S. HRG. 111–765 AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE: EMPOWERING HAITI TO REBUILD BETTER HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 19, 2010 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 63–054 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:25 Dec 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\HEARING FILES\2010 ISSUE HEARINGS TO PREPARE FOR PRINTING\ISSUE HEARIN COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin BOB CORKER, Tennessee BARBARA BOXER, California JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DEMINT, South Carolina ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York FRANK G. LOWENSTEIN, Staff Director KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:25 Dec 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\HEARING FILES\2010 ISSUE HEARINGS TO PREPARE FOR PRINTING\ISSUE HEARIN CONTENTS Page Casey, Hon. Robert P., Jr., U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, opening state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 1 Corker, Hon. Bob, U.S. Senator from Tennessee, statement ............................... 5 Kaufman, Hon. Edward E., U.S. Senator from Delaware, statement ................. 6 Kerry, Hon. John F., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, statement ................... 49 Merten, Hon. Kenneth H., U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Department of State, Port-au-Prince, Haiti ............................................................................................ 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 Response to question submitted for the record by Senator Russell D. Feingold ......................................................................................................... 62 Milligan, T. Christopher, Coordinator for Disaster Response in Haiti, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC ................................. 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Responses to questions submitted for the record by Senator Richard G. Lugar ......................................................................................................... 63 Responses to questions submitted for the record by Senator Russell D. Feingold ......................................................................................................... 65 Natsios, Hon. Andrew S., distinguished professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC .......................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 33 Penn, Sean, founder, J/P Haitian Relief Organization, San Francisco, CA ........ 38 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 Schneider, Mark, senior vice president, International Crisis Group, Wash- ington, DC ............................................................................................................. 42 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 45 ADDITIONAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Dodd, Hon. Christopher J., U.S. Senator from Connecticut, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 61 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:25 Dec 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\HEARING FILES\2010 ISSUE HEARINGS TO PREPARE FOR PRINTING\ISSUE HEARIN VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:25 Dec 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\HEARING FILES\2010 ISSUE HEARINGS TO PREPARE FOR PRINTING\ISSUE HEARIN AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE: EMPOWERING HAITI TO REBUILD BETTER WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room SD– 419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Robert P. Casey, Jr., presiding. Present: Senators Casey, Kerry, Shaheen, Kaufman, Gillibrand, and Corker. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., U.S. SENATOR FROM PENNSYLVANIA Senator CASEY. The hearing will come to order. I want to thank everyone for being here this morning. This is a critically important issue that we need to spend a good deal of time on this morning, and I’m grateful you’re all here to do this. The committee meets to discuss the effectiveness of the inter- national response efforts 4 months after an earthquake devastated Haiti, and examine what remains to be done in cooperation with the Haitian Government and the international community. This discussion is particularly important as we transition from recovery efforts to rebuilding. I’d like to thank all of our witnesses for their personal commit- ment to helping Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake. On Mon- day, we know that Secretary Clinton honored 11 United States offi- cials who perished in Haiti’s earthquake. I also want to recognize their public service in the demonstration of America’s goodwill abroad. With us today to discuss United States Government efforts in Haiti are Christopher Milligan and Kenneth Merten. Mr. Milligan is coordinating the largest joint relief effort that the United States has undertaken to date. His success suggests that investments in disaster situation relief training and preparation at USAID have paid off. Over the last 20 years, Ambassador Merten has worked on development issues in Haiti, and has played a critical role in helping to save lives. I also look forward to hearing the testimonies of our nongovern- ment witnesses, each of whom has substantial experience working on international development issues. Andrew Natsios served as USAID Administrator during the Bush administration. Sean Penn cofounded the Jenkins-Penn Haiti Relief Group. And Mark Schnei- der is a former United States Agency for International Develop- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:25 Dec 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\HEARING FILES\2010 ISSUE HEARINGS TO PREPARE FOR PRINTING\ISSUE HEARIN 2 ment official who coordinated the U.S. response to Hurricane Mitch in 1998. He is now a senior vice president of the International Cri- sis Group. Much progress has been made during this post-disaster period in Haiti, which I’ll review in a few moments, but the scale of this tragedy cannot be underestimated, and we must redouble our efforts to better coordinate relief and rebuilding work among the international community and with the Haitian Government. The United States has a special responsibility to play a leading role in rallying the international community to make good on its com- mitments. I fear—and I know this is a fear that’s widely shared—that as the number of days since the earthquake grow, the resolve and focus of the international community diminishes. I hope—I hope that the witnesses today can reassure me that that is not the case. We all have an obligation to make sure that that is not the case. I know that people on the ground are committed, experienced, and dedicated to the task at hand, but it is our responsibility here in Congress to ask how this critically important endeavor can be moved faster, more efficiently and with a greater sense of urgency, which sometimes isn’t the case in Washington, DC. But, we’ve got to have a greater sense of urgency to get the job done and to make sure that Haiti does, indeed, rebuilt better, not just to some other predisaster level, but rebuild, in fact, in a better way for the future of the Haitian people. In the aftermath of the disaster, the United States deployed 22,000 personnel to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti in support of the Haitian Government and the U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH. The USAID was first on the ground and led a 544-person disaster assistance response team to assess immediate needs and to provide urgent supplies of food, water, medical care, and other aid to 1.5 million survivors left homeless by the quake. The agency also established an interagency task force to better coordinate relief efforts, partnering with large and small organizations in Haiti to bring shelter, health care, and employment opportunities to Haitians. Twenty-thousand members of the United States military distributed food, water, and medical supplies. Faced with large numbers of displaced children, the Department of State stepped up efforts to help prevent child trafficking. More than 100 U.N. staff, including senior mission leadership, were among the more than hundreds of thousands of dead in the massive earthquake, representing the biggest single loss of life in the history of U.N. peacekeeping. Despite