Foreign aid has done little to help Haiti

FOR MANY Haitians it felt wearily familiar. On January 24th a large earthquake hit the south-west part of the country, the second in the area in less than six months. The victims would of course need help, and the dysfunctional government of the western hemisphere’s poorest country was unlikely to provide much. But the prospect of yet more foreign aid workers descending on the place once dubbed the “Republic of NGOs” did not inspire much enthusiasm either. They are “like vultures”, complains Monique Clesca, a journalist and activist: they live off disasters, but do little to improve things. It is a common view.