6 months post-quake, Haiti stumbling

UNITED NATIONS – Six months after a devastating earthquake in Haiti, the United Nations says relief efforts are faltering.

In a status report six months since the massive disaster Jan. 12, the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs paints a mixed picture of the Caribbean nation.

Despite high-profile visits and fund-raising efforts by former President Bill Clinton, first lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.N. reports the "flash appeal" which reportedly raised over $6 billion has only seen slightly over $3.5 billion actually received.

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And almost $8 billion in damages have been assessed and that does not include the growing medical and housing bills, according to the U.N.

Many U.N. staff members still are housed in cruise liners docked in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, because the collapsed U.N. command center in the former Hotel Christopher has yet to be rebuilt.

Among the disturbing statistics that have been released by the U.N.:

• The latest damages estimates total $7.8 billion
• 222,570 people were killed in the earthquake or in the days just following
• Over 300,000 required first aid or hospitalization
• More than 50 percent of all the hospitals in Haiti were destroyed
• 2.3 million people have been displaced
• 1.5 million people still need some shelter
• 400,000 currently need medical attention
• 60 percent of all government buildings in Port-au-Prince were destroyed
• 188,000 homes were damaged
• 105,000 homes collapsed
• 23 percent of all schools in Haiti were destroyed, 80 percent in Port-au-Prince.

The figures come as the U.N. faces internal complaints of slow reaction to the January earthquake and a previous relief effort that staffers complain was already riddled with corruption.

WND has learned that the U.N.'s former operations center at the collapsed Hotel Christopher had serious safety problems more than two years before the 2010 earthquake.

U.N. safety and security officials confirmed that the U.N. center had a "seriously warped" foundation that was a structural hazard.

WND learned that in 2008 more than $5 million had been authorized to beef up the U.N.'s Haiti operations.

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The Hotel Christopher suffered substantially more damage than other buildings in its immediate neighborhood. More than 100 U.N. staff died in the building's collapse including Undersecretary-General Hedi Annabi.

It was the single worst loss of staff in United Nations history.