per capita

incomes in their respective regions-Haiti in Western

Hemisphere and Nepal in Asia-Pacific. Second, both

have been victims of dictatorships. ... Both

countries suffered from dynastic regimes in

predictable ways-countries run by cronies and

courtiers with absolute disregard for the interests

of the people they governed. Third, the end of

dictatorships in both countries was followed by the

emergence of chaotic politics-democratic or

otherwise-which made no difference for most people

in terms of living standards and civil liberties,

and the quality of life actually diminished with the

increase of violence and the worsening of law and

order. And last but not the least, both countries

share similar bleak future, which has meant a mass

exodus of their people in search of better

opportunities outside of the country.



3. "Economic mismanagement and political disarray

has also meant a severely weakened governance system

that, among other things, was incapable of or, more

likely, disinterested in the setting of standards

and enforcement of building codes which, along with

the overall poverty of the population, led to the

construction of buildings in a most haphazard

manner, with least amount of attention paid to the

stability of structures in the event of cyclones and

floods, much less to withstand the calamities of

major earthquakes of the type that just happened in

Haiti."



4. "There is no intention here to imply that Haiti-

like calamity is just about to happen in Nepal but

this cannot be more improbable than the recent

predictions of the melting of Himalayan glaciers by

the year 2035, despite the revelation last week that

prediction was based on faulty research. But

assuming Nepal being hit by a Haiti-type earthquake,

what kind of damage do we envisage, and the strength

of subsequent relief and reconstruction efforts? ...

It looks that the country would face a total

collapse of human-built facilities and disappearance

of a way of life built over hundreds of years."



5. "However, the much more frightening prospect,

compared to Haiti's situation, is that of the level

and quality of support Nepal could receive if it

faces a calamity comparable to Haiti's. As it looks,

in view of the international attention and sizeable

amount of material and cash aid Haiti has received

and been promised, Nepal would be in a much inferior

position to expect more than a fraction of it. We

can point out a few reasons. First, Nepal does not

have a sea access, which Haiti has, and this makes

the delivery of relief supplies both insufficient

and costly. Second, we do not have an economic

superpower next door, both willing and able to

help."



6. "Looking at the prospect of long-term assistance

for rehabilitation and reconstruction that may take

at least a decade, Nepal would need a much larger

amount of aid than what is being talked about for

Haiti."



7. "The lesson Nepal can learn from Haiti's

experience is that, being a small and poor country

with very constraining geographic location, it needs

to create strong linkages with countries around the

world and, most importantly, with its neighbors,

particularly India. Even in good times, the country

needs considerable amount of outside assistance to

stay afloat and carry out rudiments of development

programs. The need for such assistance can increase

many fold during national emergencies and especially

when it meets disasters of the kind Haiti has

encountered."



ORDWAY