Many Chattanoogans and residents of the tristate area joined others around the globe in providing aid to Haiti since a powerful Jan. 12 earthquake there killed an estimated 250,000 people and heavily damaged Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital, and much of the surrounding countryside. Even so, recovery efforts -- hampered by lack of effective central government, by heavily damaged infrastructure and by the extreme poverty of those affected by the devastation -- have been slow to gain traction. That seems, at last, to be changing.
There is growing evidence that various aid and humanitarian programs are making a difference in Haiti. Basic services are being restored, albeit slowly, and essential supplies seem to be reaching those who need them. That's an improvement. In the first weeks after the earthquake, bottlenecks at the nation's ports and main airport, the inability of the government to provide assistance and infrastructure woes stymied the ability of even the most veteran aid workers to deliver supplies and to provide humanitarian assistance.
The impediments were overcome in relatively short order and the most pressing issues -- delivery of food and water and provision of sanitary living conditions -- were resolved, at least for the short-term. Aid and assistance, some from international groups and some from volunteer groups like hospitals and churches from nearby nations, helped forestall other pressing issues.
There were justifiable fears, for instance, that the massive destruction and displacement of people would prompt outbreaks of disease. That did not happen.
Agencies such as the United Nations and groups like Doctors Without Borders, abetted by myriad smaller groups like the medical teams which left Chattanooga to work in Haiti for a week or two, seem to have forestalled such a calamity. Their delivery of emergency, preventative and routine health care surely saved countless lives.
Difficult tasks remain. Many of the relief agencies will be reducing their presence soon. What happens after that will help determine the long-term future of Haiti.
There's no certainty that Haiti's government, known more for corruption than competence, can or will provide basic services or abet the process of rebuilding the nation. There's also no guarantee that the nation's public and private health care providers can maintain the relatively disease-free conditions that have prevented a health catastrophe. There are, in fact, signs that Haiti's problems could rise as the number of international relief and aid workers declines.
Too many Haitians remain in teeming camps. Summer storms could wreck the camps and complicate the still tenuous delivery of food and the provision of sanitary living conditions. And there's still no central authority to manage either the billions in aid promised by donors from around the world or to direct the rebuilding projects that money will underwrite.
Even so, it seems Haiti has passed -- barely -- its initial post-quake test. More difficult trials await.